kansascity 

My Motobecane came with Weinmann DP18 wheelset (2400+ grams) that I switched to a takeoff Fulcrum S19 wheelset (<1900g). I am only concerned about the S19 due to being only 24 count spokes as the inner rim width of 22.5mm seems much more stout.

I try to pack light and do not bring any cooking supplies with me. I use a lightweight tent and am buying a lightweight sleeping mat. My trips will be through populated areas and paved or packed trails. I do plan on packing extra spokes (also trip always less than 2 weeks long). Thoughts?

Potential Weight:
150lb's me
23lbs bike
20lbs gear

djb

You don’t say the spoke count of the 1lb heavier wheelset, but to an outsider, it doesn’t seem to make sense to worry about the weight difference given that you’ll be carrying a certain amount of stuff—and to me its not worth riding with a low spoke count wheelset given the if you hit a pothole or whatever and bork a spoke, the wheel will be much wonkier than a higher spokeset of wheels.

if you break a spoke, it messes up your trip, plain and simple, and you’ll waste time getting it attended to, and depending on where you are, may be hard to do, or to find the correct bladed spoke, or a repair done by a so so mechanic...or whatever....

btw, with either wheelset, get a good experienced mechanic to check the spoke tensions well before the trip, so that you can ride loaded on them beforehand and make sure all is well.

proper spoke tension is crucial to reducing spoke breakage issues.

3speed

As long as the lighter wheel-set has decent spokes, I’d ride em. If you’re the kind of person who pays attention to where you’re going and goes around a big pot hole rather plow right through it, I think you’d be fine. It’s not like your wheel is suddenly gonna collapse on you because you have 20lbs of stuff on your bike. That said, I wouldn’t be running 700x25c race tires or anything either. Something in the 30-32mm range, or more of you feel like it, should keep your rims happy even if you do hit some small ridges in the pavement. You’re not exactly a giant person, carrying a ton of gear. A lot of the wheel failures I read about are 200lb people carrying weight I’d never want to haul around on my bike. I’m about your weight, and had no problems when I toured on 350g rims(light) with 32 spokes on some pretty gnarly “gravel” that was full of fist sized rocks. On pavement, I’d be comfortable on decent 24 spokes.

djb

again, no personal experience to add unlike 3speed who does give real examples of him on tough gravel---but his point about HOW you ride is probably the real kicker here.
No amount of internet reading or opinions can make up for a rider who "rides heavy" and hits stuff seated and all the other details of someone who is hard on stuff and isnt even aware of it.
I can say from experience that how you ride and your judgement of how fast one goes over a given terrain and bumps makes a huge difference to this whole equation, so like 3speed points out, if you really do only carry 20lbs and you weigh 150, then like me as a bit lighter, we have a big advantage over folks who weigh 30 or 50lbs more than us.

another factor that really helps a wheelset,spokes rims, is tire width and tire pressure.
If you can fit 28s on that bike and run lower pressures, it will go a long way to transmitting a lot less force/shock into your wheels and spokes.

I weigh about 135-140, and have toured a lot on 28s, with four panniers, and have never run more than 100psi, and often at much lower.
Know how much lower depends on the load weight, but with only 20lbs, Ive run probably 85-90 rear, 80 front with no issues--but then we come back to how I ride.
I dont go crashing into stuff and chose my line and how I unweight the bike at that crucial tenth of a second when going over rough stuff, and choose my speed going over X rough stuff---bottom line, I'm easy on my wheels, and this isnt something you learn from reading it on a forum, but only from riding and being observant enough, and certainly from my experience, some people just dont learn or notice how rough they ride.

all that blah blah is to say, heck you might be fine on your wheels, probably given your weight+20lbs is still lighter than a heck of a lot of riders out there riding on the same wheels.

do look into the widest tires you can put in, as the increased air volume and lower pressures will make a real difference in having more suspension effect for your wheelset.

also, hey you may be lucky and will be riding on pristine roads....

fietsbob

Just be able to accept a substitute wheel, If yours is damaged..

odds are nobody will have a spare same wheel in a small country town shop...


nobody has any here On US 101, at the western end of a Transam route ..


Good Luck..

We see all kinds of bikes people tour on , out here, on the Pacific Coast..






....

3speed

Exactly as djb said it, on all points. When I toured on big gravel, I was on 2.1" wide tires at appropriate pressures. And I'd say I also "ride light," though I don't know if I've ever heard that term. I like it. I have a friend who took years after getting into cycling before he learned to stop plowing through things. He also dealt with lots of frustration due to lots of flats. I almost never flat, and basically never need to true a wheel. Which isn't to say I'm overly careful. I just watch where I'm going, and don't plow through piles of glass and pot holes.

djb

the first time I heard that term, it made sense right away. I have a lot of two wheeled experience, motorcycles and bicycles, and one thing that makes for a better, faster rider is developing a good sense of traction on both wheels, and how body language and all that comes into play, as well as standing, unweighting your body weight for a fraction of a second, allowing for a slide front or back for a fraction of a second but knowing traction will come back in two fractions of a second......all that stuff and more.

more specifically with bicycling, our body stance and all that has a huge effect on traction over loose surfaces specifically, so doing mountain biking, riding on dirt in general, riding on snow, a good rider is hyper aware and constantly calculating the weight on each wheel, how we position ourselves and our weight on the bike to affect traction--which also translates into how much weight is going into the wheels when going over rough stuff.
Its like skiing, we learn to unweight and put pressure when needed to maintain nice even, effective ski edge contact with an undulating surface.

a rider who has a good feel for this is always going to be a faster rider on loose surfaces, which is fun to do.

so tying this in with how hard we are on wheels on a bike, especially touring, comes down to being hyper aware of how to finesse and when to slow down and gently hit something, and or simply not to hit something by avoidance.

in this guys case, he's talking adding only 20lbs, so 150=20=170, lots of riders weigh 170 alone, but Ive also seen roadies of that weight or lighter who bash into crap and bust spokes on their sub 20lb bikes, either due to being "a bull in a chinashop" as a rider, or their wheelsets have loose spokes etc

so again, no easy , black and white internet answer here, but only coming from experience and reacting very fast to each specific impact incident, and being both aware of how to unweight our riders body from our bike when hitting something like a hole , and knowing how to do it with the proper timing so it helps your wheelset.

kansascity 

Thanks for all the comments. Thinking about my riding style, I believe I do "ride light". I get an occasional flat from road debris, but haven't broke a spoke in the last 10k+ miles (and last one a very cheap wheelset).

I will try touring with them this Summer and report any issues. My tour is will only be nine-hundred miles and I would guess a bicycle shop every 30-50 miles.

djb

lots of people tour light on road bikes, so get your wheelset spoke tensions checked out by a knowledgeable mechanic who knows what tensions to put, and do some test riding with your stuff, and you'll know pretty soon how it will be.
Add in a little carefulness over rough stuff, and you'll be set.

if your other wheelset is 32 spokes or whatever, I'd lean to going with the higher spoke count.

have fun prepping and planning for it.