Touring wheels choice is perhaps my primary concern when it comes to my bicycle.I am a tall,heavy and i guess reasonably powerful rider and consequently put a reasonable amount of strain on a set of bicycle wheels,and that’s before i load up my bike with additional weight and bulk of camping gear. What size? 700c versus 26 inch versus small wheels. Wheels size obviously depends on the bike you have.My bikes are traditional touring cycle and hence have 700c wheels.There are dubious claims that 700c bike wheels http://www.fixedgearcarbonwheels.com/700c-bike-wheels-carbon-tubular-38mm-60mm.html roll better than the increasingly popular 26 in wheel while fans of the latter favour the additional strength of the standard mountain bike wheel size and the greater flexibility of getting apares in far-flung parts of the world. The strength advantages may be negligible on equivalent 36 spoke hand built wheelset of similar components.However,if you are touring mostly in Europe and north America and prefer the line of a traditional touring cycle,then a 700c wheelset will serve you well. If you are really going off the beaten track,then a 26 inch wheel will be a better choice for spares and replacements. in term of strength,the smaller you go,the stronger.Bike wheels have a feature is that becoming smaller wheels compared to now slowly.These are inherently stronger(think of the 20 inch BMX wheels)but smaller wheels can lead to compromise in ride quality.I say can as modern small-wheeled cycles with suspension can offer a superior ride to the standard safety cycle.You will pay for the privilege,though. Hubs Shimano’s mountain bike hubs are great bits of mass produced engineering at a bargain price.I reckon i’ve clocked up over 20,000 miles on these hubs and i’ve only had one failure. This happened recently,in fact,as my Yoeleo rear wheel started to grumble in protest.Another advantage of these hubs is that it is fairly easy to service and it look no time to strip the rear hub replace the bearings and a worn cone. Spokes It will depend on your wheel builder which spokes you will get as many generally have a preference. A stronger spoke on the drive side is something worth considering countering the extra stresses in the wheel due to dish on the drive side. Touring wheels will generally comprise 36 spokes in a three-cross pattern and this will cope admirably with most riders(including 15-stone me with 20kgs of camping kit) Some hubs will allow up to 48 spokes for a really over-engineered wheel.Curiously,you can get the hubs but you can’t get the rims for this number of spokes so easily. Rims There is a time that if you are touring,then you would have a set of carbon bike rims http://www.fixedgearcarbonwheels.com/carbon-bike-rims-tubular-50mm.html if you have enough budget.As we all known that carbon fiber is more stiffer,durable,the most important thing is that carbon fiber is the lightest material in the market so far.So, it can reduce the weight in your bicycle,then slow down the rolling resistance of wheels,absolutely improve your ride speed.You can enjoy comfortable riding experience. http://www.carbonrimssale.com/super-light-carbon-wheels-clincher-88mm.html http://www.carbonrimssale.com/super-light-23mm-wide-carbon-wheels-tubular-60mm.html http://www.fixedgearcarbonwheels.com/
