I'm surprised this old thread is still kicking around. I like the further input, though. I ended up building my rear wheel with a Dyad rim. I've built that wheel up three times now, owing to my having an awkwardly sized hub and having made some bad build choices. The first build was 2-cross with a Nuvinci hub. The Nuvinci is large and they don't recommend a 2-cross on anything but a 700c wheel, and then only if the rim has an interior diameter large enough to avoid a bad spoke angle. The Dyad, while not as deep as the V's, has enough depth that the 2-cross stressed the spokes at the rim. The rim also looked like it was stressed at the spoke holes, which concerned me, but ultimately it was the spokes that gave, rather than the rim, so I guess the rim is strong enough. When I rebuilt the rim with a 1-cross pattern, it was much better, at least as far as the rims were concerned. My spokes broke at the hub instead. My third build, using a 1X pattern and Wheelsmith spokes, has been strong and trouble-free since I put it together in August. I hope this build continues to last, but when it's replaced, I probably will try another type of rim. Partly this is because of my large hub. A rim with a larger ERD could be built with a 2x pattern, which would make me feel better (although in all reality a 1X is probably plenty strong given the relatively shorter spoke lengths). Also I will probably go with something with eyelets. The stress I was seeing at the rim bothers me even though I know that it was, in part, due to a bad spoke angle, I don't think the spokes were excessively tightened, so I'm concerned about the strength at the spoke holes, and I feel like an eyeletted rim might distribute the stress of tightened spokes more evenly. Also, and this is probably because I'm a novice wheel builder, I lost many spoke heads in between the double walls of the rim and spent way too much of my build time fishing them out.
So I like the Dyad well enough to keep rolling on it, but I will probably avoid them in the future, especially if I'm building the wheel myself.

For the front tire, I just got a pre-built, Handspun wheel with a Salsa Delgado Cross rim and a Shimano generator hub. For my own build, I probably would not have considered the Salsa, but, other than it being out of tru when I got it, the wheel has held up well for the whole two weeks I've been using it. For now, while I am not set up to carry much weight on the front of the bike, I'm not concerned about the Salsa Delgado, but if I were doing my own build, I would probably go with something else, and if I get the Old Man Mountain front rack I have my eye on, I may consider replacing that wheel rather than waiting to see if it can handle a larger load.

I also purchased a prebuilt Delgado rim with a shimano generator hub. I have had it for about 8 months now and it has held up phenomenally. I don't know if it came trued to perfection or not because my bike shop ordered it for me so they might have trued it when it arrived. However, I have not had to do anything at all to it concerning trueing. I have a Tubus front rack that I have carried 2 Ortlieb panniers on before and it has not had any problem at all with that. I have also taken the bike on some mountain biking trails in the area and it has been perfectly fine. And then there are the numerous potholes that exist in this area. It is my only mode of transportation so I have probably put about 4,000 miles on it so far. I am actually having a rear wheel built up for me with an LX hub and the Delgado rim.

I had Peter White build a set for me.......40 spoke, Dyad rims, Phil Wood hubs. Did the Southern Tier with them. I have 13,224 miles on the front wheel. About 4 weeks ago, had to replace the rear rim, so had Peter rebuild the wheel for me, and while he had it in, had him replace the bearings set. I had 13,013 miles on the rear wheel when I had a catastrophic event that damaged the rim I weigh 208 and commute 23 miles R/T most every day. In the 13,000 miles, I retrued them twice, and never had a spoke failure. When I am commuting, in addition to my 208 lbs, I usually carry about 10-15 lbs of "stuff". When credit card touring, I usually carry between 23-28 lbs of "stuff" including the weight of the panniers and handlebar bag. I run Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires, 700 x 28's. Works for me.

Wow, Rob_E! 2x? 1x?? Maybe it's just that I'm old-school, but I've never used anything less than 3x, and I've never had problems with spoke-hole stress or excessive spoke breakage. I think all my breaks in the past six years have come from a derailleur that jammed up and got forced into the spokes.

Maybe it's the tension that's causing the problems. The fewer the spokes, the more tension there is on any one spoke, and the greater the stress on any part. With 40 spokes, I was advised by Co-Motion to keep the tension lower to avoid greater overall stress on the rim. (Makes me wonder about those 48° wheels - not to mention penny-farthings!)

I do tighten my wheels pretty good, but it's withing tolerances, I think. The wheel is 36 spoke. The reason for the 1X pattern is the hub, which a very large diameter. I always build my wheels with the maximum number of crosses possible, that's why the first build had a 2 cross pattern, but the large diameter means using short spokes and a sharp angle where the spoke enters the rim. I've also built a 20 inch wheel where a 3 cross wasn't practical. Things you learn with gear hubs. I know it's preferable in some circles to save weight by omitting spokes and/or going with different spoke patterns that allow for shorter spokes, but I assure you, I went with the most spokes and most crosses possible for my build.

That is good to hear. I've heard of someone who's rear Delgado rim did not hold up when touring with a heavy load, that's what concerns me about overloading the rim. I am a pretty heavy load all by myself, so I wouldn't want to risk a wheel that wasn't known to stand up to heavy touring, but the front wheel takes so much less weight (especially since my current front rack is only rated for about 5 pounds) that I'm not worried about it, but it's good to hear of a front wheel taking some weight.

I have carried as much as 30-40 lbs worth of groceries in those front bags with no problems.

I hit this thread when googling for a replacement for my rear Delgado rim that's cracking at 4 eyelets, and I felt my experiences are worth sharing. This is the second rear Delgado wheel that has cracked at the eyelets with < 4000 mi on it.
Wheel #1: 36h Delgado + LX hub on a Surly LHT. ~4000 miles, a mixture of commuting, grocery runs and loaded touring
Wheel #2: 32h Delgado + 105 hub on Salsa Casseroll. ~2200 miles, randonneuring and other unloaded riding

Both wheels were handbuilt (by different online sites) and their spoke tensions were checked out as okay by a LBS. The first wheel saw plenty of load and lots of rough gravel and pavement in its short life, so I consider its demise unfortunate but not tragic. I'm fairly ticked about the second wheel, since all it had to support was my fairly light behind (160) and 30 lbs of bike + gear.

As for replacements, I went with a 36h Dyad on the LHT which has been rock solid and will have my local builder lace up an Aerohead O/C for the Salsa this weekend. I'll also have to keep my fingers crossed that the two Delgado fronts hold up better, especially the one mated to my SON28.