Originally Posted by
Bjorneas
I have been on three tours with my 32-spoke rear wheel (on a Windsor Tourist) but can't stop worrying about it when riding fully loaded. I'm concerned about breaking a spoke. I think I would like to upgrade to a more robust touring-specific rear wheel (I guess with 36 spokes) but am not sure how to go about ordering one. The bike is 700 x 38 with disc brakes. Any recommendations about how to find and order a suitable wheel?
You could rebuild your current wheel with triple butted spokes which would give you a wheel
at least as strong as a 36 spoke wheel with straight gauge spokes. Hjertberg says in his article that using triple butted spokes is the equivalent of adding 10 spokes…they have a 32% increase in strength over straight spokes. I’m not sure I agree with that number but it’s
at least equivalent to going to the next higher spoke count.