Ultracycling

Garmin inreach. spot are cunts.

Track, SOS in case of emergency. A check-in would be nice too I guess to tell people I'm not dead if I decide to sleep on a mountain

Tried the mini?

No. But I know people that have used it happily.

Any further banter on Iberica Traversa ? I am feeling the pull, just need to get marital clearance which is much harder hurdle to clear than the event itself...

I still think it's expensive and I still don't know if it'll be feasible with the lockdown rules. What is it, 2 months away?

Is there a wheelset or rim that is a clear go to for mixed terrain long distance riding?

Also, are there things to be sure to avoid? How common is it for people to be running tubeless on the start line of say TCR?

Fuck tubeless
Fuck deep section rims
Fuck low spoke counts
Fuck any weird spokes that most bike shops will look at and say "what's that?"

Hope 20five pro 4. Faultless.

I think I can get on board with this. Tubeless has been tempting but the thought of it all going wrong in the middle of nowhere would keep me up at night.

How to stick within the criteria but not make the bike feel like a tank?

Thanks for the recommendation, Hope have been popping up. They just don't seem as exciting as something deep section, but that's probably beside the point.

To clarify, I would definitely use tubeless for proper off-road stuff, where you're using large volume, low pressure tyres, but certainly not for road events like TCR.

I used 700x50 tyres setup tubeless for Badlands on the same rims I ran tubes in for many road ultras.

Ok, that makes sense. Thanks.

These have caught my eye - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124588618952

I like DT Swiss hubs and rims and have both on my Mason.
SON are famously reliable dynamo hubs. I can't comment on the price.

Is there a wheelset or rim that is a clear go to for mixed terrain long distance riding?

Run tubless.
Get something hand built
25mm id
Not deep
Carbon rims if you can afford otherwise alu abd maybe dt xc rims
Dt hope i9 ck hubs as budget
Dt or Spaim spokes

Thanks for your thoughts.

Guess I will have to see if their enough time to experiment with tubeless before it matters, most rims seem to have the option so the choice will be there.

Do you say carbon rims for the weight saving?

@hippy which rims do you have on your Tripster?

Now it's a proper gravel bike I'm using my set of 650B wheels. Well, half the set. I got a new front wheel built with a dynamo and WTB i25 rim instead of the Hope/i23 it had previously.

If I was doing it again I'd probably not bother with 650B and stick to 700C but go wider than the 18-19m internal Kinlin and DT Swiss road rims I used for Badlands.

Carbon can do one too. Alu ftw

Carbon can do one too. Alu ftw

Crayzee talk. Crabon all the way. With disk brakes, anyway.

Cheap carbon sucks and expensive carbon is, expensive. If I'm gonna be smashing wheels into rocks I want something that might bend instead of cracking. I'll keep the carbon for the TT bike.

Hope 20five pro 4. Faultless.

Rear wheel rim dinged badly on a fairly innocuous root, second or third ride. Would not recommend them (my aileron velocity wheels had been down the same track / bridle way countless times without issue).

I like carbon rims because I have dented some aluminium rims to shit. Cabron rims also run nicer. Yes you can bend them back but still.
If you can't afford to buy or replace carbon (i couldnt). Get some XC aluminium rims. I don't think gravel rims are really up to the job and you'd be better with XC rims. Something from DT or industry 9. I built some dt xm421 rims for this job.

yeh plus one for aileron's

I'm at -1 Ailerons because they do not like being run into by motorscooters. :)

To be fair, I think they did cross a couple of continents before London Scooter Crew™ had their way with them.

Loads of people use tubeless for TCR, maybe it's 50:50. Sometimes it goes wrong, most often it doesn't. If it does it's a pain but not race-ending. If it doesn't it saves you time. Basically it's not a major decision to agonise over.

Re rims, Kinlin XR-31s are pretty good. I've bounced my set out of loads of potholes with no issues. But really, most modern, deep-ish section rims are strong enough. I can't recall hearing anyone on TCR have a bust rim, apart from Ultan Coyle who got hit by a car, but that hardly counts. If it did happen would most likely be box section like an Open Pro as they are not as strong as modern wheels.

If I was getting another Alu set built I would go for Aforce AL33 as they seem to be the fastest and strong too.

If I had disc brakes I would have carbon. In fact that is the reason I would switch to disc brakes, so I could have carbon rims for something like TCR without worrying.

It's worth noting the question was for rims for mixed-terrain long distance riding, not specifically TCR. Which I woudn't called mixed-terrain. Yes it's got a penchant for gravel now, but it's not a significant percentace.

Is there a wheelset or rim that is a clear go to for mixed terrain long distance riding?