Rear 65mm wide custom wheel build help/advice

[orange streak]

Hello, everybody, I'm building a custom 26 inch rear rim/wheel that is about 65mm wide. I'm looking for a double wall thick rim with no spoke holes. I can't find a rim of this size & It skips to 80mm rim which is to big.
What I plan to do is have the rim drilled for 48 spokes to make it a strong tandem wheel.

I'd like have the rim then drilled for holes to lighten it up & I'd like to put in orange rimstrip in for looks.
I need advice on weather I should put holes in the rim for my powerful mid drive e-bike, I'm concerned that my rim will be weakened & may crack! I do all on road riding for long trips & the rear is loaded up with 90 pounds of lithium ion batteries. My rim will be white with a 2.5" maxxis tire stretched on rim.

Where do I find such a 65mm wide double wall rim?, & (yes or no) on the fashionable hole drilling? Its hard enough find a no spoke hole rim.

 

[orange streak]

My bike for reference its heavy electric cargo bike.
I guess double butted alpine spokes will do, can you get them in white? Does anybody experience rim failure?

 

[Drunkskunk]

I have never heard of a double walled undrilled rim. But I have heard of a 24 hole 65mm fatbike rim, and you could drill another 24 holes. https://www.lightbicycle.com/65mm-w...hookless-double-wall-tubeless-compatible.html Sit down before clicking the link. the price might cause fainting.
A cheaper option might be to go for one of the 64 hole rims, and just use thinner spokes.

 

[orange streak]

I have never heard of a double walled undrilled rim. But I have heard of a 24 hole 65mm fatbike rim, and you could drill another 24 holes.
A cheaper option might be to go for one of the 64 hole rims, and just use thinner spokes.

Its got to be double wall rim, & if i did find a 24spoke 65mm fat rim, which i don't think exist, but I would like that to cut down on the work. Trying to go cheap as possible, & carbon wheels are not a option. Here is what my rim & tire will look like width wise.

 

[orange streak]

Double post, don't know how to delete.

 

[orange streak]

Nay, or yay on drilling holes in the rim?? Will it be reliable for road use? I'm going to use a 5t wind QS 205 HUB MOTOR in the mid drive powered up to 15,000 watt max for most of the time! http://www.Robsson.de has double walled rims but no 65mm wide in stock.
View attachment 2

 

[orange streak]

Am I posting in the right category?, I really need help & advice for my project please.

 

[MadRhino]

You are after some unusual components, that will only make your bike impossible to service quickly when failure will happen. If those requirements would be necessary for the purpose this could make sense anyway, but they are not.

I am using 65mm rims in 24 in 36h single wall laced with 14 ga DT Swiss spokes. Not a mid drive, the QS-205-H50 V3 is in the wheel and I sometimes carry a 105 lbs passenger on the unsuspended rear rack. The QS motor is fed 20+ Kw everyday and the rim is still perfect after speeding the mine field streets that we have here. If I would want a stronger rim on this street bike I would use a 47mm 36h trial rim. My dirt bike has much stronger wheels that are laced on a 33 lbs motor, using a 26 in Sun Ringlé Double Track that is a 36h 32mm old school DH rim.

 

[orange streak]

I am using 65mm rims in 24 in 36h single wall laced with 14 ga DT Swiss spokes. Not a mid drive, the QS-205-H50 V3 is in the wheel and I sometimes carry a 105 lbs passenger on the unsuspended rear rack. The QS motor is fed 20+ Kw everyday and the rim is still perfect after speeding the mine field streets that we have here. If I would want a stronger rim on this street bike I would use a 47mm 36h trial rim. My dirt bike has much stronger wheels that are laced on a 33 lbs motor, using a 26 in Sun Ringlé Double Track that is a 36h 32mm old school DH rim.

Good advice, it makes me lean toward having my rim drilled holy if I'm running a double wall rim. Noted I have no suspension what's so ever, & this is a experiment for me. I've destroyed so many 48 spoke yuba wheels in the past, & after I road 62 mile marathon I messed up this last time by riding over a smallish curb & bent the rim while my tire was at 60psi. 65mm wide is the perfect size. As a last resort I would accept a 21" MC rim with no spoke if I knew where to find one. I was considering 13ga spokes. My wheel builder keeps suggesting that we can make a 64 spoke rim from a 32 hole rim, which I believe would be ridiculous & no bike shop would look foward to servicing it with that many spokes!

I believe spoke lace pattern is important but he seems to think not as much, & I was considering a 3 or 4 cross spoke lacing. I'm installing a nuvinci internal gear hub & running motor chain on disk brake side. I just need a double wall 26" rim, 65mm wide to get started. I'm a rookie.

 

[orange streak]

I hope to run my rim at 65+ psi so that it does well for the road on lowering rolling resistance. I'll even do 70psi if rim can take it even with hole pattern. I understand running lower pressure helps with controll but I have so much battery I enjoy improving the range. I'm a fan of high pressure bicycle tire for less weight & lower roll resistance to improve range. That's just the way it is.

 

[Chalo]

If you have a tire fat enough to be a good match for a 65mm wide rim, high pressure won't make you faster. In fact, the increased bumpiness of the ride will slow you down-- the energy carried to your body, your bike, and your cargo as shocks and vibration comes directly from your kinetic energy. With tires over 2" wide, pressure above 40-50 psi seldom nets any increase in speed, though different tires do vary somewhat in this regard.

I use many 48 spoke wheels on my bikes. That's not the strongest kind of wheel anymore, though, because you can get stronger rims in 32 and 36 hole than in 48 hole drilling. I recommend the Origin8 DAT-PRO 65 as the strongest rim I know that will fit into (some) mountain bike frames and forks. It's available in 36 hole drilling. Double walled, no unnecessary holes, moderately deep section. Generally speaking, the stronger the rim, the stronger a wheel you can make from it, almost independent of spoke count.

 

[MadRhino]

I hope to run my rim at 65+ psi so that it does well for the road on lowering rolling resistance. I'll even do 70psi if rim can take it even with hole pattern. I understand running lower pressure helps with controll but I have so much battery I enjoy improving the range. I'm a fan of high pressure bicycle tire for less weight & lower roll resistance to improve range. That's just the way it is.

Well, when we are using wider rims it is generally for the purpose of riding lower air pressure. Wider rims always have a result of lowering the tire spec PSI range: Let's say a tire is made for recommended 32mm rim width and has a PSI range 30 to 60, fitting it on a 65mm rim would lower the PSI range to about 17 to 35. If you fill it to its max spec on a rim that is twice as wide than the size it was made for, chances are that the bead will pop out of the rim some day.

I am riding 3.0 tires on 65mm rims. Those tires (Duro Berm Master in the summer and Duro Wildlife in the winter) are both rated 30 to 60 PSI and recommended 1 to 1.5 in rim width. Using 2.5 in rims, I am riding them sub 20 PSI, usually 17 when road conditions are nice. I have tested the high pressure limit that they should have on this size of rim, and came up to 35 PSI after what I clearly notice the bead stop is getting dangerously high off the rim. Then, their cornering grip is sh?t at that high PSI. On a 2.5 rim their best handling is just a tad lower than 20 PSI, that is just the way it is. 8)

As for rolling resistance, the Berm Master does very good and higher PSI doesn't change much of it. The Wildlife does bad and noizy because of its higher, softer mud thread. Higher PSI doesn't change much of that, other than wearing the center quickly thus giving them better rolling on straight lines the last week before I have to replace them. Rolling resistance of a tire is mostly affected by its thread design and gum hardness, PSI doesn't change much of that.

 

[orange streak]

If you have a tire fat enough to be a good match for a 65mm wide rim, high pressure won't make you faster. In fact, the increased bumpiness of the ride will slow you down-- the energy carried to your body, your bike, and your cargo as shocks and vibration comes directly from your kinetic energy. With tires over 2" wide, pressure above 40-50 psi seldom nets any increase in speed, though different tires do vary somewhat in this regard.

I use many 48 spoke wheels on my bikes. That's not the strongest kind of wheel anymore, though, because you can get stronger rims in 32 and 36 hole than in 48 hole drilling. I recommend the Origin8 DAT-PRO 65 as the strongest rim I know that will fit into (some) mountain bike frames and forks. It's available in 36 hole drilling. Double walled, no unnecessary holes, moderately deep section. Generally speaking, the stronger the rim, the stronger a wheel you can make from it, almost independent of spoke count.

I am putting a 2.5" tire on a 65mm wide rim. Seems I should try carefully inspecting the tire with a pressure up to 45 psi max. I will want to make a good run next year for another 62 miles with spandex riders up to 35mph.

I should mention that the hub is 32h & bike shops says we can redrill for 48h or 64h (most common rims)

I want to know about the best lace pattern to use, but that varies on the number of spoke holes. My yuba has 48h 4 cross lace pattern currently? The only option I like so far is 48 spokes for increased strength, any more and the spokes become to costly!, etc. I'm just trying my best to understand the wheel build. I don't know if the hub can be modified for 36h, I think theres a 36h nuvinci hub. I sure would like to see more bare fat rims that has no holes.

The way im thinking is I know I can get a 72 spoke hole or 144 spoke hole rim that is 65mm wide but its 24" & would have to have it lace for close to 48 spokes, I would like that to be possible with a 26"
Or I my have to see if I can settle for 36h regrettably.

 

[Chalo]

The tire and rim combination you describe should work well with much less than 45psi. Rolling resistance is a function of distorting the rubber at the contact patch. The flatter the tire's shape at the contact patch, the less distortion. A wide tire mounted on a wide rim has a very flat contact patch. Experiment with lower pressures down to 20psi or so and see for yourself.

A wheel can only be as strong as its rim. There are no 48h rims and no novelty rims in 72 or 144 hole drilling that are nearly as strong as what you can get in 32 or 36 hole. That's not regrettable; it's cheaper to build and easier to live with. Single walled rims, or rims with huge holes blown through them, are lost opportunities have strong wheels.

The advantage of 48 spoke wheels is largely in their ability to be trued back up after damage, because there are more places to pull them back into shape. Better than that is a stronger wheel that takes less damage to begin with.

The old style Surly Large Marge and Origin8 DAT-PRO 65 are the only solid surface, double walled rims in the 65mm width range that I'm aware of.

 

[orange streak]

I've decided what I'm going to do based on the circumstances. I'm going to get the 36 hole nuvinci 380 hub(hope its reliable) in silver color, & lace it in a 36h rim ready to powder coat paint white from either ruff cycles or (Robs'son). They are both double wall & I can have the rim drilled for some fasionable holes. I'm going to go for using 13 ga white spokes if I can find some also in double butted. If I can get brass nipples that would look good with the white. That should do the job. I'm going to have to figure where to find my spokes.

 

[Chalo]

13ga spokes are single butted, 13ga at the elbow and 14ga at the threaded end. That's good, because it lets you use normal nipples with normal angular range at the rim holes. They are as elastic as 14ga spokes while having a larger head and elbow to match hubs with large holes.

 

[orange streak]

My rear wheel is going to match up with my front white mag wheel. I'm going to change forks out & do some funny & cool stuff for later.

 

[MadRhino]

Approved. There is a better choice of good rims in 36h, that is common in Trial, DH, Chopper, and Moped categories. The 36h is also a common standard in motorcycle rims and some sizes can fit bicycle tires. Most of all, using a common standard is making your bike easy and quick to repair.