Hey guys, I am looking at building up a Specialized AWOL frameset, I am wondering what kinda wheels would work on this rig? Do I use 29er wheels or 700c wheels or what? I am planning a tour next summer from Oregon, home to North Dakota. I don't know a whole lot about wheelsets for touring/cross bikes so I am in need of some help on this front! I've built a couple other bikes so I am familiar with building, just lost on the wheelsets at the moment.

Thanks

In touring, people usually talk about Velocity Dyad or Sun Rhyno Lite rims. I know the Velocity Deep V might be used for 200+ lbs riders on road bikes but the Sun CR18 according to Harriscyclery cannot take more than 200 lbs.

36 hole rims is usually the standard although some say they can get by with 32 spokes.

Shimano Deore LX hubs are usually preferred although if your dropout is 135 or 132.5mm. Or, in 130mm, a Shimano 105 hub. [I wouldn't mind going down to Shimano Deore (135mm) or Tiagra (130mm).]

Spokes often used: DT Swiss, Sapim, Wheelsmith (not Wheelmaster).

Sites for calculating spoke length:
https://leonard.io/edd/
https://wheelbuilder.jmoore.me
https://www.wheelpro.co.uk/spokecalc/

It sounds like you are just starting to have fun!

700c and 29's are the same size.

Hybridbkrdr pretty much covered the options. I also agree with him about the Deore (135 mm dropouts) and Tiagra hubs (130 mm dropouts). I rode fully loaded across the country on a set of Tiagra 32 spoke hubs. After several more years of hard use the wheels finally gave up the ghost. However, it was not because of the hubs!

I would also look at the Mavic 319 and 719 rims. Actually, the Mavic 119 rims are decent rims at a good price. The Mavic 119 came as OE on Cannondale's touring bikes for a number of years. My wife has been using a pair on her Cannondale for about 10,000 miles. This included the cross country trip, and several shorter tours..

The LX hubs are hard to find, and even though there is some controversy about the Shimano XT hubs; I believe they are a good hub. I prefer the LX, but didn't hesitate to use the XT when I could not find any LX's. My daughter and I have been running XT's on our touring bikes for many miles.

We run the following components on the 6 touring bikes we have in our family:
Hubs- (1)Ultregra, (1)105, (2)XT and (2)LX, All 36 spoke
Rims- (3)Velocity Dyad, (1-26")Alex Adventurer, (2)Mavic 119
Spokes- (3)Wheelsmith double butted on the wheels I had built.

We generally don't run tires much wider that 32 mm, but ocassionally I'll go to a 35mm tire. I feel for riding mostly on roads, 32 mm are more than adequate. Even for some unsurfaced roads and trails I found 32 mm tires are OK. On a tour a couple of years ago part of our route, about 400 miles, was on unsurfaced roads and trails. The 32 mm tires worked well.

All of these components have performed well.

A good place to get wheels built for a very competitive price is Universal Cycle in Portland, Oregon. They do an excellent job and their customer service is top notch.

Go to their Custom Wheelset Builder, and pick out the components you want. The prices with the build seem lower than just the cost of the components.

https://www.universalcycles.com/wheelkit.php

Touring and Cross bikes run very different wheels, and the frames are very different also. Some of this stuff may diverge further as the X bikes move to discs. X bikes run on very low pressure and for that tubulars or tubeless are preferred.

I run good hubs, I have moved to boutique hubs at this stage in my life, but I have run LX or no-name through much of the rest of it. Spokes, I run wheelsmith, currently butted, but always prior to that I ran straight gage, and they work fine, spokes if they are the correct fit, and stress relieved will never break and the butted part is irrelevant. For rims I run Velocity, or Alex. 36 hole is minimum for me. I build my own wheels, and the simplest thing is to copy a proven component mix.

Another way to view it, FWIW,

You have the option of a building premier wheel, certainly, but an adequate one will do .

if you damage it a bike shop will provide a similar reasonable wheel,

if damaged , people still end up buying a lesser wheel, anyhow,

because shops in high season are often too busy to build you a new wheel on the spot..

winter is another story, but thats not the season people are out on the road, by the hundreds.

all else you may be shipping the valuable parts of your 1st wheel home ,

riding on something that is a substitute.


but wheel building is a good skill, to do patch up spoke replacements, etc. in the field...

You can get Handspun wheels with LX hubs. I only read one complaint on Handspun wheels. In any case, for whatever reason, they called them "Quality Wheels" on smartbikeparts.com

Handspun 36 spoke rear wheel with Shimano Deore LX hub, Velocity Dyad rim and DT Swiss Champion spokes
https://smartbikeparts.com/search_details.php?itm=WE7427
Handspun 36 spoke front wheel with Shimano Deore LX hub, Velocity Dyad rim and DT Swiss Champion spokes
https://smartbikeparts.com/search_details.php?itm=WE7426

The last time I looked, the shipping to Canada was reasonable.

Very cool stuff guys, thanks for the help! I think I'm gonna go the route of getting some built up, thanks for the link to Universal Cycles. What do you guys think of the shimano Alphine dynamo hub? Is it worth the extra cost for the ability to generate a charge?

I don't know if they make them anymore, but I used to see 2.4 watt and 3.0 watt dynamo hubs. The 2.4 watt model was supposed to be for a light up front. And the 3 watt model for a 2.4 watt light at the front and 0.6 watt light at the back although I read if you pedal fast enough, a 2.4 watt dynamo hub should power two lights anyway.

According to Shimano documents I've seen, some dynamo hubs require the SM-DH10 overvoltage protector. Some models may not require the overvoltage protector. And from what I've seen on the bike24 web site, the LX dynamo hub has serviceable bearings. Usually, they say not to touch the bearings at all because if you break a small piece of metal inside, it may stop working.

Busch & Muller is known for their dynamo lights. The Lumotec Lyt is cheaper than the Cyo but the Cyo is more powerful overall and has a more powerful standlight (temporary light when you stop pedaling). I bought a Lyt from xxcycle from France but haven't tried it yet.

NB; its a trickle charge for small batteries , Phones , not tablets and only while both phone and lights are Off.

I find having a dyno hub for lights without any concern of battery state of charge useful,
Every night, in the year.

Primary use of dyno is for lights, if you want to charge a battery pack for your phone you're committing to carrying an extra lb of weight once you figure in the extra weight of hub, lights and battery. For me the hub generator and light are worth it for commuting

With regard to wheels it's funny how most disc brake wheels are 32 spoke, which isn't any advantage for a touring bike, especially the rear wheel.

This looks good

https://handspunwheels.com/products/view_product/2025/

36 spokes all the way, at min. Might prefer 40 in the rear.
Another vote for Velocity Dyads in the 700c, Aeroheats in the 26".
Deore LX hubs in 700c set and Deore in the 26".
Laced black DT Swiss Competition double butted spokes in last build w/ black aeroheats and black deore hubs. Sharp, smooth, strong wheel set for the $$$.
When properly repacked and w/ cones set correctly, can't tell the difference in rolling between the two hubs.
Wife has XT and 36 hole Alex Adventurers on her tourer, but I prefer the Velocity rims w/ the lower priced Deore. Looks better too, IMO.

onaccounta Quality Bicycle Parts IS Handspun Wheels

Actually touring , requiring boxing the bike up to ship it to where you want to go, or return home,

IMO is easier with a centerlock front Hub, because a lockring lets the disc come off, easily.

thus it can be packed separately , to not get bent.

is an Alfine, a Dyno-hub with the Centerlock disc fixing scheme worth it¿ your money you choose.

you can leave the electronics at home , and not need to charge anything, on your holiday away from that stuff.

I have never had a problem with the stock wheels on my LHT, which use Alex Adventurer rims. I am a big guy and have probably carried a little more than the average load over paved and unpaved roads. Whatever you do, don't skimp on wheels. My first tour was x-country. The Sun rims that came with my Cannondale T700 were not up to the task. Frequent wheel problems on tour are very annoying.

I'm biased as hell (I work for Velocity) but I'd say a Dyad wheelset, 36H front and rear would be a great choice. Shameless plug: we can also build them up for you: https://www.thewheeldepartment.com/p/facts.html

I run the Aeroheats (26" Dyad, basically) on my MTB touring conversion, and just did a 200 mile on/off-road tour, and commute about 14 miles over some pretty bad roads, and have yet to have to true them. A lot of that is due to the build quality, however. The rim is important, but much of the strength and durability of a wheel comes down to the build quality. We use DT Swiss tensiometers, which are infinitely more accurate and precise than the Park or Wheelsmith tensio's that most bike shops use, and therefore can get our tension to 120kgf with an absolute max variance of 10% or so throughout the wheel. I'd recommend finding a reputable, professional wheelbuilder with similar standards.

Hey, I've been checking out the site for a lil while and getting some ideas for what I think I am going to do! Ordered up the frameset already, gotta wait til late december before it'll get here though :/.

As far as the wheelset goes and the velocity dyad rims, they are available 36h right? Also, with the deore LX disc hub; It says 100 mm spacing online, how do I determine if that will fit on the AWOL? Being its a new design, I am not sure what the exact specs for wheel fitment and whatnot are concerned. Is 100 mm spacing pretty standard?

I'd say 100mm is pretty standard for the front wheel. Yes, the Dyad is available in 36h.

wonderful, maybe someone from the team can provide some stats on the rims used on the AWOL here on bikeforums.net

I chose Velocity Dyads for my Surly Ogre after much reading on online forums.
I got good pricing from jensonusa.com.
I went with 36H and for me a dynamo hub was a no brainer for my usage, so I went with a Son28.
The newish SP dynamo hubs hadnt been around long enough to have any reputation, but they have now and if I was making a purchase decision now, SP would be high on the list.
Cant comment on the shimano hubs as I havnt had any since the early 90's.
I tend to prefer IGH due to a hopeful perception of less maintenance.
My previous wheels were built up by wheelbuilder.com and I had no problems with them.
I'm in Australia and I've had issues with local builders and wish I'd paid the extra to once again get wheelbuilder in California to do the build of my current hoops.
I'm sure the shipping would be much cheaper for those living in the States.
Oh and my primary use for my dynamo hub, unlike others, is keeping my cell phone and gps charged.
I dont ride much at night when touring, but do when I'm home as daytime in the summer is mostly too hot to ride where I am.

Best of luck with what ever you go with

Happy Spinning

So did you decide on a wheelset for your AWOL? Did you get the frameset yet?

I got an AWOL and have been considering a different wheel as the stock rims are pretty wide and thought I might want a narrower tire for road touring then they are really intended for.

I'd go with this... although a small torx wrench that comes with discs is going to be smaller and easier to deal with but then you have to keep track of 6 little screws and possibly cross-thread them


with that being said I just had a wheel built up for my disc trucker... xt 6 bolt hubs, velocity chukker 36h wheel and dt spokes... i'm a 300# rider and it's pretty much what Peter White recommended on a budget... I never plan to run smaller than a 32c tire so the wider rim is good for me... but it prob is a bit overkill for all but the biggest or most overloaded riders

[QUOTE=mstraus;16590270]So did you decide on a wheelset for your AWOL? Did you get the frameset yet?

My frame set actually will be in on Friday, ordered it way back in November! Ordered my wheel set today, went with deore disc hubs, velocity chukker rims, with dt Swiss butted spokes. The build up wheel set cost just over $300 built up. The chukker rims are a bit wider for some bigger tires. Plan on commuting mainly with one long tour towards the end of the summer so I figure this wheel set will be pretty well bombproof for my uses. Went 36 spoke on the set

FWIW... since this is a necro-thread, I'm don't feel too messed up asking a side-line question.....

FietsBOB - I like your viewpoint here!!!!!! I generally like top-quality gear, but for "Touring", top-quality in a bicycle for me is like an F-250 Super-Duty pick-up truck meant for hauling lots of heavy stuff.... meaning basically, "function is beauty's master".

So, ~260lb rider (~260lbs currently, but due to my baseline physicality I will likely never be below 200lbs), plus another ~50lbs gear and the bike (my "Old Ironsides" Schwinn High Plains w/26" wheels with a 130 OLD), what would "an adequate (differentiated from "premier") one (bicycle wheel/hub build)" be for me?

Your drive train use a cassette hub already.. MTB have been 135 for a long time, sure this is 130?, the road bike standard.

common.. is 36 spoke 3 cross . as to specific parts May I suggest working with your local shop
and seeing what their suppliers have , in their catalog..

Im just not an Amazon fan, for wheels, as so many work on the computer on the job posters seem to be.

they, a warehouse, just ship things they put in a box & Can't take the time
to tension and hand finish checking the wheels, at the delivery end of the wheel shipping,
a shop will . & be there for the occasional re truing session as the spokes settle in
to the wheel, as a whole.

get some spare spokes same length as on the wheel and have them show you the replacement process ..

a cassette rear hub, is common now , the relocating the right hub bearing to the far right end of the hub on the freehub driver,

is doing a lot to prevent broken axles that were all too common with most freewheel hubs ..

being a Bike Mechanic I built my own wheels , 700c Around a semi collector's item rear freewheel hub with 48 spoke holes ..

no accidents or problems other than 1 spoke replacement in 10 years and actually, 2 long tours of a combined 6 months ,
so I was lucky ..

Nice, post pictures and details when you are done with your build!

I ordered my AWOL Comp way back in September, told it would be in in October. Kept getting pushed back month after month. Almost didn't believe the other week when they said the bike was in. LBS gave me a little gifts for my patience.

Sounds like they will be good wheels for your uses. Did you get them from your LBS or online? I have struggled to find a LBS that builds wheels that are not high end racing wheels by me.