On Wednesday, March 11, 2026 at 10:44:38 AM UTC-5 Davey Two Shoes wrote: I'm going to ride my Sam Hillborne in the Vermont Overland this year and as such I feel compelled to convert from tubes to tubeless. My current wheelset is the 36 spoke deore/dyad setup so many of us know and love(?). I'm considering the following options; either replace the rim with a Velocity Quill and reuse my 36 spoke hubs or having a 32/32 or maybe 28/32 spoke wheelset built up with Velocity Quills. I plan to run 48mm Rene Herse tires. I'd like the bike to feel quicker and more inspiring with this wheelset, I've often thought that the "ploddy" feeling my Sam has is down to the uninspiring wheelset.
I was very surprised at how nimble my Sam Hillborne felt when I first rode it. It's nothing like my Chapman (built with old skinny 753 tubes), but it's not anywhere near as dead as some other bikes I've had. I'm light (used to be 125lb, but have gone up to 135lb in the last year), ride 48mm tires on 32 spoke wheels on all 3 of my Sams. I have used 3 different tire sets on them - Rene Herse Switchback Hill, Panaracer Gravel King Slick, and Ultra Dynamico Cava JFF. The tires make a noticeable difference, with the Cavas being noticeably more "ploddy" than the others. I would note that Rene Herse Juniper Ridge (48mm knobby) do not fit in my Hillbornes. In my experience, I would expect you to notice more difference between the Dyad and Quill rims than from losing 4 spokes. The only way I'd expect to notice the effect of fewer spokes would be the wrong direction - an out of true or worse wheel. Ted Durant Milwaukee, WI USA -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/cbc028f1-d904-4880-ae58-ee43e0aad930n%40googlegroups.com.
