[darkmother]

I'm building up a cross bike that will see mostly commuting duty on less than prestine roads. I have to build a pair of wheels, and I'm not sure what rims to use. I'm using 32 hole hubs, and clincher tires. I'll probably run 28C slicks most of the time, but I'll occasionally use 35C knobbies for off road action.

Any recomendations?

Jeremy

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[climbo]

open pros, or CXP 33's, slightly deeper rim, great for shedding mud and a strong rim !

[Phatman]

how tough are ma3s? more or less tough then open pros? has anyone used these on a cross bike?

[mgwadz]

how tough are ma3s? more or less tough then open pros? has anyone used these on a cross bike?

I wouldn't recommend MA-3s. I had a wheelset that came on my 2000 Bianchi Axis and the wheel repeatedly failed the same way (3 or 4 times rebuilt with new rims- not the builder's fault: this happened with the original factory wheels, the warranty rim the shop put on, and a rim I put on- after that I put on an Open pro, even thought the required spoke length is not exactly the same)- in each case the spoke nipple pulled thru the un-reinforced rim, causing it to crack. the first time this happened, chunks of the rim flew off. after that I knew enough to look for impending failure, and changed the rim before it failed catastrophically.

I have a few sets of wheels of open pros- these are lighter and a lot more durable (the eyelets are reinforced and I've never had a nipple pull thru)- no problems at all as 'cross rims.

marc

[Phiber]

I have loved my Sun Cycl-O-Cross wheel set. :) Excellent build, very beefy, stands up to repeated bunny hopping of curbs, speedbumps etc. ^_^

[Gardener]

What about mavic 719, the touring rim? it's also wider, so it would take the tire differently, fatter ones particularly..

[Iffacus]

how tough are ma3s? more or less tough then open pros? has anyone used these on a cross bike?

I find MA3 very good, have been using a set on one of my cross bikes for 2 years now, and they were secondhand. I reckon they are 4-5 years old and I haven't needed to true then once.

I also use Mavic T231 on my touring bike and other cross bike, no problems yet

[GiantDave]

I have a set of mavic 719's on my giant ocr touring machine and they have held up beautifully. I'm a clydesdale and pull a Bob trailor with 40 pounds of mostly useless stuff. I had to take a badly maintained gravel road in North Carolina (8+ miles) and had to pull my bike and trailor thru fields of basketball sized rocks left over from some heavy flooding during the hurricane. My RD was destroyed fron hitting same rocks and apart from all the rear spokes coming loose from so much side to side stress from the Bob, I rode another 20 miles and the rims didnt fold. Just trued them up after the ride and their in perfect condition.