GetUpnGo

What's the maximum weight of rider plus gear that you can put on a 32-hole rim?

Alex ID-19 alloy double-wall rims, with Shimano Road 2200 hubs, 14g spokes. Tires 700 x 32 Vittoria Randonneur.

vik 

I have no idea about the max weight....

I run 700c Mavic 32H CXP rims on my LHT...I'm ~170lbs without clothes and carry say 40lbs gear + 5lbs clothes + 5lbs water...so say my all up weight is 220lbs. I've ridden bad broken pavement and not treated the wheels lightly...so far no problems no real maintenance needed. I feel like they could handle another 30lbs of gear without caring.

I use 26" 32H rims on my Surly Big Dummy cargo bike...the front Mavic X717 and the rear Mavic EN321 [dishless with a Rohloff]....so far I've carried over 200lbs of cargo plus my 170lbs plus tools, and accessories. I've toured on mega rough dirt roads and had zero issues.

IMO the quality of the build and parts is far more important the number of spokes once you are at 32H.

Cyclebum

I toured for several years with stock 32 hole nothing special rims. Total weight about 250: me, bike, gear, and water. All on pavement. No problems. Build quality seems to be the key.

NoReg

I guess there is probably an answer to this, but it all comes down to build and parts really. Test rims have been made up for MTB and touring use that had as little as 20 spokes. Bad idea, but under certain circumstances these rims have held up through long use.

What some experts say is that going below 36 spokes is a threshold where flexible old school double eyelet rims like the MA2 become non-viable, and modern deep section rims like the velocities take over, rims have to be heavier than need be. Unfortunately the light double eyelet rims of high reliability are a little thin on the ground today, so you get some margin given the durability that is being built into new rims to make up for the lower spoke count that seems to be demanded. The hot courrier wheels in my town are 700c and 32 spoke and they see a lot of heavy use as far as stuff that really stresses wheels is concerned like curb hoping, long mileages, and I imagine, fixie use.

I built an ultimate touring type deal with Rohloff hubs, and ended up with an all 32 hole bike. Sorta weirds me out since I like high spoke counts, but it works in that particular case, given the spoke angles and the 26`rim.

GetUpnGo

Peterpan, I understand what you're saying. Can you comment on my specific rims?

benda18

i have 32H velocity dyads. i weigh 215#. i commute daily on my 30# LHT +20# gear. i've only toured a few times on this wheelset. that said i've had the rear wheel come out of true once. i'm going to continue riding them until the end of season (which is how long i expect them to last) then build a 36H rear over the winter. the deore hub on the wheel is the biggest problem.

LeeG

I don't see a ID-19 rim on the website, there's a DC-19 that weights 530g. I bet that would hold up well for a loaded front wheel and rear wheel with medium load, 175lb rider and 25lbs. I'd be more inclined to go for a heavier rim for heavier rear loads. This is a WAG. My $.02 is that wheel durability is more a function of rim weight/construction than number of spokes.

JoeMan

I have quite done quite a few gravel/logging road tours here in Oregon as well as pavement on the Pacific Coast Route with 26 inch 32 hole wheels. Zero problems. I weigh 145-150 and keep my gear weight modest. I tour with either a trailer or panniers.