After seeing the profound abuse people are putting 28h carbon spoked rims through on mountain bikes without having trouble, I am beginning to believe a carbon rim with less than 32 spokes can handle touring duty, even with a 230 pound rider like me. Doesn't mean I am the one to find out if it can be done! I will stick with my 36 spoke alloy rims that have never failed me.

I am in the Clydesdale category and tour extensively with 28 spoke gravel wheels, never had an issue even in developing countries. It must be the superior materials in modern wheel sets.

Someone on this forum has used carbon rims for touring and speaks highly of them. I do not recall who.

That said, I also am sticking with metal rims. My light touring bike is 36 spoke in rear, 32 in front. My heavier touring bikes are 36 front and rear.

I toured extensively as a 280-lb. rider with a medium load, i.e. two large panniers, and enough bikepacking bags to equal one small pannier. It was through the Baltics and Balkans, as well as one to two week trips to several other countries.

It was on a 2013 Salsa Vaya Travel, on the original DT Swiss 350 hub / X470 rim / 32-spoke wheels, which were rated to only 120kg. I didn't break a spoke or have any other problems with the wheels over thousands of km.

What did happen, eventually (i.e. 6-7 years of riding with and without loads), is that the rims lost their ability to hold true. They suddenly started breaking spokes on relatively tame rides, and becoming out of true within a few rides after getting them serviced.

When I rebuilt them with new rims (DT Swiss HX 491, which are no longer being made), the verdict from my LBS was that rims have come a long way even in the past 10 years, so 36-spoke isn't necessary, even at my size. I wouldn't stress it if I were you - it's all down to hub and spoke choice. Get DT Swiss 350's and go from there.

I am 220#.
My gravel bike weighs 22#.
I have loaded it with rack and gear and used it for a multi-day tour.

I was rolling with well over 250# on the wheels.

My wheels are 35mm deep carbon rims with 24h front and 28h rear straight pull spokes.
That is a single short tour, yes, but the normal purpose is rolling over surface that is way harder on a rim and spokes than any paved roads people tour on.

The wheels are dead true still, spokes are well tensioned still, and I expect they will stay that way for a ton more miles.

My commute/tour bike still has 36h 3x laced wheels and will continue to, but that is hardly the only smart way for a bigger person to ride with gear.

Another factor not addressed here is to get one's wheels checked by a skilled wheel person every so often.
I pretty much did this before any loaded trip, so by having spokes at the proper tension helps keep a wheel true, so less unequal tensioning that happens to counter an out of true wheel, which leads to a harder life on spokes and rims in general.

but yes, a properly tough wheel/rim and spoke type/count help a lot to a wheelset holding up well over time for a given rider and load weight, no way around that.

I’m still reading, but am away on a work related trip for two weeks. I’m soaking in the feedback and appreciate the responses.

I will be going 36 spoke count.

Which hubs and rims are the next question. I was relieved to hear that TiHabanero near my weight was still using the original sealed bearing hubs. I really like the hubs too, but am open to a newer hubset. It’s really the rims that are the biggest decision at this point, and whether or not I want to pressure the tubeless route.

When selecting a hubset get ones where you can remove the cassette without tools. This way if you break a drive side spoke it can easily be replaced in the field. DT Swiss 350 is a good example.

Tubeless is great when touring allows you to still ride a well performing tire with excellent puncture protection.

It is not that critical to select a freehub type hub that enables you to remove a cassette that easily. There are small tools that can be carried on a tour. For example, cassette tools that do not need a chain whip, like this one (and there are others):
https://uniorusa.com/products/pocket...remover-wrench

I do not like to use my frame as the wrench with that tool, so I carry a small pliers or wrench to use with it. That means needing a chain whip. But there are small work arounds for that too, example I started this thread over a decade ago:
Chain Whip for Travel

That said, I do not know the spoke lengths on my front wheel on my light touring bike because I did not build that wheel. So, when touring on that bike I do not carry spare front wheel spokes. Instead I use a Fiber Fix Emergency Spoke. Yan on this forum has ridden a long distance on a Fiber Fix and demonstrated that they work. And you do not need to remove a cassette to replace a drive side spoke if you use a Fiber Fix. Do a google search for Fiber Fix Emergency Spoke and you find lots of hits including youtube videos on how to use.

If you are worried about spoke breakage, carrying a Fiber Fix will make you less worried about spoke breakage. That said, if you do not know how to use a spoke wrench, that is a skill that you might want to learn if you have good mechanical aptitude.

I was just trying to help the OP. I used to travel with the uniorusa and never needed it. So I tried it at home once just to try it out and it turned out to be a complete pain. I use a fairly modern setup so I am sure that makes it more challenging with a thru-axel, disc brakes and 11 speed freehub. If given a choice I will always pick a hub which allows for tool less freehub removal for obvious reasons. Not sure why anyone would argue against it.

I also have and used Fiber Fix Emergency Spoke and it’s great value however I also always carry spare spokes. I store them in my seatpost just in case.

Honest question: are they all noisy?

Good point, because a lot of road bikes have pretty darn noisy hubs when freewheeling, and that would bug me.
I suspect the easiest way to get an idea of a given hub is to do some YouTube searches on x hub and how they sound.
But I have no idea if it's more high end hubs or what.

And a reasonable factor to take into account for choosing hubs if you prefer a quiet hub

He is pretty clear that he is looking for budget options. I am sure it is a great hub.