FordTrax

I have posted a few questions to help me out with my AC Mr. Pink Build. I have accumulated most of the parts now and the build should be underway by the end of February. Which brings me to my next question. The frame will take 700c x 30 tires - pretty good for a classic steel road bike frame running rim brakes. I have 28mm Panaracer Gravel Kings on hand.

Most of my components are black: handlebars, stem, headset, brakes, crankset - black is just so much easier to get today (but silver would have looked amazing). Since I am 215lb I need at a minimum a 32h wheelset. I am thinking of Shimano 105 hubs (I just ordered a set of thin metric wrenches off amazon warehouse and a vice for my vice) so I should be able to service them myself. I have looked at Archetype (i have a set already) which have been very good, Velocity A23s, or Velocity Dyads. I likely will not ever go to tubeless on road - been there done that - not interested in going back anytime soon. Gravel bike tubeless with 40+ yes indeed.

I realize that a light Dyad build will probably be around 2000g - 105 hubs 36 db spokes. Which is a bit on the heavy side the Archetypes in 32h would probably be 1850g. But I like the fact that there is a v shape but at 22mm it is fairly low profile but the 18.6 internal width should allow my 28mm tire to actually reach 28mm if not 29mm and have a good handling profile. The black rim with the silver non-machined brake track should help the wheelset tie to the mostly black components with silver accents. USA made is a bonus. The research on the internet is generally positive about the Dyads.

Does anyone have much road riding experience with the Dyads? What is the ride quality like (with db spokes)? For non-welded rims how would you rate the rim quality?
Any other thoughts on these rims would be welcome.

TiHabanero

About 5 years ago I built a set of 700c Dyads using Suntour Sealed 36 hole hubs with OLD of 135. My experience is that they true up fine, although not as easily as Mavic Open Pro Elite or even Sport rims. They are not as perfect out of the factory as the Mavic rims. In no way are they horrible, just a bit more finicky to make round. Have had zero issues with them on my touring bike and I do recommend them as a very good stout rim.
Addressing the braking surface, no problems at all. Cannot tell the seam is there.

bboy314

I have them on a touring bike and a tandem bike and would agree with everything above. Both of my Dyad equipped bikes use 700 x 35 tires, I haven’t tried them with anything narrower.

pdlamb

I've got Dyads on one wheel set; I run 32s on all three rear wheels (multiple bikes). It built up really easily (especially compared to changing spokes on an, experienced?, Sun CR-18). It's lasted a long time, probably 20-30,000 miles.

Ride quality? It rides just as well or poorly as any other rim, IME. Rides like silk on new pavement, kind of bumpy toward the end of winter when spring sprouts potholes all over the streets and roads.

icemilkcoffee 

I think you would gain more going to an OC (asymmetric) rear rim than going from 32 to 36 spokes, especially if this is a hub with 130mm OLD and 11 speed freehub.

Doug64

We have Dyad rims on 3 of our touring bikes. They are 36 spoke (Wheelsmith double butted) rims used on 130 and 135 mm hubs.

My wife has 29, 000 miles on a set of Dyad rims, with no issues. I hit a large piece of metal on the approach to a bridge at about 25 MPH. The impact put a bulge in the rim, but the rim was still true and round, so I could ride it to a nearby town, Medicine Hat, Alberta. I couldn't use my front brake but the wheel was safe to ride. I called the guy who built the wheels and asked about pounding the bulge back in. He did not think that was a good Idea.

This experience sold me on the durability of Dyad rims.

The bulge is about the 9:00 position.


I about cried when the mechanic at the shop cut out the hub for me. Luckily, the the shop had 1 wheel that would work because we still had about 1,000 mile to go. I had the hub to build up another wheel using a Dyad rim. Between my wife and I we have about 44,000 miles of actual touring on Dyad rims without any issues. None of our Dyad wheels have ever needed truing.


Bianchi Volpe set up for touring: 105 hubs, Dyad rims, Fully loaded.

FordTrax

Doug64 that is a great story; pretty good dent in the rim there.

The velocity website says 25-38mm tire width - so 28 - 30s seem a very safe bet. Should allow a good profile to develop.

FBinNY 

You are greatly overthinking the issue. Wheel structure is about spokes rather than rims. Not that rims don't make some difference, but it's secondary.

The rim is mainly a compression ring for spokes to attach to, and in that role, just about anything is fine. So, choose the rim based on the tires you plan to run, then choose the spokes based on the wheels structural needs.

FWIW I've built 36h touring tandem wheels with light rims and 2.0/1.8DB spokes and never had any issues. If you want a belt & suspenders wheel, consider using 2.3/1.8/2.0 TB spokes on the right side.

Also jeep in mind that wheel build quality trumps component choice, so focus your energy there.

GamblerGORD53

I only have Dyads with my 3 IGH bikes. I used 2.3/ 2.0 spokes where possible. They are all good as new after whatever miles, one has 32,000 with a SA XL-FDD dyno drum on my tour bike. Nothing is better. My bike was 290 lbs on both tours with 36c tires. One bike has 650B x 38c that float my SA 3 speed right along.
DeFaileurs and eyelet rims are what will make wheels fail. So +1 to 2.3 on the drive side rear.
Light/ fast/ strong <<< pick ONE.

FordTrax

I pulled the trigger on a set of 700c Dyads already built up with 36 DB spokes and 105 hubs. I would have spent as much on buying the components as I did on the prebuilt set. I will have them hand tensioned after I put a bit of mileage on them.

pdlamb

Serious recommendation: check the wheels' tension as soon as you can. If they're machine built, you've got a good chance they're under-tensioned. If that's the case, the loose spokes will unwind as you put the miles on them, possibly to the point of failure. (I've had a machine built wheel break a spoke in just 500 miles!) Get them checked and/or tensioned ASAP, and you'll never have to deal with that problem.