Comfortable Wheels

[danpants]

Hi all

I want to buy a wheel set for light touring (charge card, ~ 85 miles/day). I want the wheels to be relatively light weight, rugged, yet comfortable (i.e. not stiff and harsh). I will be mounting them on a Litespeed frame. I have a set of Mavic Cosmos wheels now, but the color doesn’t match the bike.

Any recommendations?

[saab2000]

Do they need to be factory builts or handbuilts?

I find my Campagnolo Nucleons (same as today's Neutrons) to be solid and stiff, but also comfortable.

If you want handbuilts, get something with either an offset rim (Velocity Aerohead) or get one with the DT Swiss hub, which also helps deal with offset problems. Ideally, both. Then you would have a rear wheel with almost no assymetry on the spoke tension.

I have a set of the Aeroheads and find them to be just fine. Joe Young is a builder of great reputation and he recommends the DT Swiss hub. Contact Joe Young for great wheels.

[Sandy]

Paint the bike. :)

Sandy

[Kevan]

so much for that credit card!

[Tailwinds]

Bought mine a few weeks ago and mounted them on my (harsh) Litespeed Ultimate. They do help w/the rough pavement. I have hit a few potholes on them, and they have held up great. Even Nelson Vails and some other people have put them to the test and agree. Check out the testimonials section of the Topolino website: http://www.topolinotech.com/testimonials.shtml

They also feel very solid descending and climb well!

Other wheels I've tried: Open Pro's (built heavy and durable), American Classic 350s, Velomax Ascent

I vote for Topolino's for comfort (but not cheap!), but I haven't had them long enough to accurately rate their durability. I'd say they equal Open Pro's for stability on descents.

[Climb01742]

bang for buck, hard to beat open pro's.

[Bradford]

I want the wheels to be relatively light weight, rugged, yet comfortable (i.e. not stiff and harsh).
Any recommendations?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, and again, and again. If you are touring, either fully loaded or less loaded, you don't want light. You want dependable and you want reliable. Comfortable is good too, but most of all you want dependable. As far as wheels are concerned, you want something that will stay together, stay round, and keep you rolling. There are plenty of times you will wish your wheels were stronger, but you will never wish that they were weaker.

Why do you need light? Light wheels help you accelerate faster and ride up hills faster. Neither of these things is important in touring. If you are having trouble keeping up with your touring partners, then you need new touring partners, not new wheels. If you go a little slower up hills, who cares? You are touring, enjoy the scenery and go as slow as you want. Take all day to ride your 80 miles; you are touring, you have all day.

Here’s what I’ve learned in my 15 years of touring, both loaded and unloaded:

Bike:
-Never buy anything for a touring bike because it is light – light often comes at the expense of strength, and strength is the most important characteristic on a tour
-Never compromise because something is on sale or less expensive– buy what is the most reliable, not the cheapest
-Spend as much time as you can preparing to keep the bike rolling – that means try to eliminate all ways it can break down (through choice of parts, tires, etc.) and carry enough stuff to get it back on the road when something goes wrong (such as extra spokes, fiber spoke, tools, and an assorted back of screws, bolts, cables, an extra tire, etc.)
-Know how to fix things on your bike

Ride:
-Fewer miles are better than more miles; sure you can ride big days, but is that the point? My first tour, from Seattle to San Francisco, averaged 75 miles per day, including a 126 mile day. It was a great tour, but would have been better if it had averaged 50 miles per day? My last big, fully loaded tour targeted 50 miles a day, with a low of 45 and a high of 85. Why is that better? It is more fun. More stops at interesting places, more people to meet along the way, more time at the end of the day, slower starts in the morning…
-Be flexible with your plans: some days you’ll want to power through a ride, some days you’ll want to linger. The best parts of a tour are usually the things that were not planned and could not have been anticipated
-Above all, enjoy your ride; you have 50 weeks a year to prove your manhood on the bike, take the two weeks of you tour to just have fun


O.K., I’m stepping of my sandbox now, please resume your talk about light wheels.

[bostondrunk]

bang for buck, hard to beat open pro's.

Exactly.

[saab2000]

I think Bradford is right. Reliability is paramount when you are going to be possibly days away from decent repair options.

[Steve800]

Hi all

I want to buy a wheel set for light touring (charge card, ~ 85 miles/day). I want the wheels to be relatively light weight, rugged, yet comfortable (i.e. not stiff and harsh). I will be mounting them on a Litespeed frame. I have a set of Mavic Cosmos wheels now, but the color doesn’t match the bike.

Any recommendations?

Jeremy Parfitt
Alchemy Bicycles
505-983-4241

HAve him build you a custom set, Jeremy is the man.

[danpants]

Thanks everyone for the advise on the wheels.

Bradford thanks for the reality check. Besides bringing me back to why I tour in the first place, how about recommending some wheels. Forget that I asked for light.

[Bradford]

Thanks everyone for the advise on the wheels.

Bradford thanks for the reality check. Besides bringing me back to why I tour in the first place, how about recommending some wheels. Forget that I asked for light.

Sure, ask me the hard questions now. I guess I deserve it.

The only wheel I ever toured with that I would call perfect was a 40 spoke Phil Wood hub with a Mavic Module 3CD rim. It was built at Wheelworks circa 1994. It was a 7 speed or I'd still be touring with it. One day I hit the roof at the A&W drive it with my touring bike on the rack; I ripped the cover off the seat and bent the tray on my rack, but the wheel was perfectly true. When I had my new touring wheel built it was with an XT hub with a ceramic Mavic rim and it hasn't worked out all that well. (Hey, how do think I learned how not to do it? I made every mistake you can make along the way, including being cheap on my last hub). I'll have Peter White make me a set of new wheels with Phil hubs before I load that bike up again.

Now, to answer the question you actually asked. I think the guys on this forum know more about wheels than I do. It seems that the consensus is that a Velocity Aerohead rim with a DT 240 hub seems to be the answer. (I have Velocity rims on my Tandem with Hugi hubs and they have been great). If you do a search on wheels you’ll see that combo comes up a lot. I haven’t ridden them yet, but I’ve heard enough good things about them to believe that is the answer. I have a set of DA hubs on a set of wheels and I’m thinking of having them built up with some Aeroheads over the winter to see for myself.

So, loaded touring, Phil Wood, Velocity Dyad rim, 40 holes. Credit card touring, 240’s if you have the money, Aeroheads for rims, and I’d go with 36 holes unless you are really light. (I’m over 200, so light I ain’t).

[ergott]

Velocity/DT 240 like already said, but make sure you get:
36 spoke 4 cross
Sapim Strong spokes (2.3mm elbows and 2.0mm rest) or DT Alpine III spokes.

If you get the right builder, they will be indestructable!

Eric

[97CSI]

bang for buck, hard to beat open pro's.Swapped out a set of Ksyrium Elites for a set of Open Pros about 300 miles ago and couldn't be happier with the trade. Colorado Cycle built my set on Record hubs with black DT 14/15 spokes and brass nipples for $390. That about $100 less than I could buy the parts for. This is my third set of Open Pros in the past ten years and I don't see my changing again in the future.

[Tailwinds]

Open Pro's. I'm not a loaded touring kinda cyclist, obviously. :crap:

[flydhest]

I'm not sure it's necessary to get fancy with hubs. Phil are great for extendend, unsupported touring because they are easy to work on. But other hubs, say Campy Centaur, aren't going to fall apart on you. Some standard hubs, 36 spokes, stout rim. I think Salsa, Velocity, and Bontrager make offset rims. If you're using 10speeds, offset is a good thing to do for added strength.

A 36 spoke wheel, built by a competent wheel builder, is strong as hell.

[Ginger]

32 spoke Open Pros, Chorus/Record hubs....

I do a bit of the type of touring you're talking about...usually group tours, riding light. I won't say fast, because well...it's all the motor, mine is slow. I run around 150lbs and I've never had a problem with the wheels.

It's neat to have high zoot wheels, but not wise. I remember on a 90 mile/day club tour I was riding into a wicked headwind with a gentleman who was up over 200lbs and he was riding some high zoot 16 spoke wheels. THUNK. Hey, I think you broke a spoke! He sure enough did. Out in the middle of no where. We had to wait for the sag truck to show up because even if he released the brake there was no way he was continuing with that wheel.

[Kevin]

Topolinos. The most comfortable wheels I own.

Kevin