Originally Posted by
vintagerando
So, what I am hearing: the hubs may work, its the rim that the issue? OR do I still need to get 32 in the back?
You weren't listening. The hubs are fine...they don't matter. The rim is fine...it doesn't matter. The spokes are suspect...they matter a whole lot.
BUT, that said, I suggest you ride the wheels and just watch for problems. The wheels won't suddenly collapse but you may start breaking spokes. If you break one, it's not that big of a deal, although with only 28 spokes to work with, it's more of a big deal than a 32 or 36 spoke wheel. If you break 2 spokes, I'd suggest a rebuild with beefier spokes like the ones I suggested above.
A straight gauge 2.0mm spoke (14 ga) by the way, isn't "beefier". It's heavier but not necessarily stronger. Look at the Pillar site. They have strength graphs for their spokes. Their 2.0mm spoke has a breaking strength of 270 kgf. The double butted 2.0/1.8 mm (14/15 ga) has a breaking strength of about 300 kgf while going to the 2.2/1.8/2.0 triple butted spoke bumps the breaking strength up to 330 kgf. They make a quad but 2.5/2.3/1.8/2.0mm spoke that goes up over 400 kgf but the quads are hard to find. The triple is going to make a really strong low spoke count wheel that would be significantly stronger than even a double butted spoked wheel.
I'd expect similar strength gains for any other triple butted spoke. I use them, by the way, in all the wheels I build. I had a mountain bike wheel made with the DT Alpine III that lasted through 10 years of hard use and the only reason it died is because the guy I loaned it to managed to shift the derailer into the spokes and he tore them out. I have them on my commuter bike that have around 12,000 miles on them without any kind of breakage and I have them on my touring bike that carries me at enough over 200 lb to be embarrassing and a 40 lb load around the country which have over 10,000 trouble free miles on them.