What is strongest 26inch rim, weight irrelevant?
Geezer Boy
Say you were going to do a Canada to Patagonia ride. Bike will be 100
pounds plus, loaded. Lousy roads much of the trip, but not all will be
on roads.
What is the strongest 26 inch rim, period? Near-indestructible. Weight
is not a concern nor pretty-boy racer/cool attributes. Actually, ugly
Fred is better...like Tho Bui's Titanium Finish (spray can of gray
paint primer -- and my favorite).
Thank you for your advice.
Geezer Boy
Pete Biggs
"Geezer Boy" <geez...@myhome.com> wrote in message
news:qv06aukhvjbnjob58...@4ax.com...
>
> What is the strongest 26 inch rim, period? Near-indestructible. Weight
> is not a concern nor pretty-boy racer/cool attributes. Actually, ugly
> Fred is better...like Tho Bui's Titanium Finish (spray can of gray
> paint primer -- and my favorite).
A big old steel one. .....But you don't want a steel rim, I'm sure.
For some ideas on strong alloys, take a look through the touring rims on the
SJS site:
www.sjscycles.com
--
~PB pL...@biggs.tc {remove fruit}
Michael Dart
I would think Sun Rhyno Lite rims would be excellent for that application.
Strong as hell and not too heavy. I've ridden DH on them up in West Virginia
for a couple of seasons and have had no flat spots and only have required
occasional light truing. But if you want serious beef and have disc brakes
(which you probably should with a 100lb bike) look at Atomic Labs Trailpimp
www.atomlabs.com or Arrow Racing DHX www.arrowracing.com rims.
Mike
Jørgen
Jorgen
alex wetmore
Sun Rhyno Lite or daVinci V22
A well built wheel is much more important than the components that are
used...
alex
KostaG
the 321 if you are using disks. Those are DH tims and they are not heavy
either.
"Geezer Boy" <geez...@myhome.com> wrote in message
news:qv06aukhvjbnjob58...@4ax.com...
Dave Blake
> Say you were going to do a Canada to Patagonia ride. Bike will
> be 100 pounds plus, loaded. Lousy roads much of the trip, but
> not all will be on roads.
> What is the strongest 26 inch rim, period? Near-indestructible.
> Weight is not a concern nor pretty-boy racer/cool attributes.
Stronger wheels have higher spoke tensions.
Rims with more spokes, and that have larger cross-sectional
areas, can be built to higher sum spoke tensions.
So, just look for a boxy-type rim shape that is really
wide. Get it with a high spoke count, and have it built (or
build it) with appropriately high spoke tensions (The Bicycle
Wheel describes an easy way to determine appropriately high
tensions).
--
Dave Blake
dbl...@phy.ucsf.edu
Barry
I vote for the Sun Rhyno Lyte. I know it's available in 36 hole, and
pretty sure they make a 40 and a 48 hole version.
Barry
Maxfield D
How about a good downhill rim like the Sun Doublewide or Alex D32?
I have Sun Mammoth's on my huckster mountain bike. Even my nephew hasn't been
able to knock them out of true, and God knows he's tried.
My wife claims that I'm trying to make my mountain bike equal the weight of our
tandem. These are heavy rims.
David
Joshua Putnam
>
>Say you were going to do a Canada to Patagonia ride. Bike will be 100
>pounds plus, loaded. Lousy roads much of the trip, but not all will be
>on roads.
>
>What is the strongest 26 inch rim, period? Near-indestructible. Weight
>is not a concern nor pretty-boy racer/cool attributes.
A high-quality steel rim would be the strongest, but I doubt
that's what you really want -- braking is lousy and the extra
strength isn't really needed.
A wide box-section rim with 48 spokes, commonly used for tandems,
would be more than adequate, I expect. Sun Rhyno or Rhyno Lite,
for example.
--
jo...@phred.org is Joshua Putnam
http://www.phred.org/~josh/
Updated Infrared Photography Gallery:
http://www.phred.org/~josh/photo/ir.html
Bluto
> What is the strongest 26 inch rim, period? Near-indestructible. Weight
> is not a concern nor pretty-boy racer/cool attributes.
In anything like a normal width for use with normal brakes, there is
but one excellent choice... the Sun Rhyno (not the Rhyno Lite). Only
26mm wide but packing almost 800 grams of round, straight,
heat-treated aluminum. This rim may be hard to find, but it is worth
the search. It has very thick walls to resist denting, and it
supports extremely high spoke tensions without destabilizing. This
rim laced with 48 spokes of 13-15-14 gauge would be my pick, and I
weigh 335lbs. Admittedly I would probably weigh somewhat less at the
end of the voyage you describe. I would build my rear wheel as near
to dishless as I could manage; it makes a big difference in longevity.
If your brake bosses are widely spaced enough to do the job, and you
intend to use fat tires, there is the Avro Eliminator, but take care
to order with a credit card; those guys have earned a reputation for
taking payment and not delivering product. You want some recourse
should they try to burn you too. That rim is 45mm wide and around
900g.
Take note! Wheels are more or less proportional in strength to the
weights of their rims, other factors equal. This is because the
strongest wheel is that with the highest spoke tension, and maximum
spoke tension is dictated by the cross-sectional area of the metal in
the rim and the compressive strength of that metal. Big boxy open
section rims are stiff and good at resisting localized bump forces,
but they can't be tensioned any tighter than a narrower rim of the
same weight and alloy. (Those are the rules for wheels with plenty of
spokes.) If the sidewalls are made thinner to optimize weight, then
they will take more damage on bottoming out compared to a narrower,
thicker-walled rim. Anyone who insists that their favorite rim is
"the strongest around and pretty lightweight too" has been reading too
much ad copy.
Don't forget to use a tire with a strong, multi-ply sidewall, and run
enough pressure to resist bottoming out. Conti's Top Touring tires
have a robust casing, though I am sure there are others.
Have fun, and good luck!
Chalo Colina
Bluto
>
> A well built wheel is much more important than the components that are
> used...
That's true, to a point, but even a perfectly built wheel has an upper
limit on its strength that is dictated by the weight of its rim.
Chalo Colina
Seb
|What is the strongest 26 inch rim, period? Near-indestructible. Weight
|is not a concern nor pretty-boy racer/cool attributes. Actually, ugly
|Fred is better...like Tho Bui's Titanium Finish (spray can of gray
|paint primer -- and my favorite).
|
|Thank you for your advice.
|
|Geezer Boy
Sounds like free-ride / DH rims are what you are talking. Simply ask on
www.MTBR.com 's freeride/DH board, and you'll get some solid suggestions. If
you are running rim brakes, you'll do well with Sun Mammoth rims. Atomic
Trail Pimps also have a solid (pun intended) reputation among the airborn bike
abuse set.
But honetsly, if weight is no object, any big heavy rim will probably do, as
long as it is deep and fairly wide (but mostly deep, for your pusposes).
There's lots of them, and good build with 36 or more spokes is the most
important ingrediant. Otherwise, you are just wasting metal. If you aren't
up to building your own wheelset, let the wheelbuilder pick the rim. If you
are, pick a fat front rim you can afford, and look for a deep, wide rim that
you can get with a custom ofset drilled spoke bed, because a "dishless" rear
will easily be more durable (not just stronger, but needed less adjustment,
etc.) I don't actually know of any deep box section rims that allow such
drilling- a good cantidate would be the Velocity Psycho- Velicity wheels are
nice, and the company is pretty good with such requests. It might be simpler
to use the heaviest rim deigned witha built in offset you can find, which I
think would be the Velocity Synergy.
Actually, the more I look at it, the better the Psycho looks. Thick ass
sidewall would be unlikely to ding, and would hold up to rim brakes. As I
said, it can probably be drilled offset for the rear. Its "only" 31mm wide,
so you won't be screwed if you have to slap a "normal" width tire on it. My
only hesitation on calling it the "strongest" is, I've never seen one, and
can't find any reviews of them.
-Seb
Geezer Boy
Thank you everyone for taking the time for your excellent advice.
After looking into each of your suggestions and following URLs for
them, I was not aware of the abuse that the kids today can give their
wheels, especially the downhillers and dropoff jumpers.
I find the strength of some of these wheels amazing -- that they don't
collapse on some of the jumps and runs. Normal potholes and foot
dropoffs are like rolling over in one's sleep in comparison. Thanks to
you suggestions, there are several choices that should give me no
trouble whatsoever, so now it's just a matter of narrowing it down.
Seems as though the Sun Rhynos for example, would be more than
adequate for loaded long distance touring without any worries
whatsoever.
Equipment breakdown is one thing when you're within a hundred miles of
a modern bike shop. But in less-developed areas, it can ruin a trip.
One of my bikes is a Trek Fuel 90 with Hayes hydraulic discs that I
love. But because of potential lack of parts I would be hesitant to
take wet discs to second-world countries or worse (those Sun
Double-Wide rims appear totally indestructible..so maybe mechanical
discs?). Same with non-steel frames (hard or impossible to repair).
Does anyone have any experience with the Shimano Nexus 7-speed hub?
Sheldon has it on his site. This appears to be an attractive option
for building a bulletproof touring rig, but I really wonder about
longevity and durability thousands of miles from home, stressed daily,
week after week. Shimano's STI products have not in recent times
inspired great confidence in me. Perhaps another model of planetary
hub? (3 speed Sturmey Archer is less than I'd like, though my touring
hero, Heinz Stucke, has used one for years.)
Thanks again.
Geezer Boy
alex wetmore
> Equipment breakdown is one thing when you're within a hundred miles of
> a modern bike shop. But in less-developed areas, it can ruin a trip.
> One of my bikes is a Trek Fuel 90 with Hayes hydraulic discs that I
> love. But because of potential lack of parts I would be hesitant to
> take wet discs to second-world countries or worse
I'm not very familiar with the Hayes Hydraulic disk brakes, but I have no
problem touring in remote areas with Magura Hydraulic rim brakes. I carry
all of the spare parts for mending any broken brake line, and that doesn't
take much space or weight. The parts necessary are:
* 1 brake line (I carry a 3m line because that is how long of one I need
for the rear brake on my tandem)
* 4 compression fittings (Magura calls them olives)
* 1 crossover line
* 2 compression nuts
* 2 spare pads
* 2oz of brake line oil (mineral oil for the Magura brakes)
I've completely overhauled Magura brakes a couple of times and am confident
in my ability to fix them in the middle of nowhere.
> Does anyone have any experience with the Shimano Nexus 7-speed hub?
> Sheldon has it on his site. This appears to be an attractive option
> for building a bulletproof touring rig, but I really wonder about
> longevity and durability thousands of miles from home, stressed daily,
> week after week. Shimano's STI products have not in recent times
> inspired great confidence in me. Perhaps another model of planetary
> hub? (3 speed Sturmey Archer is less than I'd like, though my touring
> hero, Heinz Stucke, has used one for years.)
I have a bike with a Nexus 7 hub, and another with a Sachs Super 7 (now
sold as SRAM Super 7). I'd go with the Sachs. It is slightly more
expensive (at my LBS, A Muzi tells me that he sells both for the same
price), but it has a wider gear range, is designed to be user-servicable,
and feels more efficient. My LBS, which is a huge fan of internally geared
hubs (check out some of the great business cards at
http://www.thebikesmith.com) has found the Sachs Super 7 to be much more
durable for customers. In one extreme case an overweight gear masher went
through three Shimano Nexus 7 hubs in a row, often in a very short time
period, and since switched to a Sachs Super 7. That has been running
without problem for years. Sturmey Archer also makes a 7sp internally
geared hub, but my LBS owner found it to have some reliability problems
when he ran one on his cargo bike...it has since been replaced by the SRAM
Super 7.
I've overhauled my Super 7 once (I bought it used, and the previous owner
had almost always used the lowest two gears with a small chainring) and
found it to be fairly simple to do so using the instructions from Sachs.
My hub had no damage after the abuse provided by the previous owner,
although it does run more smoothly with fresh grease and oil.
alex
Bluto
>
> Does anyone have any experience with the Shimano Nexus 7-speed hub?
> Sheldon has it on his site. This appears to be an attractive option
> for building a bulletproof touring rig, but I really wonder about
> longevity and durability thousands of miles from home, stressed daily,
> week after week. Shimano's STI products have not in recent times
> inspired great confidence in me. Perhaps another model of planetary
> hub? (3 speed Sturmey Archer is less than I'd like, though my touring
> hero, Heinz Stucke, has used one for years.)
Shimano's tech people categorize the Nexus 7 hub as a product intended
for leisure riders. Its internal mechanism is not nearly as robust as
that of the Sachs/SRAM Spectro S7, for instance. However, it does
seem to do the trick for a lot of riders and I have rarely heard of
failures with this hub. Another benefit of the Nexus 7 hub is that
its external shifting apparatus is protected from impact by the frame
of the bicycle, which could be of great benefit in some foreseeable
situations.
Despite the admonitions of "not for use on tandems, workmen's bikes,
etc", the Spectro S7 is a very sturdy and surprisingly simple piece of
machinery. Its geartrain is beefier than that of the Nexus hub and
its gear range significantly wider. IME the drum brake on the Spectro
7 packs somewhat more stopping power than the "roller brake" of the
Nexus. (Neither brake is what you'd call potent, though, and both can
be had without their hub brakes.) The main drawback of the Spectro 7
hub for adventure touring has got to be the "clickbox" shifter
mechanism which hangs outside the drive side dropout. SRAM furnish a
steel bar guard mounted on an axle washer to protect this relatively
fragile and vulnerable part.
Both of the aforementioned hubs use grease lubrication, and so should
require no maintenance during a trek between the antipodes of the
Americas outside of some attention to the shift cable tension.
Both hubs allow a low dish rear wheel, which could save you a great
deal of grief. The Nexus has some dish while the Spectro is
essentially dishless.
Both hubs have good worldwide parts support, at least in places that
have an understanding of the concept.
When used in a horizontal dropout frame, another advantage of an
internal gear hub is the tidy and forgiving chain drive: no
chainslap, no chainsuck, no poor shifting due to wear or dirt, no
accidental derailments, no low-hanging outboard derailleur to snag on
things and set you up for a long, long walk.
If your budget permits, there is also the option of the 14sp Rohloff
Speedhub:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/rohloff.html
I have not seen anybody put enough hard miles on one of these beauties
to know whether it might give any trouble on a long trek, but it has
far and away the most advanced drivetrain design and highest quality
construction of any bicycle equipment, period. Where other gearhubs
use plain bushings, this one uses roller bearings. Shifting apparatus
sits inboard of the stays, and all indexing is in the hub, not the
shifter. It weighs about the same as the Nexus 7 and Spectro 7 but
delivers around twice the gear range. All in all it's a wonderful
thing to behold. It costs about four times what you'll pay for the 7
speed alternatives.
Chalo Colina
Bluto
have already reposted it as "internal gears for touring" and any
replies should probably go there. Sorry.
Chalo Colina
Edgar Gutenberg
out there right now are the AtomLabs TrailPimps or the Arrow FWT, with
the Arrow's being lighter. They are the choice of Bender (the guy
that rides his bike off sixty foot cliffs) if that means anything to
you.
Doublewide's are insanely weak, despite their girth and appearance. I
trashed my well built Mammoth in the first week that I had it.
However I really doubt that you need the strength afforded by those
first two choices. A mavic product such as the 521 or 321 will
provide more than enough strength while being a fair bit lighter too.
"Seb" <m0ng...@NO.yahoo.SPAM.com> wrote in message news:<a80g0t$9r0$2...@laurel.tc.umn.edu>...
Bluto
> I have a bit of experience in thrashing rims and the strongest rims
> out there right now are the AtomLabs TrailPimps or the Arrow FWT, with
> the Arrow's being lighter. They are the choice of Bender (the guy
> that rides his bike off sixty foot cliffs) if that means anything to
> you.
>
> Doublewide's are insanely weak, despite their girth and appearance. I
> trashed my well built Mammoth in the first week that I had it.
With all due respect, the criteria for a strong hucking rim and a
strong adventure touring rim are different. The former must first and
foremost resist flat-spotting from massive radial overloads, whereas
the latter must resist large side loads and sidewall denting from
sharp-edged bumps.
A huge open cross-section does wonders for rim span bending strength
but has much less effect on maximum spoke tension, for example. A
relatively smaller rim of equal weight, such as the Sun Rhyno, will
have equal ability to support spoke tension, while also having
thicker, stronger sidewalls-- important if you are touring on bad
surfaces with road tires.
I have observed that Dun Doublewide rims' hollow bead sidewalls are
prone to denting, bulging, and collapsing. I think that Sun may use a
softer alloy in this rim than in others for some reason-- perhaps to
increase ductility?
Chalo Colina
Josef Pribramska
> Say you were going to do a Canada to Patagonia ride. Bike will be 100
> pounds plus, loaded. Lousy roads much of the trip, but not all will be
> on roads.
>
> What is the strongest 26 inch rim, period? Near-indestructible. Weight
First off it has to be steel. Can't get around it. If you are
travelling at all through the third world, don't expect the LBS's
there to be able to mend a sheared OLCV frame or anything like that.
HKEK
http://www.allweathersports.com/winter/snowcats.html
http://www.mtbreview.com/reviews/Rim/product_22613.shtml
Geezer Boy <geez...@myhome.com> wrote in message news:<qv06aukhvjbnjob58...@4ax.com>...
DeLux BMX rider
I've got a pair of Sun Rhyno Lite in 700c. Excellent. I had some old 48 spoke
Sun Rhyno tandem rims that weighed even more and were narrower.