Originally Posted by
edtrek
If you asked me, what's your primary goal in this purchase, I'd say: I never want these wheels to go out of true.
Can I ask why? Truing a wheel is actually pretty easy! Obviously not the sort of thing you want to be doing on a daily basis, but now that I've seen how easy it is to true a wheel I find that I don't worry about it so much...
As far as recommendations, I'd suggest double or triple butted spokes (ex: DT Swiss Competition or Alpine 3), 3-cross lacing, brass nipples. The number of spokes should depend on total weight of bike+rider+gear. I use 24f/28r on my road bike and 32/32 on my touring bike. If you're an uber-Clyde or haul lots of gear think about 32/36 or 36/36. I'm a big fan of Velocity's off-center rims. I used the Synergy OC rim for the wheels on my touring bike and I've been pretty impressed so far. The off-center drilling leads to more even tension between the drive and non-drive sides, which seems to reduce the need for truing... so far.