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Buying the Best Strong Bicycle Touring
Wheelsets, Spokes, and Rims.
or
How not to Spend Your Entire Bike Tour Repairing Broken Spokes.
Broke down in the middle of nowhere in the Argentinean wilderness.
When buying a touring bike there is one key
component where cheap or poor design will cause major problems and breakdowns. Wheels
are an important choice because they have the most common major
mechanical problem touring cyclists experience: broken spokes (see below). Many touring cyclists underestimate the importance of their touring bicycle wheels before they leave home. What seems like a good set of wheels at home may cause endless problems on
tour. I have read many books and web sites of bike tour travel accounts that
frequently mention broken rear spokes.
In recent years top end mountain bike wheels and road bike
racing wheel sets have become extremely sophisticated. High tech
materials like titanium and carbon fiber have dramatically reduced the
weight and rolling wind resistance. At the same time these cutting
edge materials have made bike wheel costs skyrocket.
Touring bicycles have different needs than
light weight high performance racing bikes. On a bicycle tour it is
important that the wheels can withstand months of bad roads, heavy
loads, and foul weather. Lance Armstrong's wheels would not last a
week under my heavily loaded bike. If my wheels were put on his speed
machine it would slow him down. He would only win the Tour De France by
seconds instead of minutes. :) (It is unthinkable to me that he
could not win).
The main goal in selecting touring bike hubs, rims, and
spokes is durability and repair ability. All three components
work together. The failure of one will affect the others and ruin a beautiful day of cycling.
Touring bike wheels need to take a real beating and still work flawlessly.
Even the best wheel set will eventually wear out.
Metal fatigues and becomes weaker over time. I have never had a set of
my touring bikes wheels last more than two years. The first sign of my
wheel getting old is breaking spokes or cracks forming in the rim.
When this happens it is necessary to buy a new rim and spokes and rebuild
it. We are seldom in first world or developed countries so I need my
wheels to have parts readily found even in the poorest of countries.
This greatly limits my choices.
My personal experience is that a 26 inch mountain bike size
rim can be found in every country of the world.
Mountain bikes and parts may not be found in every city of an undeveloped
country but larger, especially capital cities have them.
I have bought new rims in Guatemala and Argentina. The rims I found
were not my favorite but they worked
for a few months until I could be more selective. If I had chosen 700c
wheels I would not have found any rims for my
bike. In more advanced cities there are expensive ultra light rims that
local road racers use. These rim would not last long on my touring bike.
New bikes often come with bad wheels.
To cut down on overall costs new bikes almost always come
with (rear) wheels that will not last long on a self contained bike tour.
I suspect the biggest difference is that new bikes come with machine
built wheels as opposed to hand built wheels. I am not sure why the
building method would make a big difference but it has been my
experience that it does. This is even true of bikes costing a couple
thousand (US) dollars or more. It is much cheaper to build wheels with
a machine compared to hand building. It is also widely accepted in the
bicycle community that hand built wheels are much stronger than machine
built wheels. I personally never trust or buy any wheel built by a
machine.
My advise is if you buy a new touring bike with machine
built wheels, use
the stock wheel while at home and have the rear wheel hand built with a better rim
and spokes before your big tour. A good bike shop will have at least
one qualified mechanic who can advise you on parts and build a wheel.
Both front and rear wheels replacement would be best but the rear wheel of
any bicycle carries more weight and experiences the most problems.
Rear wheels are also more difficult to work on.
Broken Rear
Spoke: The Number 1. Major Mechanical problem for bike tourists.
Tim replacing a broken spoke for a cyclist from Spain. The Salar de Uyuni Bolivia
is a long way from a bike shop or anything man made.
Many cyclists on an extended bike tour have
experienced the following scenario. It is a lovely sunny day. The
temperature is perfect and a noticeable tailwind is helping them along. Then
they hear a high pitched "PING" they look down and notice their rear wheel is
wobbling so dramatically it is hitting the left brake pad and then the right
brake pad.
If they are having an exceptionally bad day two or more spokes are broken and
the wheel will cease up because it wedged into the chain stays (bike frame).
Unless they have the tools to remove the cassette, spare replacement spokes, and
the mechanical knowledge to put it all together and true the wheel, they will
be stuck. Even if they know how to fix all this the problem will reoccur
because whatever caused the weakness in the wheel is probably still there.
Once they start breaking spokes they will
continue breaking them until the wheel is replaced.
Rotational Weight
Although touring and commuter bikers are less
concerned about weight it is worth discussing rotating weight. It is
said that one gram on the wheel is worth four grams on the frame. I do
not have scientific evidence to back this up but it is believable.
Because weight on the wheels is spinning it is felt more. It is good
to have extra sturdy wheels but it is best not to make your wheels heavier
than necessary.
In conclusion, the most common major mechanical problem bicycle
tourists experience is broken spokes. This is especially true on the rear
wheel because it carries more weight. I regularly repair other cyclists
broken spokes on the road or in campgrounds during our travels. Pulling
the cassette, threading the new spoke through, and truing the wheel back
takes a lot of practice and mechanical experience. This common mechanical
breakdown is best avoided by choosing high quality rims, spokes, and building
techniques specific for loaded bicycle touring. A huge contributing factor
for bikes breaking spokes is that almost all new bikes come with low quality or
poorly built wheel sets. This is even true of new bikes in the upper price
ranges.
Bicycle wheels for loaded bicycle touring
and long bike tours.
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