Together with the rack, the wheels are probably the weakest part of the bike with lots of defects. The widly used Mavic rims have achieved a rather dubious reputation for breaking. After many year, where I had used this rims too I had a breakdown in the middle of the taklamakan desert...
Meanwhile I use Alesa Sputnik. A very strom rim, often used for tandems too, that I can recommend.
32-whole rims are good for competitions, where weight is important. On the touring bike is is an needless loss of stability. No need to go with less than 36.
With hubs I have had many problems already. Even the more expensive models will have problems (often with the freewheel) when you travel on dusty roads for a long time.
I would no go below Shimano XT quality.
When travelling there will always be good paved roads as well as rough dirt tracks. A good tyre should provide littel rolling resistance on paved roads and good traction on dirt roads. Besides that, it should last for at least 10'000km. Like many other too, I use the Schwalbe Marathon XR (26" x 1.9), which fulfills the above criterias well.
Especially the gear shifters are personal taste. I use grip shifters that I like very much: simple, rugged technique that never provided any trouble so far.
Also very popular and reliable are bar end shifters. Their only disadvantage is, that they are very exposed in case of a fall.
A very interessting development are the internal gear hubs such as the Rohloff Speedhub which is certainly very robust. But if there is any trouble, You will quite certainly not be able to repair anything by yourself.
A good chain should last about 5000km. I use the very strong Rohloff SLT 99 MTB, that I like very much. Normally I have two chains with me, that I switch every 1500km. This way, the sprockets live twice as long as if you always ride with the same chain.
Good old Shimano XT technique: solid and proven. Also good price-performance ratio.
The lifetime of cassette sprockets and chainwheels depends very much on the chain (see above). Ideal is a very big range of gear ratio. The lowest gear can not be low enough! Even the slowest cycling is less arduous then pushing the 40 kg-bike! I have a 12-32 cassette spocket and 20,34,46 chainwheels. With this maximum gear ratio of 32:20(!) I climb almost every slope...
Tip: The smallest chainwheels are mostly made of steel. The others usually of aluminim. A middle chainwheel made of steel will live much longer! They are not easy to find. I have one made by Eizo.
Completely housed and PTFE coated cables, require less power for gear shifting, especially under bad weather conditions. They also live much longer.
I use Gore Ride-On cables. A disadvantage is, that you won't find spare parts on the roads. But you can also replace them with common cables.
Disk brakes and hydraulic brakes are interessting developments, that have become quite solide by now. But repairing such a brake somewhere in central asia is quite impossible. So, the same here: I prefer good old cantilever or V-brake technology. The V-brakes are a little bit stronger and relay good even under wet conditions. The brake pads of the V-brakes look very little and seem to last not very long. But this is not the case: these pads last as long as common cantilever brake pads. Because they are so little, you can easily bring plenty of of spare pads with you. You will have difficulties finding them on the road but they can be sent even with in a simple letter.
I use very strong brake cables (2mm), usually used for tandems. They last forever
2-finger brake levers are great. I use them too. But when going down a real long downhill at walking speed, I would have often liked to to have bigger levers...
I would never go on a cycle tour again, without click-pedals! I don't want to miss the comfort of this pedals anymore. Meanwhile these parts have become at least as robust as normal pedals. I prefers real click pedals, not those with clickers on one side and normal pedals on the other side. Shimanos 'flagship', the PD-M959, constructed for MTB competition, I can recommend to be very durable.
Like the saddle a matter of personal taste. In no case choose simple MTB handlebars. At least 2 gripping positions it should have. I use 'cow horn' style handlebars. The classic Randonneur handlebars are also a good choice.
A matter of taste. But in remote places important to orientate oneself! Because I like cycling in the mountains, I use one with an altimeter.
Especially on narrow roads with lots of heavy traffic very important to find out, when there is danger behind you, without having to look back all the times...
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My cycle tours
