Bicycle Mechanics - Help with Rim Selection?

Hi Everyone,

I'm planning to build a new rear wheel around a Shimano Nexus Inter-8 hub and am looking for an affordable rim. I can get a Salsa Delgato CX rim from the company from which I plan to buy the hub for $30 or I can get a Mavic MA3 from Nashbar for $25 (I'm already about to make an order from Nashbar, but would like to avoid ordering from yet another company to avoid shipping charges).

I've used MA3s for two other wheels, and although I've never had a problem I've read some negative reviews. Although I need to keep costs down, this hub is so expensive that I don't want to go too cheap on the rim.

More specifics: the wheel will use 36 spokes and be 700c. I don't ride particularly high miles (1000 - 2000) per year through commuting and light touring.

Thanks!

-D

I recently laced up a set of Campy hubs with MA3's mis-labeled at REI for $7.83 each (paid $15 for the rims and $%$# near $100 for the spokes). Seem OK for the first 300-miles. We'll see how they do long term.

Check out rims from Velocity. For the money, I think they are hard to beat.

Thanks for the comments everyone. I ended up going with the MA3s (the Velocity rims look great, but were ~$20 more); I've got about 2000 miles on some 32 hole MA3s that I built myself and haven't had any trouble, so hopefully I'll get a few years out of this 36 spoke wheel.

-D