Shimano hubs are reasonably priced and would work well for your application. I'd be tempted, though, to go with these suzue sealed cartridge bearing hubs. I've been really impressed with how long sealed cartridge bearing hubs hold up without needing maintenance:

Universal Cycles -- Suzue Classica Rear Hubs

If I was going new I'd probably go with White Industries or Chris King road hubs and the Velocity A23. That rim is a lot wider than the Mavic Open Pro and all the hype says wider is smoother and gives more road contact area. But the serviced Dura-Ace hubs with A23s will be really nice.

But I always have my wheels checked and service before a trip, and pose self limit < 1,000 miles and Rider plus gear weight < 180lbs. Bike carbon frame cyclocross. For longer trip I go for my Bianchi Volpe. For Cross USA trip, the carbon rims wheelset may not be practical. I don't know.

For what it is worth at 180 or so pounds (in your case due to gear). Peter white thinks you are too fat for racing tires and gear, and that you should probably be thinking of touring gear anyway. In addition we now have the strange research that narrow tires are slower.

Some of the advice, like on alloy nipples is very bad. Rims are heavier than spokes, it's sorta a problem because since they mostly sell deep section rims you can probably get away with fewer spokes, but the wheels might be nicer, if you didn't want the aero, if they had more spokes and less deep section rims. Radial spokes, for sure get some of those.

Nun, I'd be inclined to take that class and enjoy rebuilding your old wheels but it's always nice having a spare set of wheels. Instead of fancy expensive low spoke count wheel sets stick with mid-priced durable stuff.

I'd like to second that if you think you might enjoy it. Wheel building isn't that hard and is actually kind of fun. A class sounds like a good way to get into it. That said it isn't too hard to teach yourself. Sheldon Brown's website has some good info at Wheelbuilding. I had good results the first try at it. Sadly the components of a wheel are kind of expensive so you don't necessarily save all that much money.

With the wider HED or A23 rims you get more tire contact area than with narrow sections like Open Pros......that's the [strike]hype[/strike] idea anyway. I'm sure Peter White would not recommend a lot of the stuff I do.

I'm not sure really deep rims are the best for long distances....they might be a bit too stiff. I think 32 spoke Velocity A23 look like a nice way to go.

Yes I will do the wheel building course, but I have to take the Advanced Bike Mechanic course first....I've already done the Basic course. I gave my Dura-Ace/Open Pro wheels a good cleaning and the front looks good, but the rear has a bit of wear on the rim......a straight edge pressed against it lets a bit of light through....so as I've been riding these hard for the last year I just took them down to the LBS. Their verdict was that the front is just fine, straight and the hub feels great. The rear needs just a bit of truing and the hub feels a bit rough, but nothing out of the ordinary after a year's riding, the rim is slightly worn, but the wall thickness is fine and the rim has many miles left in it. So they are going to do full hub services on both wheels and re-tension the spokes....cost $80.

When I do the wheel building course I'll probably build some 32 hole velocity A23 rims onto White Industries T11 hubs.

hi nun, Happy Christmas and all that.

I don't recall you ever mentioning brake pads, but connected to rim life, I always recommend soft brake pads from both the angle of braking power but especially for being easier on the rim surface so longer life out of a rim.

I too have thought of a wheel building course, the times I have looked into it they are a bit pricey and was surprised by how much (seems to me it was up near $500)

staeph, your suggestion of taping a new rim to an old one is a neat idea. May do that this winter as I have small cracks in the rear rim of my Tricross due to the driveside spokes being over enthusiastically tightened by someone else. I realize I will end up taking it somewhere to get properly tensioned and dished (not the same place that overtightened it) but I like your suggestion just to do some hands on work changing out a rim (which I have never done)

I'm using the pads that came with my bike, looks like regular black rubber compound.

The wheel building class at my local LBS is $140 plus cost of materials. The first night is spent on theory and ordering parts.

when I got that Tricross, I was underwhelmed by its stopping power, so towards the end of the first season, I put on some of those salmon coloured KoolStop pads. Not only did it make a real feelable diff in braking power, but I am certain that they are easier on the rims. At first I thought they may not last long, but you know, I have ridden that bike for four full seasons since then and the fronts are only now getting close to needing to be changed. I have the spare "slide in" cartridge pads, but ended up not needing to change them this season. I dont ride a ton in the rain, and not down mtns in rain, so that is a big factor, but four seasons of riding, (and the rears still have lots of life in them, I brake much harder with the fronts) is pretty good for me.

Im really sold on softer pads, set up well, its a win win for all the reasons. I am someone who wipes down my rims after rainy riding, and take a cloth to the pads too to avoid little debris getting imbedded in them, so I know this helps a great deal for pad and rim life.


that $140 course sounds great. I am comfortable and reasonably competent on most mechanical stuff with bikes, but wheel experience is very much lacking.

Just my opinion, but I'm frankly amazed at how frequently the Velocity A23 is recommended. In my personal experience, it's a piece of junk. Very flimsy, poor QC from the factory, and the result is that the damn things dent easily and don't stay true. This was also my experience years previously with the Aerohead. It has also been my experience with the Major Tom tubular. Velocity is not a manufacturer of high-quality rims, in my opinion. The H Plus Son Archetype or TB14 are 23mm rims at a similar price, similar weight (the TB14 runs closer to 500 grams though), but much tougher and of much higher quality, and I would recommend them over anything made by Velocity.

It isn't hard to do the whole deal yourself. Just in case anyone is interested it goes something like this if the spokes were properly sized to start with:

1. Loosen all the spokes.
2. Tape the new rim to the old one with the valve holes lined up.
3. Be sure that all the holes are oriented the same in each rim, if they are not flip the rim.
4. Move the spokes to the new rim one at a time.
5. Tighten all the spokes to the same point. This is usually something like leaving the same number of threads showing on all spokes.
6. Go around adding a the same amount of turn to each spoke until the spokes are just starting to all have slight tension.
7. Check the dish and fix if needed. I have usually found it OK, but that is dependent on whether the original spokes were selected correctly. If you need to fix it adjust the same number of turns on all inner or outer spokes. If at home you can improvise a tool to measure it. If on the road just eyeball it up in the frame.
8. Check that the wheel is true and has no hop. If it needs it carefully true it up at that low tension.
9. Add tension in small equal increments to all spokes truing after each time around.
10. Continue adding tension "in layers" until desired tension is reached, truing after each "layer".
11. Stress relieve using your favorite method.

That has worked well for me and the wheels I have done it with have been trouble free.

If you can true a wheel you can do this. If you can't but are fairly mechanically inclined, you can look up directions for truing (sheldonbrown.com?) and probably still manage to do it. It really isn't all that hard.

thankyou kindly for taking the time to put that down. Will be an interesting experience to do.

I hope it works out well for you.

Interesting. I've had a pair of Dyads for a few years and they haven't given me any problems and the A23s are very popular, but those H Plus Son Archetype get some good reviews. They definitely look nice and are another new wide rim.

A 105/CR 18 set same 32/36 hole setup should be Fine ..

Bent rims Mid trip in the summer you just get another wheel , no one wants to hang out for days for special parts orders to take Place ..


so High end is great till it Breaks, accidents happen , then the Replacement will be whats in stock./ and the high end hub gets Mailed Home.

Agreed, high end zooty stuff shows you have money but it's not what I'd want if I had to toss the bike in a truck or in some bushes. Light weight is useful for acceleration and climbing hills which the 20lbs of touring gear totally masks over 1/2lb of lighter wheels.

Surely this is heresy but Mavic Aksium S Road Wheelset 2014 | Chain Reaction Cycles would be my pick to meet OP requirements. Bullet proof.

1) Get Real Nothing is Bullet Proof When a Car hits you or you go off a Corner over a Cliff .. accidents happen.

and if they are damaged Do You want to wait 2 weeks while a replacement set is shipped 10 timezones and Thru Customs ?

see post 42..

Not enough spokes for me. I'm sticking with 32 spoke Open Pros on Dura Ace hubs for now. Great hubs and proven rims. Once the rims really wear out I'll go over to wider ones, HED or H Plus Son seem to get good comments. When I need new hubs I'll go with White Industries because I have a set of their MTB hubs and they have been great.

That seems pretty crazy expensive, especially if they are also making money selling you the parts. Different matter if parts are included.

That sounds like a fairly reasonable price.

Still, if you are mechanically inclined it isn't all that hard to learn on your own. I think I used Sheldon Brown's instructions, but it has been long enough ago that I may be wrong on that. I just started right in with new parts, but for practice you could take a cheap junk wheel and take it apart and reassemble it with the same parts. You can do it multiple times if you want and be fairly practiced before starting on more expensive new parts.

Sadly it is usually kind of hard to find good wheel parts at a decent price so you may find it worth buying pre-built wheels.

Nun, all this wheel talk aside, tell us more of your trip idea. A big undertaking and I imagine a 2 month time committment more or less?

I'm mulling over the Northern Tier for Summer next year. A few things have to slot into place between now and then. Last year's Boston to Buffalo trip was useful as a bit of route research.

All the best with how things fall into place or not. Will post some thoughts in the other thread about weighing bits and bobs etc. Cheers