Originally Posted by
fietsbob
rebuild the wheel with a new rim of your preference, and overhaul the hub .. Flush & re-oil the driver
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I toured on a 48 rear , 40 front, 88 spoke pair of wheels I built myself , fortunately I never damaged a rim..
(Only 1 spoke in 10 years..)
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IN SHORT : ride what you have , bring Money.. if you get them damaged Buy something else along the way.
About 10 years I had a custom built touring bike built in "expedition grade". Steel, and heavy with racks made of steel aircraft-grade steel tubing. It has stood the test of time in 3 different tours across different parts of outback Australia.
The wheels are built using 48 spoke PW hubs and Rhyno-Lite rims. Very strong wheels and they have certainly survived several mis-adventures and stayed quite true - even 10 years later. Schwalbe Marathon tyres are good - but they must be inflated to 65 psi to keep them going....
i always had a backup plan and cash to deal with issues. fortunately they were minimal