manuelgabriel

I'm about to build a touring bike but I'm not quite sure with the rims I'm going to buy. I'm planning to build a touring bike with 700c x 35c (or thicker) wheels with braking surface since I'm going to use cantilever brakes. Can I use standard 700c rims used on a road bike or do I need a thicker rims?
Thanks

HTupolev

Check the rim's internal width. ETRTO recommendations are that you don't go smaller than 17mm internal width for a 35mm tire, although ETRTO is pretty conservative.

saddlesores

i've been using alexrims dh19 in 26" for light touring for years.
20-25 pounds + rider 185 pounds. mucho offroad, no problems
with the rims.

just bought a pair of rims in 700c, 36 spokes.
internal width is 18mm. rated for 23-45mm tires.
has a 10.2mm braking surface.
double wall with eyelets. 570g. (26" 520g)

robow

Manuel, if you do a search of touring wheelsets, you will constantly see recommended, Mavic A719, Sun Rhinolite, and Velocity Dyad rims. You could do far worse than these 3.

FBinNY 

I don't do brands, but here's what I look for.

First of all, you don't need anything special, but want certain features'

I'd go with something in the 20-23mm inside width, going to the higher end if committed to tires 35mm or so, or toward the lower end if considering going to 28 or 32mm tires.

Double eyelets, or no eyelets on a V-shaped rim with a thick area where the spoke holes are. DB 2.0mm spokes, probably 1.8 center for right rear flange, and 1.6 for front and left side rear.

I also look for deep center wells so tire mounting will be easier (test this with a tire known to be a hard fit).

Lastly, since you're going with Cantis, mount up a brake, close it so the shoes are at the top of their arc and moving horizontally, and measure the separation. A rim with an outside width equal to or a few mm wider than this is ideal, so the shoes press most squarely when engaged. Note that shoe thickness varies, and there's some potential for shimming, but you'll be happy if you pay attention to this detail.

BTW - there's a guideline for brake boss separation relating to rim width, but I don't have it. Possibly the framebuilder forum might help. Since you're not building, you'll use it backward to see the target rim width your frame was made for (if you don't want to measure as I described).

Tourist in MSN

At the bottom of this page there is a nice chart for rim width (inner width, not outer width) and tire size.
Tire Sizing Systems

I used Mavic A719 rims for loaded touring and 37mm wide 700c tires. I have not measured the rim inner width but I think I saw on the internet somewhere that they have an inner width of 20mm.

cyccommute 

Honestly, it doesn't make that much difference what rim you use. The brake surface of any rim designed for rim brakes is going to be up to the job. "Thicker" rims don't really use more aluminum at the brake surface but are generally only wider. The extra weight comes from more material being used to make the rim unnecessarily wider rather than bolstering the brake surface. People often make the mistake of thinking that a heavier rim makes for a stronger wheel when a heavier rim only makes for a heavier wheel.

The Mavic A719 or Velocity Dyad are good rims but I suggest you look at the Velocity A23 and A23 OC. The A23 OC is for the rear and reduces dish on the rear wheel which makes for a stronger wheel.

If you want to make a wheel that is stronger and better for touring, put your money (and weight) where it does the most good...at the spoke. Strong spokes make for strong wheels. About the strongest spokes around are triple butted spokes with 2.2mm to 2.3mm elbows like DT Swiss Alpine III, Sapim Strong, Sapim Force, Wheelsmith DH13 or Pillar PSR triple butted spokes (available from Bdop Cycles and a few others now.) This article from Wheelfanatyk explains why you should use these kinds of spokes.

pdlamb

A Mavic alternative that's less expensive is the A319, which was used on Novara Randonees. I had no problems with them carrying a load. Wheels were built up with 14 gauge spokes, until I wore a rim out (brake track wear, a normal lots-of-riding occurrence). It's replacement is still going strong.

robow

+1, excellent value for the dollar. I've only built one wheelset for an individual using these but I know he has put them thru hell and back and rolled up thousands of miles, and he's no lightweight.

tarwheel 

I highly recommend Velocity Dyad rims, which I have on three sets of wheels used on bikes for touring and commuting over the years. None of my Dyad wheels have ever gotten out of true, broken a spoke or had other problems. They are significantly lighter than Mavic A719s and stronger than Velocity A23s. I would not recommend A23s for this reason - they are much more difficult to install tires on or remove them. This is a significant issue for a wheel used for touring or commuting. I owned a set of A23s for a short while but quickly sold them after realizing how difficult it was to change tires, fix a flat, etc. Dyads are little bit heavier than A23s but stronger, which is more important touring with loads.

fietsbob

I really dont Know what is available where You Live, Manila Is the capital city , I Know that Much..

Most posters have never been to your country, Me Included ..

wassertreter

One rim I've grown quite fond of is the Ambrosio Keba. The best looking might be the new Velocity Cliffhanger, but I've not tried it.

GamblerGORD53

There is only ONE choice for me. Velocity DYADs.
My Rohloff has 32h with 2.0 g. The SA 90 mm hubs have 2.3/2.0 g WH13 spokes.
The SA front has 20,600 miles, all heavy weight miles.
DYADs have some point to the profile that makes them very strong. The trouble with the eyelet rims is they are left round and prone to crack from more flexing. Not possible with DYADs.

My tires are also 36 mm, the rims are about 23.5 a good size.
Schwalbe Marathon plus, the go over 8,000 miles easy.

nfmisso

Dyad's are excellent; they are 18mm inner width. Work well with 28 to 40mm tires in my experience.

A bit wider are Velocity's NoBS and Atlas rims at 19.8 inner width, which are also excellent, but maybe more than you need.

DropBarFan

Also had Randonée with Mavic A319 rims; much earlier had another pair of Mavic box-section touring rims that were very sturdy.

Carbonfiberboy 

I'm using Kinlin XC279 rims on every new wheelset I build for myself, from my light carbon bike to our tandem on which we also tour, all up weight around 370 lbs. This is a 23mm X 28mm rim, very strong and available in 36H. Kinlin rims are made in China.

Doug64

Dyads are an excellent rim. This summer while going down hill at 30mph/48kph, I hit a large piece of metal debris in the road. It caused a pinch flat and put a dent in my rim. It was a Velocity Dyad rim laced to a 36 spoke 105 hub with Wheelsmith DB spokes. The rim stayed true and round with all spokes intact. It was a pretty severe jolt. If I had disc brakes I probably could have just ridden it to the finish, but we had 1100 mi./1800 km. to go, and I could not use my front canti brake. I did ride it into town and to the bike shop. The bike was fully loaded with about 40 lb. of gear and water. In a pinch, I may have been able to adjust my brakes to use the inside 1/3-1/2 of the machined braking surface.

The dent is at 9:00 on the left side of the rim. If you look closely, you can see where it even bulged out an area to the right of the machined braking area. I almost cried when the bike shop mechanic cut out my hub. However, It couldn't have happened in a better spot, riding down to the South Saskatchewan River, just east of Medicine Hat, Alberta. It had a bike shop with one front wheel that would work.

fietsbob

OP, you still there?

Doug64

Mavic rims are also good touring rims. My wife was going down a pretty good hill on her commute to work when she went into a non-bike friendly, grated storm drain. It caused both front and rear wheels to pinch flat and put a light dent in both rims where it impacted the side of the grate. There were cracks like this on each side of the impact spot on the back wheel. I suspect the cracks were there shortly after the incident, and she was retired for 5 years before I noticed the cracks. She uses the bike all that time for her around town bike. I can't remember if this was a Mavic A119 or A319; regardless, it has some pretty good abuse and did well. I don't think we even had to true the wheels. However, I did replace the wheel once I noticed the cracks.

robow

Doug, I had a Mavic rim do the same, and I continued to ride it just to see how long it would take before it became a real problem, bottom line, got tired of waiting for it to give out after a couple thousand miles and went ahead and replaced it just to be safe. I'm not sure how much longer it could have gone.

tmac100

FWIW, I have a custom built touring bike that has been for a number of 4 to 6 week long distance unsupported tours in Australian Outback conditions - dirt/gravel/pavement. The bike empty weights 40 pounds. Frame is steel with S&S disconnects. Bar end shifters. Old tech brake levers, yadda. But you asked about the rims ...

The hubs are 48 spoke PW and the hubs are Rhyno-Lite. 26" wheels - for added strength The wheels have stood up exceptionally well in some very abusive conditions. They are still true and robust. Schwalbe Marathon variants with 65 psi (or a bit more) pressure.

tmac100

Duplicate post - sorry, my bad.

nickw

I am unconventional - am doing a lightweight touring build with 32 hold Carbon Fiber rims:

https://www.lightbicycle.com/carbon-...g-surface.html

I have thousands of miles on the road and MTB with rims like this with no problems. I've also toured on Alum rims without problem either, but wanted to build something as strong as a Dyad but lighter.

Also consider if you want the option of running Tubeless, A23 is tubeless, most other touring rims like Dyads and Ryno Lites are not. Even if not considering tubeless, it's nice to have option with minimal drawback (tires can be a bit more difficult to change).

1Mule

^^^^ this

52telecaster

You are getting excellent advice here. Just my 2 cents.

I have been touring and year round commuting on sun cr18 rims. I use 36 spokes 4 cross. I know some folks think these are not robust but they have held up for me. I prefer the dull silver ones to the polished all most chrome looking ones. They stop better and seem to be a hair smaller in diameter.