Cycling UK Forum

I am looking to replace the wheels on my Ti framed bike which I can use for some light touring. I had a set of wheels where the rear one had a terminal failure on my trip to Germany last year and the guy who in Belgium sold me a rear wheel showed me the spokes on the cassette side being seriously damaged, either because too thin or too tight, who knows.

So, I now want to replace with something for 25" tyres (700c) that is a compromise between audax and touring. I don't want to spend stupid money but ... Any suggestions?

thanks

Martin

Spa do a range of wheels http://spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s178p0
Ryde Chrina or Exal XR2 rims on Shimano hubs would make a lighter weight wheel, although there are heavier weight options like Exal LX17 available, should you require.

Plain gauge spokes if you want something more reliable.

malverncyclist wrote:I am looking to replace the wheels on my Ti framed bike which I can use for some light touring. I had a set of wheels where the rear one had a terminal failure on my trip to Germany last year and the guy who in Belgium sold me a rear wheel showed me the spokes on the cassette side being seriously damaged, either because too thin or too tight, who knows.

damaged? How so?

So, I now want to replace with something for 25" tyres (700c) that is a compromise between audax and touring. I don't want to spend stupid money but ... Any suggestions?

25" ...? you mean 25mm right?

BTW you don't say how heavy/strong you are, or what kind of roads you ride on, or indeed what 'stupid money' might constitute.

cheers

"seriously damaged" - this sounds strange. Spokes sometimes break through fatigue (usually at the bend) and are sometimes broken by contact with the chain or rear mech. I don't think I have ever seen a spoke damaged but not yet failed through normal use. Even my 50+ year old 15/17G rustless spokes (Harden on Weinman Alesa - 32-40 laced 3x and 4x) only ever failed - and that very rarely - by breakage despite my 105kg weight. What exactly was the damage?

ok, to get this back on track/topic. I am 81 kg, I wouldn't load the back with more than 15k. Yes, it's 25mm tyres I would put on as it doubles up as an audax bike. And I am fitting 10 speed cassette ... Any additional suggestions for wheels in addition to the Spa ones?

Martin

you could go talk to a wheelbuilder and see what he suggests.

How much money do you want to spend?

BTW I'd expect that your old wheels did not fall apart because of 'bad components' per se.

cheers

Hi,

YMMV but I can't see 25mm tyres being a prerequisite for Audax and a very poor choice
for touring. AFAICT for Audax you want the most efficient tyre size, that is not 25mm.
Its not about speed, its about endurance, for that you want comfortable tyres.

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYVIRNDHYP ... lding-tyre

A fine audax / randonneur / touring tyre, and 35mm or 40mm. (great value too).

Sizes that will greatly reduce the battering your wheels (and bike and you) take.

rgds, sreten.

What kind of clearance do you have for tyres?

I recently had to make a similar decision about a road bike that is used mainly for commuting and long day rides. I have just about worn through the braking surface on my rims. Because I use it for commuting, I wanted fairly sturdy wheels (32 spokes) and the ability to take 25mm tyres, but I didn't need to sacrifice so much weight (or cost) to get bomb proof, all out tourer kind of sturdy. I didn't find any stock or factory built wheels I was happy with, so I found a wheel builder. I am giving him the hubs and rear cassette. He is ordering DT Swiss rims and spokes and building the wheel for me. I don't have them yet, but that's what I decided. It was the only way I could get exactly what I wanted. It is a bit more expensive than buying factory built wheels, but it doesn't have to be silly money.

I can definitely endorse the Exal LX17 rims from Spa. I had a set made up by them with Shimano hubs and combination of Sapim Race & Strong spokes for my Dawes Super Galaxy after the original wheels gave up 4 years ago. I run these with Schwalbe Marathon Plus 32c tyres but you can go down to 25c tyres on these rims. I definitely prefer to fast/light tour and don't need wider tyres than 32c. The first expedition with these took me half way across France and up Ventoux (luggage left at bottom... I'm not that much of a masochist ). They've done many thousands of miles with no problems despite my asking for some spare spokes "just in case" when I ordered the wheels.

Pete

LX 17 are too wide to be ideal for 25mm tyres.

thanks for all the contributions. Just to say that there isn't much clearance, esp at the front. I rode the bike to my home town Bonn in Germany last year and had 28mm tyres on but had the fork replaced since, leading to the front tyre just about touching the mudguard. So put 25mm tyres on which are fine for general use. Not sure anymore whether the tyres touched on the side or top of the mudguard but definitely wasn't working (unless I get mudguards which end at the bottom of the steerer which may make the difference).

Martin

You also need to think about how wide the rims are and how much clearance between rims and brakes? You need to be careful that with any new stronger rims you can adjust the clearance of rim and brakes to your satisfaction.