Wheel recommendations?

hawkinspeter wrote:

Nice.

I think you should give tensioning and trueing a go. Just take it relatively slow and try to tension each spoke roughly the same. It's quite possible to true up a wheel by putting it onto the bike and eyeballing it so that the rim is halfway between the forks. It'll be a learning exercise, prepare you for if you ever need to replace a spoke and then you can take it to the bike co-op to check how well you've done. As long as you don't go too tight, it should save them some time.

Oh, doing it myself is the plan. I've replaced spokes and trued wheels before. The co-op is a volunteer workspace (that I sometimes volunteer at) where you're supposed to do your own wrenching, with the volunteers just being advisors.

https://bikepeoria.org/coop/

They/we have a couple of good quality truing stands, as well as some other tools I'll need like a headset bearing press, and bottom bracket facing tool.

Before my trip I trued the wheel with the zip tie trick. A truing stand makes it a little easier.

OnYerBike wrote:

My two cents:

Definitely worth reaching out to Hunt and seeing what they say - they might offer you a discount on a new wheel, but no harm done if not.

I don't think it's likely to be worth rebuilding the wheel - the hubs aren't anything special, and by the time you've costed for labour and new spokes (likely necessary if the ERD isn't the same) unlikely to be financial viable compared to just buying something new. 

My suggestion would be to find a reputable wheel builder and have a chat. Unfortunately whilst I could name several in the UK, I don't know any in the USA but I'm sure if you search more US-oriented forums you'll be able to find some recommendations. Whilst it might be possible to ship from the UK, I agree it's unlikely to be sensible for you. If long term reliability is key, I think handbuilt makes more sense than anything off-the-shelf. And handbuilt wheels tend to use generic, widely stocked components, so when something does eventually break, normally much easier to get fixed. 

Thanks. I've contacted wheelbuilder.com . Their website has an overwhelming number of choices, but looks to be good value. They're in California, which is as far as you can get from me in the 48 states, but shipping is less than $20 for an example wheel I put in my cart. I'll see what they suggest. Fortunately I'm not in a hurry. I'm considering having the frame re-repainted as I picked up a massive chip shipping my bike over (and it's not a great paint job anyhow.)

David9694 wrote:

Ryde (the old Rigida) rims might be another one to consider. You might benefit from a SON dynohub wheel?

The front is already a SON hub, hence why I'm looking for either a rear wheel, or buy rims and rebuild. The dyno hub is what made me buy the Hunt wheelset in the first place, as it seemed like a bargain.

David9694 wrote:

Youll probably want some robust spokes and a 32/32h set-up. Cycle Clinic uses Sapim. I'm guessing you overloaded your Hunts. (I'd be 32/36h in 700c.)

I'd definitely prefer at least 32, which is what my Jamis touring bike had. I bought it used, and then put over 18000 miles on it before selling it, and the wheels were still fine. I don't see how I could have overloaded the Hunt rear when my touring load is fairly light and mostly on the front, and I weigh a massive 160 lb / 11 st. 6 lb / 72 kg. Although I'm currently down seven pounds since the tour!

Hunt states they test their wheelsets for over 135 kg / 297 lb per pair on cobbles, "equivalent to riding Paris Roubaix over 5 times with no tarmac sections, only cobbles."

https://us.huntbikewheels.com/blogs/news/89909574-product-lab-testing-th...

David9694 wrote:

3 year guarantee offered - let us know what Hunt come back with. 

Every other spoke hole cracking you say - NDS or DS? The other thing I'm thinking, not that I'm any sort of expert, is too much spoke tension on the one side. 

It's all (or the vast majority of) the drive side ones.

David9694 wrote:

If you pluck an uncracked DS spoke, what's it feel like? 

Looking carefully now, there is maybe one uncracked drive side one. It sounds and feels about the same as the others. I just measured them all with my Unior tensiometer. The spokes are 2.0-1.6-2.0. Using the closest values on the table (1.65), the drive side all measure 80-120 kgf. The non drive side measure 55-75 kgf.

Checking a few random ones on the front, they're pretty close to the rear drive side tensions.

I see no non drive side cracks on the rear. What I do see now is seven cracks on the front, all but one on left side nipples. So I guess I'm rebuilding that front for sure.