Which wheels or rims would you recommend for a Tourer?

[DrewSavage]

At the moment, my main road bike is my 1986 Raleigh Competition, which has a 52/42 on the front and a 14-28 6-speed on the back.

This is not ideal for hills! I've been learning about gear ratios the hard way. However I got two-thirds of the way up the Wrynose Pass on it a couple of weeks ago, so anything compared to that will be luxury.

However of course I will be carrying loaded panniers on a tourer.

The Campagnolo Racing T chainset that I've got is a 32/42/52. Having read the Shimergo article (thanks for that) I was hoping to stick with the Campag STI shifters and use that Campag Record derailleur on the back, and was wondering if an 8-speed Shimano cassette on the back would do the trick?

The only thing I have to compare it to that was geared for hills is my B'Twin Riverside 5 hybrid, which I bought last year and sold a couple of months ago, and did the Way of the Roses Coast to Coast on. That had an 8-speed 11-32 on the back, although I'm trying to work out the cog sizes for the front and the internet is not being kind to me.

 

[barry2017]

OK. The rear mech is probably a short cage, designed for gears ratios that are close together like your road bike

What you ideally want is a mech with a long cage, so you can have ratios spaced a good distance apart, like on your hybrid.

 

[hamster]

For loaded touring then having a bottom gear ratio of 1:1 is very useful and an easy rule of thumb as a starting point.

Personally I prefer a triple as widely spaced gears are maddening. Most of the time I will be on the 36T middle ring and something like a 12-28 on the back, with a 22T as a bailout winching chain ring for big uphills.

 

[legrandefromage]

I do quite a bit of genuine off-road on an old touring/audax frame and use a set of Formula hubs that were built up onto some Alex rims - they were unused OEM wheels for some mid range Trek road bike that I was lucky to snap up cheap from ebay.. These along with some wide Schwalbe 32mm tyres have done really well.

As above, avoid screw hubs as the axles can bend and break quite quickly.

I use an MTB Shimano DX long cage rear mech that allows up to a 34t large sprocket at the back with a 26t 'granny' ring, 42/ 50t at the front. Shifting is via Shimano bar end mounts with some downtube levers.

Older campagnolo 8spd used 5mm cassette spacing so works well with shimano shifters but will limit cassette choice due to mech reach.

have a look here: http://sheldonbrown.com/cribsheet-spacing.html

Heres mine with an old LX M550 rear mech. The 'deerhead' f.mech has a handy built in cable stop.

 

[bm0p700f]

It's morphed into a shiney cross bike. Very slack looking headtube I like it.

 

[DrewSavage]

Re:

Blimey, this is all so complex. Thanks for all the help. So basically I've at least settled on using the Shimano 600 hubs...

Actually I'm nearly there - all I need to do is decide what cassette to put on them, and whether I need to go back to the drawing board when it comes to my rear derailleur, and get the wheels built.

Are Alesa Sputnik rims the same as the Rigida Sputniks?

I've found a pair of those online for £29 posted, which strikes me as a pretty good deal...

 

[DrewSavage]

Re:

In fact Nidderdale cycles seem to be doing some pretty good deals on Exal rims generally... just not the LX-17s that were recommended in the first place.

Looking at Spa Cycles' website, the Exal LX-17s only weigh 575g while the Rigida Sputniks are 690g. Is 230g worth worrying about?

 

[legrandefromage]

yes.

 

[barry2017]

Yes, but....

It depends on what you want to do with the wheels. The Sputnik is an extremely strong rim, with double eyelets. People use Sputniks for tandem rims.

My instinct for a touring bike is to go for the strongest rim you can find. However, if you are not heavy, carrying a lot of luggage or only riding on smooth roads, it will mean ultimately more distance for the same effort. Hard to quantify how much though, or whether that really matters outside of racing.

Of course, stronger wheels are also by definition more reliable. So maybe that matters more?

Make a choice, then don't worry about it. Your bike will be nice.

 

[DrewSavage]

Re:

Thanks guys... I've decided to go with the Exal ones. I think at this stage the tourer is more likely to be used on one-day runs with the odd coast to coast or long-distance jaunt thrown in. For now, anyway...

It's Christmas time so I'm asking my relatives for the last bits and pieces to build my tourer with. So I guess my last questions revolve around spokes, rim tape, and tyres...

For 2 x 36h wheels, should one buy about 78 spokes? Does anyone recommend any particular brand? I think DT Swiss were mentioned earlier.

For rim tape - rubber, cotton or nylon? Is there a difference?

And lastly, how thick should the tyres be? I'm probably not going to ride on to anything worse than rough roads - if I encounter something unpaved, I tend to go another way. One day I might like to do a trip that goes along the side of the French rivers and canals but that's about it. I heard good things about Grande Bois tyres when I was buying for the 650b wheels on my commuter bike, but in the end went for the cheaper Continental TourGuard on those.