-
We were burning a set of A319s per tour – I think we got through three pairs in the end? The eyelets were going and rims were cracking. We got considerably more mileage out of the A719s that replaced them, but the rear of that set is on its way out now too. I would replace with the same if I could find one as I was happy with the lifespan (cumulative 3 months of hard touring, some more gentle pootling) but last I looked there were none around so I got our dynamo wheel built onto a beefy sputnik.
6pt-
@6pt Ok interesting. Do you mind if I ask the total weight of riders plus luggage on these tours?
@motoko Yes that must be a challenge. Is there a 40h hub in 135mm spacing that could be fitted with a 5mm spacer, a la @JesperXT ? That's what I would do. You could also use a longer QR axle if you were concerned about the shortened length of exposed axle for the dropouts, but for example my 135mm Deore hub (albeit 36h) has 5.5mm of exposed axle on each end, so spacing this hub would also produce the same result as @JesperXT's - i.e. 3mm each side.
Ndeipi
I'm about to build up a pair of 36h Mavic A319 rims onto Deore hubs for a cheap and cheerful tandem wheelset. The rims feel very strong, if a little heavy at 590g! The upgrade option would be Mavic A719 rims in 36h - 30g lighter per rim and apparently a little stronger still.