Originally Posted by
laura_bugg
I was hoping around $500. So you think Velocity are good? I've seen some reviews that say they've cracked. Do you think the Dyads are the best?
I built up three wheels last year with Dyads. Quite happy with them. I build all my own wheels, but I worked in a bike shop years ago. As noted above, the Dyad is not a light weight rim. But at your weight, it might not be a bad idea to ride with them anyway.
On the rear wheel (disc), I used a 36H XT M756 steel axle hub. Works great and was quite affordable.
Front wheel I used 32H rims and hubs, the front wheel does not have as much stress on it as the rear does.
If you anticipate much more touring, would you be interested in a dynohub? If you do not know what that is, there is an alternator in the front hub. That can power lights and it can power a USB charger to charge up battery packs and depending on device, possibly a phone or other such devices. I bought my first dynohub five years ago and was glad I did. But I do enough bike touring that it is worth it to me to be able to charge up batteries while riding.
The reason I mention this is if you upgrade later to a dynohub, that is another wheel, or at least a new hub and new spokes on your old rim. But when going new at this time to upgrade the hub to a dynohub compared to the cost of a regular hub is not very expensive at all. The higher costs come in with the USB charger or for higher end lighting.
But if your tours are short or if you do not anticipate much touring, then the costs for USB charger and lighting add up to the point that it is probably not worth it, a big Li Ion battery pack could be a better option for short tours or for not much touring.