How much stronger are 36 over 32 spokes?

I suppose it would also depend drastically on how well your wheels have been built.

The strength onf a wheel depends more on the quality of the components, the amount of dish and how well it was made, rather than the number of spokes.

well, now doubt a 36, 40, or more, wheel is going to be stronger than a 32 if the same quality build is uniformly applied. Two weeks ago I picked up a pair of Suntour XC Pro Grease Guard hubs, unfortunately the rear is 32, the front is a 36, wish it was the other way around.

I still plan on building the 32 rear with a Suntour freewheel and riding across Mexico. Swollocks is spot-on, first and foremost a high quality build is tops. I will use straight 14 ga. spokes, plus take an extra axle with me as a precaution.

if I had unlimited money, I'd take a 40 for the rear, and a 36 for the front.

An advantage of 36 spoke hubs is if a spoke breaks the wheel will buckle less, 32 isn't all too bad for this however the low spoke wheels are a problem. Especially in road racing when a broken spoke means a wheel change & if a rider doesn't have a spare it's into the sag-wagon for them.

36 spokes seems a good compromise. I've not broken a spoke with 36-spoke wheels in the past 12 years of cycle touring despite a lot of rough roads. That's because the wheels have been built by experienced wheelbuilders with high-quality components. Also I replace wheels every few years as rims wear and I suspect that spokes and hubs fatigue after some tens of thousands of kilometers. (I once had a Campagnolo rear hub crack after five years of touring.) 36 spokes also seems the most common for rims and hubs, an important factor if a wheel needs repair on a long tour. Going to 40 spokes would entail extra weight and less compatibility without any real gain. 32 spokes might be pushing your luck unless you are traveling very light (no camping gear).

I don't see the purpose of trying to save weight on a touring bike. We have 48 spoke wheels, I have yet to break a spoke in over 60,000 km of heavy loaded touring on sometimes very bad roads.

I had 32 spokes and always suffered broken ones on my rear wheel while touring. I now have a 36-spoke rear wheel.
The main problem is I'm pretty heavy - nearly 100kg - then add the weight of my gear! My wife hasn't had any problems, but she is only 50kg.
How much stronger are 36-spoke wheels? I have no idea, but I guess it's more than the obvious 10 percent.

All depends .... just returned from a heavy tour in Africa with 32 spoke wheels mounted onto a Rohloff hub. Herr Rohloff says that 32 spokes on his hub (which is a pretty large thing) is equivalent to 48 on a normal hub. Seems a bit exagerated but I had no trouble at all with heavy loads and dreadful roads. Hey, that rhymes... Previously I had 40 spokes and tandem hubs which were 100% still true after 7 years and numerous hard tours. Before that I had 36 spokes on a 27 inch wheel with no trouble...

With normal hubs I would be happier with 36 than 32, but as said before, it is more about the quality of components and the build than the number.

David

It also depends a bit on wheel size. Smaller wheels are inherently stronger, so fewer spokes are needed for a strong wheel. So 36H is less important on 26" than it is on 700c. It also depends on dish - if you use 130mm road hubs it puts a lot more strain on the drive side than if you use 135mm MTB hubs.

I use 26" 36H front and rear. The difference is weight is very little and they're stronger. It's also easier to find 36H rims in poor parts of the world.

Having said that I've just done a tour across Spain, France and the UK on an old pair of Mavic Helium 700c road wheels, 28 rear, 26 front with no problems. I don't weigh much though and had very little luggage.