BT7274

Planning on re-converting my Schwinn Tempo from a fixie back into a road bike. Kind of want to keep it 6 speed, but wondering how reliable the 5-7 speed road wheels from Velomine or other vintage type wheelsets are, as compared to modern cassette wheels. Can they be trusted to log in the long miles? I used to do 60 mile rides with lots of climbing on a 2x10 CAAD couple years ago. Can I pull the same kind mileage without worring about the freehub breaking or anything like that?

Classtime 

Of course. And you won’t be worrying about cables.

Polaris OBark

I had kind of a weird experience. I got H+ and Sons box rims with White Industry hubs. (pseudo-retro). In general, these are great wheels, especially for the price, BUT for some reason they decided not to interlace the NDS spokes on the rear wheel, so they started spontaneously unwinding. I finally got sick of it and had the wheel re-built like a normal wheel, and now it is solid. It wasn't a mistake. Their wheel-builder is absolutely insistent that this is the way it should be done.

Ironfish653

I'd probably go with a specialist vendor like Velomine or Bicycle Wheel Warehouse, rather than just a random Am@zon seller. There's not a whole lot of differentiation in the parts available (particularly the hubs) so the difference will be in the build quality. If you're the kind of person who re-strings every brand new wheelset before use, it might not matter; but if you're looking for a bolt-on-and-ride solution, it'd be worth the extra money up front.

Most of the 5/6-sp wheels (27"?) will be a freewheel, not a cassette hub, so here's where it'll make a difference:
5/6-speed freewheels aren't common on new bikes anymore, except for very inexpensive ones, and most of the parts available reflect that.
Shimano has a couple; the MF-TZ500 (14-28) and the older TZ-20; which could be had with a 28, 32, or 34t big cog (which was useful climbing hills in western NC with a vintage 53/42t Cranksets). Budget level Shimano, so they're not super fancy, but they do the job well, and don't cost much more than the knock-offs. Bonus is that they have all the SIS shift ramps and bevels, so when paired with a modern 8-sp chain, even a vintage friction shifter setup can deliver good shift quality.

SunRace/Sturmey-Archer aren't bad, but their durability can be a little hit-or-miss. Would be ok for light duty recreational use.

As far as doing big rides, I've done a number of centuries, as well as a 7-day, 600 miler, on a '70s vintage Bridgestone, with Araya/Sunshine wheels and that 6-sp Shimano FW. The bike performed flawlessly then; I retired it to townie/ path bike duty in '16; it's pulled the kids' trailer and the tag-along, and now sports a front rack/ basket for shopping runs and brewpub rides. It doesn't see many big rides now, but it probably gets ridden more often than any of the other bikes.

Trakhak

The idea that lacing of spokes keeps them from unwinding is one I hadn't come across before. (By "unwinding," you seem to mean that the nipples unscrewed over time.)

So I looked around and found a Jobst Brandt quote where (in agreement with what you wrote) he says that lacing of spokes helps with wheel strength and longevity. (I found that article earlier but can't seem to find it again, so no link.)

His explanation is that while a bike is being ridden, the forces applied to the spokes act to change the tension of those spokes. The pressure from the other spoke in a given laced pair (applied at the crossing point) counteracts that force, making the change in tension less than it would in an unlaced spoke. The milder the swings in tension a spoke undergoes, the longer it lasts. (That's yet another argument against radial spoking on the drive side of rear wheels.)

ofajen

You can also find NOS freewheels from when they were state of the art and manufacturing quality was very high. I like the Suntour Ultra 6, as an example.

Otto

Polaris OBark

Yes (to the unwinding part). I might be using the wrong term, but where the spokes crossed, you could slide a house key in between the spokes.

Thanks.

squirtdad

I have a set of velomine built with the white hubs and H+ son Archetype rims. havent used yet, as they are part of stash for an upcoming special build.
built the 2 cross, non interlace on non drive side (have to go look) what i remember is that they said experience with this hub was that if they didn't do this they got unwinding and spoke breakage. I will watch out for this once I finally ride them (coming soon, paint almost done)

Brad L

When I rebuilt my 1983 Gitane Interclub, I simply repacked the hubs, trued the wheels and started riding. These are Atom hubs with Mavic rims. I’ve put 1600 miles on the bike since, including Eroica California’s Santa Rita and Cypress Mountain. The wheels are still true.

Polaris OBark

They told me something similar. But mine has been absolutely fine since rebuild. I didn't even notice the problem until I was in the bike shop. I had several spokes unwind spontaneoulsy (one at a time). I tightened them back up, but the wheel was gradually getting worse.

Bruce27

I bought Sun rims CR18 27" Inch Wheelset with freewheel hubs from Velomine in 2014. They have about 2,500 miles on them and had to true them twice over the last 9 years. So far so good.

icemilkcoffee 

It all depends on which hub you are running. Look at the axle - is it a 10mm threaded axle? These are prone to bending. Or is it a thicker smooth hollow axle with sealed bearings? Examples would include Phil Wood, American Classic, Mavic 500, 550, 5** (there are a bunch of these). They look like this:

^ You are not going to bend these. If you insist on running a 6 speed freewheel then this is the type of hub you should be looking for.

tricky 

Do you have a link to the specific wheels you are looking at? Component selection will make a big difference.

If you are concerned with getting stranded, the condition and quality of whatever vintage freewheel you are using will be a big contributing factor to reliability.

SurferRosa

On the other hand, how many of us have broken a normal 10mm axle and over how many years? Me: once in last 12 years of road cycling. But maybe if you're on the heavy side, ymmv.