Paul J

New to the forum and did a search without the results I was looking for. We're a bigger team and I was wondering what other large teams have found for wheelsets. Our current set is 48o and I would love to know what people's experience is with 36/40 or other options. We are over 400 for the team and are riding an older Canondale. Thanks!

mud400

What diameter?

WheelsNT

What spacing on the rear hub? Current Cannondales are 145mm, but I think there are both 135mm and 130mm Cannondales from the past.

fietsbob

A 145 rear being nearly dishless. will be stronger. than a narrower more dished wheel..

Solo self contained toured on a 40/48 spoke 700c pair, with old 126 rear spread..

self built wheels, so I never let them go out of true for long..

rdtompki

We're a 350 lb. team riding a daVinci with 40h 700c wheels with WI hubs. Have had no problem in 11000 miles. If you do some searches I think you'll find these to be highly regarded, especially at their price.

waynesulak

We have not used daVinci rims but I have looked at the rims and they appear to be a strong design. Good profile and a little more material than most rims. I have seen heavier teams go with 40 hole Velocity Deep V rims because of their strong high profile.

Homeyba

My team is in the 350+ range and I ride on 32 spoke Zipp 404's with 135mm spacing (I think). Don't know how many miles are on them but it's well north of 10k with no problems at all.

Paul J

Forgot to say, these are 700c with 145 spacing. It is a 1998 or 1999 vintage with upgrades. Not sure if it was cold-set to this spacing as the wheel is hard going in and out and when I measured the spacing on the dropouts it is just a little less then 145.

I hadn't been on any websites or forums for bikes till finding "Tandem Geek's" blog and then this site GREAT site! I mis-spoke on my opening post, ours are 40o. I've been shocked once I got on this forum what people are riding spoke-wise I just assumed most rode 40 or 48.

We've broken two spokes this summer so was thinking of getting new wheels and thought I'd ask. With the spoke breakage, typically 1 or two a season, I've been skeptical of fewer spokes.

Homeyba

The key to long wheel life is the wheel builder, first and foremost. High spoke count wheels are a crutch for poor wheelbuilders. As you've experienced, even 40-48 spoke wheels will fail if not built correctly. If you want a good quality inexpensive wheel set there are a lot of great options out there. You can't go wrong with a set of well built Deep V's (or something similar) laced to a quality hub by a good wheelbuilder. When you get a new set of wheels make sure that they are not only trued but more importantly tensioned properly by some who knows what they are doing. Properly built wheels will last many thousands of miles.

Carbonfiberboy 

Just completed a 3-week loaded tour on some seriously rough roads. 305 lb. team with an extra 40 lbs. in rear panniers. Velocity 36H Deep V rims. Never touched them. Still as true as the day we left. A deep rim like that can have fewer spokes and will stay truer than a more conventional shallow rim. Plus it's all in the building with near-perfect tension on every spoke.

Monoborracho

https://www.youngwheels.com/

Highly recommended !

Joe Young has built several sets of wheels for me, one of which I've toured on for several thousand miles. Look at his website, read his CV, and fill out a questionnaire. You'll be glad you did.

He built our main wheel set for our new Seven Ti. We used Phil Wood hubs, Velocity Dyad, 48 spoke.

Paul J

Thanks I'll check into these ideas.

2frmMI

Just a second vote of confidence for Joe Young. We had 36h Phils with Velocity Deep Vs built a few years ago (after a near catastrophic Rolf failure) and they have been great for many thousands of miles, 2 tours in Europe, yada...

Retro Grouch 

I'm not a fan of 36/40 spoke wheelsets for tandems.

If you ever crunch a wheel, it'll almost always be the rear and nobody is going to have a 40 hole rim in stock. If your front is also a 40, you can have your front rim laced onto your rear hub and substitute whatever front wheel you can find. A long time tandem team who are close friends of mine did exactly that in the middle of a week long tour.

I'd also worry more about the rim than the number of spokes.

waynesulak

If this is the rim then the Zip 404 is a stout rim. 557 grams and 58mm tall would make a very strong but not light rim.

https://www.wheelbuilder.com/zipp-404...-zipp-460.html


Additional information:

• Weight: 557g (650c)
• Hole count: 16, 18, 20, 24
• Rim profile: 58mm
• Width: 22.5mm
• ERD: 525mm (700c); 477mm (650c)
• Ideal use: road racing, criteriums, climbing and triathlon.

Homeyba

The 700 version, not the 650c but essentially the same.

diabloridr

I can't imagine how I would design a more robust wheelset. Not light or aero, but should be bulletproof.

An F-150 pickup probably has wimpier wheels.

Monoborracho

That was what we wanted for those week long vacations and tours. No worries about the wheels.

waynesulak

Velocity has a couple rims sometimes used for touring that are stronger and heavier than Dyads.

Monoborracho

???

waynesulak

see:
https://www.velocityusa.com/default.asp?contentID=514



Chucker a Deep V but bigger and heavier 650g
Psycho 606g

p2templin

Not many shops will have a Rolf 24H rim (truly twinned spokes, small holes, internal nipples) or Spinergy 24H rim (evenly spaced but large holes, and hub-area nipples not rim-area). At least the Spinergy set is 24/24, but our Rolf set is 20/24 so there's no swapping. I think our next set will be 36h/36h.

Carbonfiberboy 

I've always thought the Chucker would make a good tandem rim. Psycho I don't see much advantage in. I'd go 36H on a Chucker for this team. Then if you're going to go 24mm on the rim, need wide tires that can take high pressure. A 35c Schwalbe Marathon Racer folder will take 95 lbs. Seems like a candidate.

mymojo

We're a roughly 450# team. Yeah, we aren't going any place fast!

I have a set of 40h Velocity Chukkers built by Peter White. Rear wheel has a Hugi DT hub, front is a Phil.

They are heavy, but absolutely bomb proof. And I mean that literally. They were on a train that was deraileded by a tornado. They came through without a scratch.

And because of that incident i can say 100% that Peter & his people are all about customer service. They were fantastic during that whole ordeal.

diabloridr

I wonder how many shops would be qualified to build up a Spinergy (or a Rolf for the matter) from scratch?

Replacing a single spoke is one thing, tensioning an entire (hi-zoot) wheel is another.