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when is a wheel fit for use in a tandem?
When it gets you to the end of your ride without failing. Are you a 120kg crew riding a 10 mile TT or a 200kg pair taking luggage on a round the world tour? Depending on the service conditions, tandem wheel spoke counts run from 16 to 48
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We wrote off the rear of a set of standard deore/mavic 319 36h wheelset on one two-week tour (cracking at the eyelets); got it warrantied and then did the same again the subsequent year. Got 2 tours out of some beefier 40h (48h? I can't remember) 719s (and one of those tours was 6 hard weeks) but the rear is now cracking again, although things didn't noticeably deteriorate on their last (third) outing to the alps for a few weeks (only noticed once we were out there). Will probably rebuild onto something new for our next trip (a Sputnik maybe, as that's what our dynamo front hub is built onto)
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gbj_tester
6pt
@Fatbiker
I am currently building up a tandem frame am looking for some info on tandem wheels. More specifcally, when is a wheel fit for use in a tandem? Does it really need lots of spokes, box section rims, high profile rims, high spoke tension, beefy spoke flanges, etc.? Or will some/many non-tandem specific wheels do just fine?
So far I have noticed that quite a few standard road bike wheels are rated up to 110 kg (like my own Campagnolo Zonda wheels). These have taken an enormous amount of abuse so far, including a serious crash and some very rocky trails and are still perfectly true. This got my wondering about the way wheel rating works. Are they actually tested over 110 kg? Or are they just tested up to 110 kg, because hardly anyone is over 110?