Rims for Gravel Riding

[Nothereforafasttime]

Looking to get a new set of wheels so I can go more off road and do a spot of gravel riding on my Reilly Gradient.

Any recommendations for 'off the shelf' versions?  Need to be thru axle disc versions (700c).

Minimum number of spokes?

TIA

[Bolt]

What's your current wheelset and how are you hoping to add improvement?

[Gus]

I'm riding Hope hubs with Velocity Chukker rims 700C and 36 spokes

[Nothereforafasttime]

What's your current wheelset and how are you hoping to add improvement?

Current wheel set are Shimano RX31’s (24 spoke). I weigh about 12 stone and I am looking to carry a medium sized seatpost bag (Topeak backloader - 6 litre) with small handlebar bag and top tube bag.

Do I need more spokes for riding on gravel with this set up?!

[Bolt]

What's your current wheelset and how are you hoping to add improvement?

Current wheel set are Shimano RX31’s (24 spoke). I weigh about 12 stone and I am looking to carry a medium sized seatpost bag (Topeak backloader - 6 litre) with small handlebar bag and top tube bag.

Do I need more spokes for riding on gravel with this set up?!

They're strong wheels and you're not carrying a lot of weight, so I think they'll be absolutely fine.

[IanDG]

I'm using Exal SP19 on Deore hubs (36 spokes) - but I don't use discs.

[mattc]

What's your current wheelset and how are you hoping to add improvement?

Current wheel set are Shimano RX31’s (24 spoke). I weigh about 12 stone and I am looking to carry a medium sized seatpost bag (Topeak backloader - 6 litre) with small handlebar bag and top tube bag.

Do I need more spokes for riding on gravel with this set up?!

What tyres are you running?? Using something like 35mm will (generally!) protect your wheels/components a lot more than 25mm. So that's a considertaion.

[zigzag]

i've ridden around 4000km on mixed surfaces this summer on mavic crossride tubeless 29er wheels with either 35mm or 28mm tyres depending on the surface. i've been pretty happy with them, no issues at all. riding on crappy/rough surfaces otoh is not something i enjoy, as i found out (unless on a proper tool for the job that is a full-sus mtb).

[Brucey]

What's your current wheelset and how are you hoping to add improvement?

Current wheel set are Shimano RX31’s (24 spoke). I weigh about 12 stone and I am looking to carry a medium sized seatpost bag (Topeak backloader - 6 litre) with small handlebar bag and top tube bag.

Do I need more spokes for riding on gravel with this set up?!

there are two issues;
a) strength
and
b) durability

You are not particularly heavy and the load you intend to carry isn't huge. With sensible tyres fitted the wheels will be strong enough. However they may not be particularly durable. 

This is a risk vs consequences game, mainly.  You won't definitely have a problem but the chances of it are increased vs a more heavily built wheelset.

For example you could break a spoke or crunch the rim. You can buy new rims for WH-RX31 but the cost is very high vs a lot of standard rims, so basically you are in for a new wheel; if you can get one at all, that is. If you break a spoke (quite likely with this kind of wheelset IME) then the wheel may go far enough out of true to make a fat tyre rub in the frame; ride over. New spokes are about £5 each for this wheelset and they usually have to be specially ordered; most LBSs won't have them, or indeed anything that will work being straight pull spokes.

In any minimal spoke wheelset  weird things can happen when you break a spoke; in some wheelsets the procedure for replacing a single spoke is to back off all the remaining spokes before you start. The shimano ones usually are not as bad as this but if (say) you ride very far on a shimano wheel of this sort with one broken spoke in it, there is a pretty fair chance that the rim will 'take a set' and this means that the wheel may be nigh-on impossible to true up again afterwards; if you do get it straight, the tensions will be all over the place.

So if you intend to do a lot of this kind of riding, I'd personally suggest a stronger, more durable, and more repairable wheelset. The sky won't immediately fall on your head if you don't use such a thing though, just more risk/consequences....

cheers