Build quality on a Rohloff wheel?

[FordPrefect]

I am considering ordering a Rohloff wheel from www.sjscycles.com.
The rim I am considering is Mavic X517, who I have good experience from, as it is my current wheel in my derallier system, and
it stands up good to my abuse.

But I wonder if somebody have comments about the build quality of the wheel? [:I]

Is is builded with high and even spoketension, so it would hold long time?
And what about the spokes, will they take care of correct spoke thickness, not too stiff and unflexible, but not too thin...

I weigth 93kg, bikes hard in rought terrain at my hardtail. (not downhill/jump - mostly fast singletracks and slow/extremly technical track - crawling slowly throught mud/rocks/roots is fun!)
(e.g. I would not be at heavy weigth load touring)

That's why I wants a Rohloff wheel, I have had too many chainsucks/deralliers trouble at my 24gears system.
And 27gears systems are worser![!]

thanks at advance. []

[PH]

No problems with mine, CR18 rims, 7,000 miles, 50/50 on road/cycle tracks with the occasional bit of rougher stuff.

[graham]

We started with Mavic X618 ceramic rims on the tandem. 130Kg or so loaded. These seem to be a double eyeletted version of the X719's. The ceramic started to flake after a couple of thousand miles, but the wheel itself stayed true. I guessed we were getting the wrong type of vibration in the rim, so when I got a Raven tour I specced EX721 rims which are a much bigger profile, and swapped them into the tandem. 2500 miles later the EX721 rims seem to be still OK.

The point is, although the ceramic coating on the rims isn't as durable as I had hoped, the wheels themselves stayed true. Over 7000 miles on the four wheels and a spoke key hasn't been near them, let alone anything more drastic.

[FordPrefect]

thanks for your reply.
Ceramic coating are fragile, so that's
why I wanted a standard, boring rim, who does it's jobs well.
Better to use good brakes, such as Magura HS33.

heavy touring /tandem are also demanding to the wheels, so I apprecicate your input.

[rogerzilla]

I never had to true the wheels on my Thorn Nomad in 5 years (eventually I rebuilt them on DT XR 4.1 rims, because the Sun Rhyno Lite rims - not much "Lite" about them - were far too heavy for the kind of riding I do).  

Thorn use plain gauge spokes on most of their wheels, which would not be my choice.  Double-butted spokes are superior in almost every respect, with the tiny disadvantage that if you break one the rim goes out of true to a greater extent - but properly built wheels shouldn't break spokes, and you do carry spares on expeditions, don't you?

[stutho]

One other advantage of plain gauge is that the wheel is quicker to build / re-true as you get far less torque wined up (esp. compared to DT Revolution).  However I agree with rogerzilla butted spokes produce better wheels - as long as they are carefully tensioned.

If I was cynical I would say there is another advantage to plain gauge spokes - price.

[stutho]

Hi FordPrefect,

Go for a pair of Mavic 717 XC built up with DT Competition spokes by someone who knows what they are doing. I am sure SJSC will build up a wheel to your request.

I don't own any wheels made up by SJSC so I can't comments on the quality of their wheels. (But I would bet that it is high)