bailout

Are 32 hole rims strong enough for loaded touring? I need new wheels and have seen a good price on a set with 32 hole rims. I know people usually recomend 36 but how much difference does it really make? From what I can see most mtb wheels use 32 and I would have thought they probably stress their wheels more than steady touring even with a load.

thanks

nubcake

their is a difference in the kinds of stess a wheel will see in touring vs mountain biking. I think because of the consistent load a wheel would see touring would make more spokes to share the load that much more important.

As long as you dont plan on a crazy load or your not already fairly heavy already I think you would be fine with a well built 32h wheel.

What kind of wheelset is it you found? Also what kind of touring are you going to do. What do you expect the terrian you will be ridding will be like, your weight plus your gears weight, etc...

vik 

My LHT has 32h 700c wheels and has not had any issues in thousands of KMs of touring. You'll be fine on 32h 26" wheels....just make sure you buy something decent and get them tensioned by a skilled human if they are machine built.

bailout

Thanks for the replies. The wheels I am replacing are rlatively cheap, parralax hubs with mavic x139 rims. Although the hubs are still ok it isn't worth paying someone to replace the rims and having never built a wheel I am reluctant to try myself as I could see me getting stuck and having to pay someone to do it. I have seen a cheap wheel set of similar quality to the ones I have but new, deore hubs, cr18 rims (32 hole) but I am then left wondering whether to pay more and get a set built with disk capable hubs which would give me the option of disk brakes in the future (my frame has canti bosses and disk brackets) but that is obviously a lot more expensive than just buying new rims and replacing them myself.......and so the cycle of indecision goes round again

antokelly

no my man get yourself the very best wheels you can afford plus top end tyres ,you won't regret it for a nano second.honest.

Bacciagalupe

What's your weight, and how much weight are you carrying?

A 250 lb rider + 80 lbs of gear is going to need lots of spokes. A 150 lb rider + 30 lbs of gear... not so much.

Thasiet

Parallax is Shimano mtb hubs from the last 15 years. Only thing better for touring than Shimano is Phil Wood at 800% more cost. If the spokes are brand name with DT, W, etc.. stamped on the spoke flange (or in the case of Sapim, just above), they would be worth rebuilding. The easy way to do that is to find a rim with the same ERD as the X139. I think the Mavic XM117 is nearly identical. 440g rim is same weight as CR-18. Would make a fine enough wheelset as long as you aren't carrying too much in the bags or in the gut. Keep in mind that 26" is inherently stronger than 700c, so you can to a certain extent get away with fewer spokes.

Transfering a new rim to old wheels is easier than building new ones. You loosen the spokes on each wheel, tape the new rim next to the old one, and move the spokes over one at a time right on around the circle. Then you just have to tension and true it, and if you panic at that stage, paying someone to finish it from there will be cheaper than paying to have new wheels built.

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, spokes are well worth re-using if they are brand name and in good condition. They only break from fatigue in wheels that aren't properly tensioned and stress relieved, or in the uncommon case of a metallurgical defect.

vik 

+1 - good point....I forgot to mention that I weigh 160lbs and carry a moderate amount of gear...not the kitchen sink and a couple dogs.

7speed

kilograms or pounds?

If pounds, you need to eat a sandwich!

vik 

LMAO....ya that should have been 160lbs....

h. bicycletus

I can also attest to well-built 32h wheels being fine for touring- - -I weigh about 155-160 and have done two week self-contained touring on my LHT on 32h DT Swiss 1.1 rims laced to Chris King hubs. They are very stable wheels and I've never had any angst about them whatsoever. I've broken spokes on crappier wheels, but these have been the best ever. (with Panaracer Tourguard T-Serv 700x28's)

Shimagnolo

Man, I'd die to weigh only 60 lbs.
Just think what I could do on the mountain climbs around here.
I'd make Tom Danielson look like a clyde.

eofelis 

I know the wheels on my LHT are overkill for my 105lb weight: Sun Rhinolites, 36h, on XT hubs. But they were such a good deal ($110/set) at gNashbar that I couldn't pass them by.

tmac100

When I was getting my touring bike built I found 2 PW 48 spoke hubs on e-bay - that was over 3 years ago, but the e-bay price for those never-laced hubs was about 50% of retail IIRC. On tour, I did have a problem with spokes breaking, but that was because the RD disintegrated and went into the 26" wheel. The wheel was just a bit out of true, but I had to hitch hike all day to get to a town in outback Australia that had a bicycle shop. With the broken RD, pedalling was out of the question as I did not want to shorten the chain and make a single speed out of it. Besides, I was on pavement and there was some traffic and hitching was possible. At the town, I had spare spokes and the LBS had a replacement RD. A bit of work and I was back on the road. I had to buy a new helmet because I forgot my other one in the van that drove me to the town...

Get the best wheels you can afford - then take your chances and enjoy the biking :-) You will never know what will await you except an interesting adventure.

bailout

Thanks for the replies. I weigh about 160lbs and my intended tour is in Europe, roads and paths, carrying panniers but not huge weight. I think I am unlikely to cycling across Africa carrying 3 weeks of water supplies

Thasiet, I am very tempted to try replacing the rims myself. I saw this guide and it doesn't sound too bad.

https://www.jimlangley.net/wrench/buildwheel.html

The main problem is getting reliable erd valuees for my current rims Mavic x139 as they are no longer produced and so I can't simply buy new ones. The spocalc spreadsheet that is on the net says that the x139s have an erd of 548. This would mean that I could use cr18 rims which I can get quite cheap and it would be worth doing. However, spocalc also says that the cr18s have an erd of 544 whereas the sun ringle site says 548 so I am not sure how accurate the spocalc is for the x139. Mavic doesn't even have erd for their current rims on their website, that I could find, let alone obselete rims. You sound quite knowledgable about the issue, do you have a reliable source of data for mavic rims inc the x139?

thanks

robow

bail,
you might check with the fine folks at Harris Cyclery as they were able to help me with the specific numbers and correct parts for one of my such endeavors.

Randochap

I weigh 130-135 lbs. I've never broken a spoke, using 32 hole rims, even on a heavily-loaded backroad tour.

Though I would consider 36 hole if I weighed 180+ lbs., the key is hand-built wheels assembled by a competent wheel builder.

Thasiet

Mavic's website is content-lean, flash-bloated merde. I wouldn't trust that spocalc site at all. I can confidently say that the CR-18 has an ERD of 548mm, as I just did a rim transfer to one from a Mavic M261 with the same ERD. For spocalc to say the CR-18 is 544, and the X139 548 is ludicrous, as it implies the CR-18 (a very shallow section rim) is actually deeper than the X139.

I believe the mavic XM117 may match just based on these photos, which suggest the extrusions are identical:





The XM117 looks to be the direct successor to your rim, with some changes here or there.

If you can calculate the ERD of your rim, go to aebike.com to find a match. Their catalog has an incredibly robust search engine which allows you to specify whatever parameters you are looking for, be it number of spoke holes, ERD range, valve type...

bailout

Thanks for the reply. I think you are right about the xm117 being the modern equivelent and the xm317 looks virtually the same with eyelets. With a bit of digging I got access to the mavic tech site and the xm117 has a 'spoke support distance' of 540. From more googling ssd+3mm=erd. So the xm117 has an erd of 543.