Wheels on longtail (trek transport)
 

Hi guys!,

A week ago I bought a trek transport, and I have been very happy with her. I have a shimano xt hydraulic disc brakes that I will use to replace stock ones.

I will be using this bike to commute and some grocery shopping. I weight 77kg and would probably travel light...when shopping probably would add 100 lbs of cargo, not more...

I have a Spinergy Xyclone disc wheelset (32 spokes) that I would love to use... based on your experience, what do you think on using MTB wheels on longtail bikes? (Specifically the ones I have)...

I love how the Spinergy look on the Transport :)

Thanks for replying!

please show use a picture of it.

I had to look up the Spinergy wheels you're talking about. I'm by no means a cargo bike expert, but my first thought is that your stock wheels are probably better left on the bike rather than switching to the Spinergy wheels. Wheels on cargo bikes are usually going to be of heavier construction like you'd find with tandems. Your Spinergy wheels are probably pretty nice for a performance mtb, but probably won't be strong enough for heavy loads on a cargo bike. I want to say most cargo bikes that I can think of have 36 spoke rear wheels, but I might be mistaken. If it was me I'd rather not be worrying about broken spokes or having the wheels go out of true all the time. Stick with the stock wheels.

Aarons bike in Seattle seems to have some Interesting Mods for long tails ..
the opposite direction
Re-drilled Rohloff Hubs 32 to 48 hole, 2x + radial spoking.
[though the new 36 hole hubshells may be sufficient.]
And Modified Shimano tandem Hubs narrowed to fit and modified
to take a screw on Disc adapter,
since the Tandem freehubs carry on the threaded Arai drag brake Mount.
40 and 48 hole..

If only Skyway came up with some Modified Hubs in their Tuffwheels.

So this would seem to bear out the concept of stronger wheels for a longtail cargo bike correct? It would seem logical that a 48 spoke wheel would have even more weight carrying capacity than a 36 spoke hub. So, the OP is still best off leaving his bike with the stock wheels.

Yea the 'If it aint broke don't fix it' .. I do think a Hydraulic rear brake is a good upgrade
given the extra rear wheelbase, hose wont matter, long cable and housing runs do.

Transport Plus adds a Hub Motor.. heavy load a a little tailwind is good..

Thanks for the interesting replies. I thought that given that the maximum load to the Transport will NOT exceed 100 lbs, and that the Spinergy are 32 spokes and design to take serious abuse on the mtb trails it would have been just fine.

I searched the web on this topic and didnt get much info. Does this mean that People that convert their regular mtb with the xtracycle kit "need" to build a new wheelset instead of using their current one??

I'm building and Xtracycle kit based on an old mtb ('94 Specialized Stumpjumper Pro), however the rims I have on that donor bike are pretty stout. They were certainly tough, but they weren't lightweight and tough which is more what your Spinergy wheels are. A mountain bike wheel can be tough, but tough on the trails on a 24 lb bike versus tough on the streets with a 40 lb bike carrying 100 lb of cargo and a 170 lb rider (in your case), is a whole different ball game.

one thing to bear in mind a derailleur rear wheel is riding
more harshly on the right side spokes than the left,
because of the tension imbalance to make room for the cassette stack,
so 16 of 32 or 18 of 36 are stressed more.

OTOH an IGH with equal spoke tensions shares the load , more evenly....

thanks for the feedback!.... willl stick with the stock wheelset... but damn!... those spinergy look soooo sweeet jaja.... Today I put the XT hydraulic brakes!.. looking to add something the the rear rack to protect it from scratches :P