Originally Posted by
norcal618
Thank you all you for all of the wonderful tips. I really feel like I have a pretty solid understanding of what I need to look for now. I had absolutely no idea before posting, really I didn't.
Knowing what I know now, I would have probably bought something else. I think that the Trek 7.1 fx is generally a quality bike for the price, but based off of the fact that the rear wheel is 135mm spacing, and it also has a freewheel setup vs a freehub and cassette setup, I think I would have continued to shop around. Unfortunately I was oblivious to all of this at the time of purchasing my bike. I guess I should have researched a bit before hand :/ The biggest thing that irks me about the 135mm spaced rear wheel is that it seems to be that 95% of the aftermarket rear wheels for sale are 130mm spaced. And that kinda sucks. I really don't get why Trek went out of their way to use non-standard size parts.
Oh well, as least I get to go shopping for some upgrades and try to get the bike to a state in which I am completely happy with it. Silver lining. Thanks again to all of you for giving me so much knowledge!
135 rear spacing is pretty much industry standard for a hybrid bike. Also the same as required by current 29'er mountain bikes, though the rims tend to run wider than what is typically used for hybrids. The 7.2 version of your bike would have gotten you away from the freewheel, but you still would have only had 32 spoke wheels, which are also fairly standard for most of the hybrid bikes.
Unless you're having issues with the spokes/truing on the front wheel, might be able to go to your lbs and have them give you a quote for building up, or ordering in a 36 or 40 hole hub for the 135 axle width wheel that you need. I know the shop I frequent seems to be able to compete with the online prices, or better than I've found shopping around for many items, especially wheelsets.