Bike Forums - View Single Post - Do you tour on a Frankinbike??

11-17-11, 01:42 PM

#11

bud16415

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruzer

I built up a Nashbar cyclocross frame from parts first for cyclocross and then for touring. The part bike worked great and the frame handled the load very well.

The mistake I made was skimping on the wheelset. I found someone local selling his low end mountain bike wheels (32 spoke) for $100 and bought them. I ended up breaking a spoke on the tour miles from any city. Luckily one of my touring partners had the foresight to bring a Kevlar spoke kit, because riding fully loaded on 31 spokes is not an ideal situation. After I got back I ordered some custom built 36 spoke wheels with quality spokes for just under $400 and hope to use those on my next loaded tour.

Of course your mileage may vary. But when you are in the middle of nowhere and something breaks you may not be able to locate a budget fix. If my wheel had continued to break spokes my tour would have be completely over. The nearest bike shop was over 40 miles the opposite way and I would have had to get transport to the shop and been limited to the available parts and prices.

I will second the concern for well-built wheels. The Windsor came with 36 spokes and I would say that’s the minimum I would want to ride loaded. (No pun intended.) The hubs and rims were of good enough quality but (some) manufactured wheels are not to par with ether spokes or build quality. I personally believe it was more the machine build than the spokes that gave me my problem. I carry spare spokes but it is no fun sitting at the side of the road doing the repair. I popped 4 before I said enough and went in search of 48 count handmade wheels and then I found out there wasn’t enough tea in china for me to justify that change. My LBS looked it all over and really felt just new DT spokes and a proper build would do the trick and he was right so far.

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