For quite some time the idea of building my own wheels has intrigued me. There just seems to be this mystical perception of wheel building. That you’d have to be a skilled and train professional to become a wheel builder and that somehow anyone who knows how to build a wheel was born with the gift and knowhow. Simply put, it’s seems to be an unobtainable goal for most bike enthusiasts. Naturally, I felt determined to overcome this perception and delve into wheel building myself. I also love bikes partly due to how sustainable they are. Not in the eco-friendly, save the planet sort of sustainability — although they’ve definitely got that going for them as well — but I’m talking about sustainability in the sense of basic independence. I love that I can get on a bike and ride free of charge and when something goes wrong I’m able to fix it myself. Aside from running into a local bike shop for a new intertube or the like, I don’t need to depend on anyone but myself. And as I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, I’m building up my Long Haul Trucker with the goal of doing everything myself; and of course, this includes wheels.
I’m using these wheels for loaded Touring and so I wanted something pretty tough. I may have got a little overboard, but from all the research I’ve done, it seems that when it comes to touring, going overboard is rarely a bad thing. And since the most common issues people run into is with their rear wheel, I wanted to have something pretty tough. After researching, I decided to go with Mavic A719 rims and Shimano’s Deore XT hubs. The decision for the hubs was largely based on availability. Generally speaking, a rear hub with 135mm spacing (a standard for mountain bikes) that isn’t fitted for disc brakes can be hard to find. Disc brakes have become a norm for mountain bikes and so there are limited options when it comes to non-disc 135mm rear hubs, or so I found. It would have been great to fit the bike with disc brakes, but since the LHT frame isn’t built for disc-brakes I didn’t want to risk the added stress to the frame. The XTs seemed to be a solid hub for a reasonable price that fit my needs. As for spokes I when with some pretty gnarly DT Swiss Alpine III spokes, which are triple butted at 2.3/1.8/2.0. Word on the street is that they’re pretty f***ing tough. As for nipples, I just went with some DT Swiss brass nipples. Nothing fancy there.
So here are some shots of the wheels…
my first wheelset
Mavic A719
Shimano Deore XT
fancy shot
current build
I take it the DT Alpine III spokes fit the XT hubs and seated fine without using a punch to enlarge the holes in the XT flange? With their larger head you’re supposed to use a hub with at least a 2.5mm opening, so I assume the XT qualifies in that respect. How have these held up since your build nearly a year ago?
They’ve held up great so far. Don’t remember exact specs but didn’t have to mod anything to get it allnworking together. They laced just fine as is.