Originally Posted by
rickyaustin
Isn't 48 spokes for a 220lb rider a bit excessive?
I'd call someone like Peter White or the Odds & Endo's guy and see what they think.
During the winter of 2005-06 I had a touring bike built to fit me - I am almost 6'5".
Because I was going through outback Australia with a YAK Ibex trailer and fully loaded panniers (I was totally self supporting) I got PW 48 hole hubs on e-bay and used Sun Rhyno-Lite rims. The wheels are 26" ones with the wide rims to support weight and work in sand and gravel...
During the trip between Cairns and Darwin along a lot of dirt tracks, I had absolutely NO problems with the wheels - even when the wheels went aaaalmost 90 degrees to direction of travel in "bull dust". The 2200 km trip took 6 weeks... I had too much stuff but I always had enough food and water and parts/tools...
Arvon Stacey (Tofield, Alberta) built that bike frame and wheels, along with the steel racks. I have the stainless-steel S&S BTC "connectors" to make the bike fit into a suitcase. The price was about $2200 US in total at that time. Schwalbe Marathon tires did a great job too...