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My bike has hand built 32 spoke wheels and in 30+ years of recreational riding and some loaded touring, I only have to "true" the wheels every couple of years. True is in quotes because a 1/4 turn on two or three spoke nipples hardly counts.
If I were in your place, I would go for it. Although there is a wealth of terrific advice available here, the best tutor is your bike. Riding it will teach you what you want in terms of spokes, gearing, color etc. |
My analysis of the Domane wheelset for touring is: they're not great.
The main issue is low spoke count. All other factors being equal, low spoke count wheels are always going to be weaker than higher spoke count wheels. It is possible to make a low spoke count wheel much stronger by 1) increasing rim height and 2) using butted spokes. Which brings us to the secondary issues. 1) the rim doesn't seem to be particularly high profile. The rim is probably not stiff enough to properly counter the low spoke count, which will make the wheel inherently weak. 2) the spokes are straight gauge. Double (or triple) butted spokes (ie. thinner in the middle) are stronger than straight gauge spokes which have a constant cross section along the length of the spoke. The added strength of thinned spokes is counter intuitive, but thinner spokes stretch more, which give the wheel resiliency against loading. Even a high spoke count wheel can fail surprisingly easily if it is built with straight gauge spokes. But in the end no one can say whether the Domane stock wheels will be ok or not. Personally I wouldn't trust them though. |
Originally Posted by cyccommute
(Post 23578172)
Yes the fork is off an old Specialized. I know. I know. I’m risking asplosion of the bike but it works. Wheels are my build from a set of GT (Hadley) hubs that came into my co-op, DT Alpine spokes, and Velocity Dyads that were another donation.
The brakes are something I have on several bikes because they work with STI. All of the brakes are Paul Touring cantilevers. |
Originally Posted by TakingMyTime
(Post 23577619)
I really appreciate all the input. My biggest and only concern was the wheels. I was just curious if there may have been some big jump in wheel building where a 28 hole rim would be suitable for very light touring. From the answers above I'm understanding that this is probably not a good idea.
There are some gravel type bikes with compact doubles, but only you know what sort of low gears you've used in the past when carrying 20-30lbs of stuff on a bike. From lots of light touring to heavy touring experience over the years, I know what me and my knees prefer, and from what you described what trips you'd like to do, closer to 20 gear inch low is just so much more versatile and pleasant--no real downside to having lower gears--you use 'em when needed. |
Originally Posted by djb
(Post 23578884)
that fork is most likely the exact same as on my bike, and at least has a steel (I think) steerer tube, and mine is now 15 years old and I have no concerns about it. I noticed you've done your signature red accents thing everywhere, including the nipples, which is fun. I like 32mm supremes, on the front I can run them at low 60s psi with a very light load (I'm about 135-140), so combined with the fork and tires, the bike has a really nice ride to it, while still rolling super well.
Thank you on the color compliment. I try. |
Originally Posted by cyccommute
(Post 23578975)
My bad. Swing and a miss on the joke. I wasn’t talking about the carbon fork causing an asplosion but the mixing of Trek and Specialized parts. The fork has an aluminum steer tube but I don’t have any concerns.
Thank you on the color compliment. I try. Did you have concerns about how the bikes geometry would be with the fork change? I never pay attention enough to recall trail and whatnot terms, but was this fork fairly close to the original in those tech terms? It must be as I know you wouldn't put on a fork on a bike for your daughter that brought in wonky handling. |
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