Wheel Tech: All About The Best Touring Rims

[NZPeterG]

It’s not worth settling for second best when it comes to rims; they can ruin your tour. It is my experience that rims are one of the most important components of a touring bike. Even with the best quality wheel build, the nicest spokes and the most solid hubs… rims can and do fail due to heavy loads, braking and harsh terrain.

http://www.cyclingabout.com/the-best-rims-for-bicycle-touring/

Kiwi Pete

Still out Bikepacking (Light Offroad Touring) 

[Andre Jute]

That's a great article. Thanks so much, Pete.

[jags]

Brilliant stuff all a bit wiser now thanks for posting Pete,

anto

[John Saxby]

Thanks for this, Pete.  Well-written and accessible article, as are most of those on Cyclingabout.

The writer recommends against the Mavic XM719s that I had fitted on my Raven at the start of this year. Peter White offers them on his wheel builds, and my LBS, which supports a lot of MTB/enduro competitors, say they've found them bombproof.  On crazyguy, I have read about rim failures with the XM721s, the lighter variant.

My experience with the XM719s has so far been very positive, but the amount & type of use I've given them is some way short of expedition touring.  If I was doing expedition touring, I'd use a heavier rim, maybe the current (2015-onwards) Velocity Cliffhanger.

I'll keep a close eye on my rims, though, esp before, during & after any long tours!

[mickeg]

I have the Salsa Gordo rims on my Sherpa, very solid.  While writing this post, I did a quick check and found that they are discontinued, Salsa does not list any rims on their website, apparently they got out of the rim business. Inner width of 21mm.  Has worked very well in the range of 40 to 50mm wide tires I have run on the Sherpa.  The link below was listed under their "archived" parts and accessories on their website.
http://salsacycles.com/components/archive/category/rims/gordo_26

I still maintain that a rim with an inner width of 19mm like the Andra 30 is too narrow for a 57mm wide tire, such as my Marathon Extremes.  Thus, I disagree with them on rim and tire widths.  I had low pressure in a 57mm wide front tire and it got very squarely in a corner.

[Jonathan Hanson]

I recently had a set of wheels built with Mavic XC717 rims, which came highly recommended by the shop. Does anyone know if these share the same issues as the XM719s?

Thanks . . .