New touring wheelset - any suggestions ?

[ossie]

UK poster.

The bike is a 2008 Specialised Tricross. It was used for commuting 2008 -2011. Has been used for touring as well for the last 10 year and thats all it does nowadays. I do one or two tours a year, ranging from a week to a month in Europe / UK on mainly decent surfaces / canal paths but nothing extreme. I'm about 90kg, I carry 16Kg in four panniers and a tent.

I've often thought about buying a dedicated touring bike (Surly LHT) but this thing is light, comfortable and I've updated bits and pieces over the years. It owes me nothing, parts are cheap etc and it does the job.

The current wheel set up is out of kilter. A Mavic Open pro on the rear (36 spoke) circa 2010 and a no name last minute heavy duty Halfords job on the front that was a last minute replacement before my last tour.

The dropouts are 130mm, 9 speed. Budget £150 -£200.

My first port of call was Spa / handmade and something like this ?

https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m2b0s178p18 ... Track-Hubs

I get that the Exal LX 17 rims are quite well thought of, Zenith hubs anyone ? Also suitable for 9 speed ?

Any suggestions appreciated .. regards.

[Brucey]

track hubs are not suitable for 9s gearing. Check to be sure but IIRC the tricross has a rear end that is either 130mm or 135mm OLN; whichever it is you need to buy wheels with a rear hub which is that wide. Some frames are actually inbetween (eg 132.5mm) when measured; if you want wheels to match perfectly then shimano hubs can be respaced and the resultant wheels are stronger than 130mm OLN ones.


The kind of wheels that you would be best using are in part dictated by the kind of tyres that you are going to use.

cheers

[ossie]

track hubs are not suitable for 9s gearing. Check to be sure but IIRC the tricross has a rear end that is 135mm OLN; if so, you need to buy wheels with a rear hub which is that wide.


The kind of wheels that you would be best using are in part dictated by the kind of tyres that you are going to use.

cheers

Thanks Brucey. Tyres are 28mm .

I based drop out size on google searches. I've whipped the rear wheel off, am I measuring from the centre of the each dropout, the inner or the outer face of said dropout? Measuring from the centre of each gives me 135mm.

[dim]

I've recently bought a vintage touring bike (1985 Miyata 1000)

The current wheels are Araya rims (40 spoke) and rear spacing is 126mm ... I will keep the original wheels in case I ever wish to sell the bike, but in the meantime, I will get my LBS to build a wheelset with HED Belgium Plus rims (36/36), with a SON Deluxe dynamo hub and I'm not sure which hub to use on the rear (must be 126mm, a touring hub with steel axle) ....

I am planning a few solo tours with wild camping, the first being the south/south west coast of Ireland

The HED Belgium rims are brilliant (and tubeless ready) .... I have them on my Trek Emonda SL6 with Chris King R45 hubs and Sapim CxRay spokes

[scottg]

HED doesn't list Belgium's in 36 hole.

https://store.hedcycling.com/belgium-ri ... -clincher/

Hub, EBay for NOS 126oln 7 speed shimano hub.
I found a 105 series hub, I use 9 cogs from a 10s cassette,
and 10s d/t shifters. ('86 Ellis Briggs)

[Bonefishblues]

Phone Spa, tell them your requirements and budget. Choose one of their options, job jobbed

[Brucey]

OLN = 'overlocknut' so measure from the inner faces of the dropouts. Sounds like you have ~130mm after all; if the frame obviously flexes when you tighten the QR then chances are the OLN isn't quite a perfect match.

With 28mm tyres you could use any rim 15-19mm internal width, so 17mm sounds sensible. In the long run being able to replace the rims and overhaul the hubs is a good thing so shimano hubs and rims that have a similar ERD to others you might want to use makes sense (to me). However there are many options for wheels (including many that are lighter, more aero etc) but their virtues are either irrelevant or wasted if you are touring with a load.

FWIW not all rims allow easy tyre fitment; (original type) Open Pros are usually very easy to get tyres on and off (often without using tyre levers at all). The Exal rims probably won't be that easy and many 'tubeless rims' are tighter than that.

cheers

[ossie]

FWIW not all rims allow easy tyre fitment; (original type) Open Pros are usually very easy to get tyres on and off (often without using tyre levers at all). The Exal rims probably won't be that easy and many 'tubeless rims' are tighter than that.

cheers

The Open Pro (36 spoke) is still as true as the day it was made although I'm not sure it was designed for fully loaded touring. My only issue was with Marathon HS308's deciding to leave the rim on three occasions between Spain and the UK back in 2011 . No problems since using Vittorias.

As suggested above will give Spa a bell. I'm really after a simple buy / fit / forget solution .

Thanks for your help.

[dim]

HED doesn't list Belgium's in 36 hole.

https://store.hedcycling.com/belgium-ri ... -clincher/

Hub, EBay for NOS 126oln 7 speed shimano hub.
I found a 105 series hub, I use 9 cogs from a 10s cassette,
and 10s d/t shifters. ('86 Ellis Briggs)

eek .... I never realised that the HED Belgium Plus maximum spoke count is 32 .... I will have to make do with the 32's instead of 36 (I'm using 20/24 on my Trek)

thanks for the recomendations for the hubs .... I'm also looking closely at the Suntour hubs .... same era as my bike and ebay USA have some that are new (NOS) .... There's also Phil Wood hubs that are very good

My Miyata has 5 speed but my LBS said I can use 7 speed aswell with the same freewheel .... It has a triple crankset and they are Biopace (I'm not too sure about them yet, but I need to go on a long ride then I'll know if they are OK or not)

I've read a thread on a forum with a guy who has a Miyata 1000 and it was recomended that he uses hyperglide (I've bookmarked the post and will look closely at this)

I don't want to change too much on the bike and I will try and keep it as original as possible (whatever I remove, I will keep incase I wish to use it again for L'Eroica etc)

Mine is in mint condition (was stored in a room since 1985 .... it even came with the original Miyata Radial tyres

[Gattonero]

The HED Belgium rims are brilliant (and tubeless ready) .... I have them on my Trek Emonda SL6 with Chris King R45 hubs and Sapim CxRay spokes

Good rims, but expensive! So are CK hubs.

A better value for money are the DT460, and their 350 hubs, though we're well out of the budget there.
If that was me, I'd choose Miche hubs on Rigida rims, 36h with plain gauge or double-butted spokes depending on the choice of rim&riding style

[pwa]

LX17s have been fine on my touring bike. Nice classic look rims. No problems getting tyres on and off. Cheap to replace when you need to.
Open Pros are fragile. I've dented them in the past. Not much brake surface depth either.

[MarcusT]

If you are still searching. I've bought 2 wheel sets from http://www.rosebikes.com
They have a good selection with a wide range of prices.
Both sets have stayed true after thousands of kms

[gbnz]

UK poster.

Any suggestions appreciated .. regards.

Don't fall for the handmade is best nonsense! The only wheel I've ever had go seriously out of true, was a Spa rear wheel, built on a Sputnik rim! (NB. It'd had a few years moderate use and I straightened it earlier this year).

In contrast, the original rear wheel, which came with a 2017 Speciliased Tricross lasted eight years of very heavy use without an issue (NB. I'd had a full twelve months at a stretch touring on it). Likewise I've never had an issue with run of the mill machine built wheels going out of true, the rims have always worn out prior to needing straightened.

I'd go for any moderately heavy rim, 36 spoked, on a run of the mill but decent hub I.e. Shimano LX

[gbnz]

I've often thought about buying a dedicated touring bike (Surly LHT) but this thing is light, comfortable .

Not a question you've asked, but have to admit that I didn't realize how uncomfortable the Tricross had been until I scrapped it and replaced it with a Spa Touring frame back in '16.

The Tricross had seemed great on purchase and still looked great nearly ten years on; but somehow the Spa frame is a far mor comfortable machine for doing substantial mileages on (NB. Despite looking fairly *^%%^. The only frame where I've suffered corrosion, c/w an exceptionaly poor quality paint finish)

[Bonefishblues]

UK poster.

Any suggestions appreciated .. regards.

Don't fall for the handmade is best nonsense! The only wheel I've ever had go seriously out of true, was a Spa rear wheel, built on a Sputnik rim! (NB. It'd had a few years moderate use and I straightened it earlier this year).

In contrast, the original rear wheel, which came with a 2017 Speciliased Tricross lasted eight years of very heavy use without an issue (NB. I'd had a full twelve months at a stretch touring on it). Likewise I've never had an issue with run of the mill machine built wheels going out of true, the rims have always worn out prior to needing straightened.

I'd go for any moderately heavy rim, 36 spoked, on a run of the mill but decent hub I.e. Shimano LX

Well built is well built, but I'd suggest there's a greater propensity for handbuilts to be just that.

IIRC there was an issue with Sputniks at Spa some time ago, wasn't there?