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Hi everybody,
My son has Propain Frechdax which has been on 16" wheels for the last two years. I now want to put 20" wheels on it and wondered if anybody can help me on where to buy quality, 20", disc brake suitable, Â mountain bike wheels from. I have obviously tried Propain, but they are a bit pricey and I have found their supper in the past to be very poor, although the bike is fantastic.
Thanks
Swiss Downhill
Rims are widely available, you'd be better off taking some along with the original hubs and having a bike shop build them.
I'd keep the 16's intact, simply because hubs are relatively cheap and why sacrifice something that adds value to the resale.
Anyway, the benchmark 20 used to be Alienation Deviant or Sun Envy Lite, but they are hard to find now in anything below 36h
You are looking for a 406 rim rather than the larger BMX race 451. Basically anything labeled in 20x1.5 format is good rather than 20x1 1/8th (i.e. look for decimals not fractions)
Keep your spoke count low, 28h is more than enough. BMX sites are a good start and often you will find rims noted as front or rear. 'Front' rims *look* better as they dont have machined sidewalls for brakes.
Recumbent or folding bike dealers will probably have suitable wheels in stock. You could ask bencooper on here (Kinetics in Glasgow) for example. Alternatively, as molgrips says, just buy the rims from somewhere like St. John Street Cycles, and have them built. As a recumbent and Moulton rider, I know it's sometimes difficult to find good wheels in these smaller sizes. A lot of wheel builders won't have quality spokes in stock, and will chop and roll longer spokes, so you don't often get butted spokes. Another thing to watch out for is the flange-to-flange distance of the hubs. If they're quite wide the spoke angle where the spokes exit the rim/nipple can be severe, and breakages can occur!
http://www.crucialbmxshop.com/answer-expert-rim.html
http://www.crucialbmxshop.com/crupi-rhythm-expert-rim-1-50.html
OR there were some 28h bontrager disc hubs on here a few days ago
double butted Spokes off ebay with lengths off a calculator if you can find dimension info on the hubs, or measure the flanges once you have them. Custom length ebay double butted spokes will likely cost less than your lbs rolling blanks for you. Plus you get better, lighter spokes.
Build project with a video off youtube for lacing and tension in the frame.