Campag 32h hubs on a touring bike??

tawfeeredux

Question for any touring boardsies out there.

I'm overhauling my touring bike, and was thinking of getting a new set of wheels built around a pair of Chorus 32h hubs that I have lying around. While I'm light enough myself (70kg), I usually go fully-loaded on the touring bike - I'd have two large panniers & a tent over the back wheels (in addition to two smaller panniers on the front).

My current set-up uses 36h XT hubs, so just wondering if 32h will be strong enough?

DualFrontDiscs

tawfeeredux wrote: »

My current set-up uses 36h XT hubs, so just wondering if 32h will be strong enough?

I've 36h on my touring bikes, but that's as much to do with coming from a mtb background where I was tough on wheels. I'd say there are loads of 90kg+ riders out there happy on 32h hubs.

So do you reckon you've 20kg+ in equipment?

I suppose the other questions would be, what rims, spokes would you use and what terrain would you be on?

One of the advantages of 36h is that you can afford to break a few without losing true. I'm mechanically challenged, so this is a real boon for me.

DFD*

*DiscsForDurability

blorg

If you load heavily I would stick with 36 on the back at least. I tour on 32 Open Pro/Ultegra and I have had issues on rough roads.

tawfeeredux

DualFrontDiscs wrote: »

So do you reckon you've 20kg+ in equipment?

I suppose the other questions would be, what rims, spokes would you use and what terrain would you be on?

I'd say I usually carry about 25-30kg in equipment. I was just under 25kg last year when checking in at the airport, and then would have loaded up on food & drink when i got to france.

Rims would probably be Mavic A719 (or possibly DRC ST19s if i can get them without having to pay a lot in postage).

Terrain is usually road or good tow-paths. Wouldn't be going off-road at all.

tawfeeredux

blorg wrote: »

If you load heavily I would stick with 36 on the back at least. I tour on 32 Open Pro/Ultegra and I have had issues on rough roads.

when you say issues, do you mean broken spokes?
If I was heading back to France this summer, I'd probably chance it as I very rarely came across any rough patches. Different story though when I got back to Ireland & tried to stay off the main roads.
I'll probably be touring here for a couple of weeks this summer, so I'm thinking a 36h for the rear mite be called for alright.

blorg

I mean buckles, I have never broken a spoke touring. Now admittedly this was in Italy on white roads on 700x25c (not a good idea) but I am around 76kg myself with a light tourer and maybe 10-15kg on the back.

You can certainly tour on 32 but if you have 36 on the back now I wouldn't see the point in changing it.

Lumen

blorg wrote: »

If you load heavily I would stick with 36 on the back at least. I tour on 32 Open Pro/Ultegra and I have had issues on rough roads.

I would also pick 36, but I wonder whether Open Pros are a good choice for touring. My rear one (also 32h I think) never seemed to stay true for very long, even on an unloaded race bike with a <70kg rider. They seem to need a lot of spokes just for normal use.

My front 28h is perfect, but that was built by someone else (Parker International) and obviously carries much less load.

blorg

Lumen wrote: »

I would also pick 36, but I wonder whether Open Pros are a good choice for touring. My rear one (also 32h I think) never seemed to stay true for very long, even on an unloaded race bike with a <70kg rider.

Well it is I guess technically sold as a racing rim rather than a touring one; Mavic have other rims that are beefier and sold explicitly for touring. To be honest while they roll nicely I have had enough issues with the wheels buckling that I'm not overly enamoured with them.