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Sputnik was definitely on the cards and its useful to know it's still available in 40h (for the time being. Have seem some slightly deeper rims suggested too - Velocity Chukker by DCR, Alex G6000 by JD Tandems. I guess the idea is the rim rigidity helps the wheel, but they all look pricey compared with the bombproof Sputnik. I guess there's my answer...
On another tack, is this for your Dawes? We have an A319 (25 mm external) running on the front and the V-brakes are sitting very wide to fit around the 25 mm rim. Are you just going with it or have you done something exciting to overcome that?
hamrack-
This is still the Dawes. Just going with it - from memory I think the Sputnik is only .5mm wider external than the 719 that's on there at the moment so it shouldn't be noticeable once I've worn the (new) pads down a bit (which shouldn't take too long in the alps :)
The sputnik wasn't particularly heavily researched, I think I found one particularly glowing blog write-up and that was enough for me. It was more a good price (£25!) for what looks like a solid construction and 40h was easily available (from spa cycles). This year seems to have gone from having 'loads of time to prep' to 'no time at all to prep, throw money at things and hope everything turns out ok' very quickly. The tandem is looking blingy with its new Dura Ace headset though, so there's that.
I hopefully pick the wheel up tomorrow, then we're off to catch the European Bike Express on Friday, and wake up in Montpellier Saturday morning.
As an aside, the sputnik marks the beginning of the fifth set of wheels for this bike in my time of ownership!
(The original knackered wheels, first set of 36h deore/319s that lasted one tour, warrantyed to a second set of 319s for second tour, which stood up better but we killed the rear after shifting the chain into the spokes, then the 40h orbit/719s, and now this rigida/son on the front.)
Tandemming is a silly habit.
6pt
Rad Bikes, New Cross, are building me a 40h Rigida Sputnik (double wall double eyelet!) onto SON front wheel. Our 40h 719 set was built at Brixton and got us through 8 heavy weeks without fault, but it's looking like the usual Mavic weaknesses are coming to the fore in the rear so will probably ask RB to rebuild it onto a Sputnik (assuming the front behaves itself) when we return. Picking RB over Brixton as much because they're close to home as anything else, but they're doing free wheelbuilds for the summer if you're feeling cheap.