I'm building up a new bike and need to select some wheels. I'm not racing (to say the least), but it would be nice to have reasonably decent performing wheels for 30-60 mile rides. And...I may end up doing a bit of touring once or twice a year, so I also want my wheels to be able to deal with the periodic added weight of some panniers (mostly on the rear). All riding/touring would be on paved roads.

The Open Pros seem to get a lot of press, but I just wanted to see if people recommend them for what I've described above. Again, not looking for a racing wheelset, rather something that's good performance, but also sturdy.

Currently, Performance offers a build with 14/15 Wheelsmith spokes (3 cross), and Ultegra 32-spoke hubs (wasn't sure if I need 36?).

Also, regarding tire size, I believe the bike/brakes I'm looking at will only accommodate a 32mm wide tire max.

I don't know how much weight my rack and loaded panniers would add to the bike, but I weigh roughly 150 pounds.

Thanks

I think the Open Pro's are good wheels. I don't know if they have a recommended weight limit. It is also dependent on the the number of spokes in the wheel. I ride 32 spoke open pro's on my touring bike for commuting and club rides. I weigh 225 and I wouldn't ride these wheels on a loaded tour. I know that they also make a 36 spoke wheel and you can get a 36 spoke ultegra hub. As far as touring goes on the open pro's, I think a big factor is your own weight and how much you plan to carry. If you're 150 lbs and you're carrying less than 20 lbs of gear.. then yeah, go for it.

I think I'd go with Velocity Aerohead, Fusion, or Synergy rims if I were going to be doing light touring or carrying panniers. You can build a nice set of wheels with Open Pro rims and 32 spokes, but stronger rims (that weigh just a tiny bit more) would give you a margin of safety for potholes and rough roads.

Check out Peter White for Velocity rim descriptions: https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/

That sounds reasonable to me. If, however, you get the wheelset from Performance you will need to get the wheels retensioned by a competent builder. Their machine built wheels are not, in my experience, ready to ride.

Why do you say that the Velocity rims are stronger?

I'm wondering too. I have Open Pro's on my Trek and they are darn near bullet proof. Mine are 32 spoke but for a touring bike I'd go with 36 spoke with a strong hub. BTW, I've weighed as much as 250 and haven't had a bit of trouble with them.

My touring/cross bike is running on 32 hole open pros 3x laced to chris king hubs. I weigh 150lbs and don't pack all that much though. It can be a pain mounting fat tires on the open pros as they are a skinny rim.

I think if you're touring on surfaces that require fat tires (more than 28-32mm) then you should probably go with a stronger wheel. I think the Open Pro's are fine in your case for road touring. But, off road... probably something like a Mavic A319 with mountain hubs.

I don't do any real off road touring but occasionally ride on gravel roads and shoulders and appreciate fatter tires. I have been running some 700x37 continental travel contact tires on my open pros for quite some time and have had no problems, although I would not want to go any fatter. I use the wheels for cross riding sometimes, but the bike is obviously not loaded in those instances, and I actually switch to skinnier cross tires.

Open Pros will be a good choice for waht you describe. I would also suggest that they are quite a bit stronger than Velocity Aeroheads dues to the eyelets and welded joints.

I don't believe that welded joints add any strength whatsoever. Aeroheads use thicker material at the spoke holes so eyelets don't confer much, if any, strength advantage in this case. They do make the wheel easier to build and maintain, though.

I appreciate everyone's help. It sounds like the Open Pros are probably strong enough for what I'm looking for.

One side note: I spoke with the place yesterday where I plan on buying them, and I didn't realize they offered this, but they said they could build me a 32-spoke front rim, and a 36-spoke rear.

Does this sound like a smart way to go?

Again, my concern was adding a rack and 2 panniers to the rear of the bike, so it seems like this may ease those fears. Truth be told, I commute on my Stumpjumper and I really weigh the rear down with my laptop + clothes/tools, and it only has 32-spoke wheels. I realize these are much, much stronger rims on a mountain bike, so who knows. Maybe I could get away with 32 spokes on the rear with the Open Pros, but the added weight of 4 spokes is worth the added confidence in strength.

1. I think going with 32 front spokes and 36 rear wheel spokes is an excellent idea.

2. I used open pros on my bike for about 15 years without a single problem over thousands of miles.

+1 on the Open Pro. I tore up the factory rear wheel on a Trek 1000 a few years ago and my LBS put on an Open Pro. I'm a Clydesdale at 205-210 and after two hard seasons of club rides and charity rides, the spokes had barely moved and I had no flats.

I'm a pretty hardcore Sun rims fan....I've run Sun for years, and still do..

With that in mind, Mavic rims are the best choice right now, IMHO.

Open Pro rims are very, very good...the standard in road rims. lots of riders have run wider tires (28-32mm) with no problems. Long tours have been done on them. Millions of miles of commuting and training. I just can't see any load less than 210 pounds or so doing them any damage.

Mavic also makes a great line of touring rims...the A719 is the pick of the litter, and it costs about as much as on Open Pro. Of course it's heavier, but it's a great choice for loaded touring.

The 32 spoke frount and 36 in back is the classic light touring set up... very good choice for any riding save heavy touring. Your spending money on a great wheelset....much, much better than any low spoke count racing wheels.