Originally Posted by Tourist in MSN

Was your question intended to be what is best for a touring bike or was your question what comes standard on most lower budget touring bikes?

As noted above, generally the spokes are the same but the number of spokes is greater on a touring bike.

But a lot of base model touring bikes come with 2.0mm straight gauge spokes that are cheaper. And when I think of road bikes I usually think of higher end bikes that likely have more expensive spokes.

My spokes on my derailleur touring bike are 2.0/1.7/2.0mm. But I think most people spec 2.0/1.8/2.0mm. That said, one of my bikes has straight gauge 2.0mm on the rear wheel because I had trouble finding the exact spoke I needed in a double butted format.