Bicycle Mechanics - Vote for your favorite rim

If you could buy it what rim would you buy? ( ie what do you think is the best?) But I guess there are a lot of ifs. So lets say --> the strongest
thanks

If you could buy it what rim would you buy? ( ie what do you think is the best?) But I guess there are a lot of ifs. So lets say --> the strongest
thanks
For what kind of riding?

You know... I'm going to get flamed for this but my fondest rims were the ones I had the most experience with... the old Araya RM20s I had on my old rigid MTB. They weren't especially lightweight rims but they were pretty strong and pretty durable. They were also cheap and never gave me much fuss. I had them laced to Shimano DeoreDX hubs.

Currently, I'm running Sun Zero-Degree XC rims on my MTB which exhibit many of the same qualities as the RM20s (including the low price). On my roadbike, I have the original Mavic Ksyrium SSCs without the interspoke milling.

I love my Campy Vento rims. Light and strong.... I have NO problems with them, and that's a first for the amount of miles I've put on them.

Koffee

Silver MA3's. I know boring. But strong and reliable. I'm a commuter, after all. ;)

My all time favourite clincher rims are the MA2's. That polished alloy.....damn sexy...

No answer given to my question. Personally I like Sun Rhyno Lites

My all time favourite clincher rims are the MA2's. That polished alloy.....damn sexy...

The Sun M13 IIs have real similar vibe. Polished silver, double wall, box profile, eyelets, no machining, no welding. They can even be found in 27" for the ultimate retro style.

I'm a big fan of the Mavic 519's. Sub 500g freeride rim, can't beat it.

The Sun M13 IIs have real similar vibe. Polished silver, double wall, box profile, eyelets, no machining, no welding. They can even be found in 27" for the ultimate retro style.

Yeah, thumbs up on the Sun M13 II's. The CR-18's are ok and reasonably priced.
About a month ago Performance had a bunch of pre-built Sora or 105 hubbed MA2's (not MA3's) in stock listed on their site. I was curious as to where & how they got hold of those rims. Obviously they're all gone now. I'm sure the retro and the fixed gear crowd cleaned them out...

I'm gonna vote with raiyn on this one - Rhyno Lites. I've got two sons and several customers who have done some pretty rough mountain bike stuff and eat up rear wheels. Lace them up some Rhyno Lites and they're happy! I think they must be the easiest rims ever to build up too. They take less trueing stand time than anything that I can think of. However they are NOT among the easiest rims to mount tires on.

This fall I finally built myself up a set of Open Pro's on an Ultegra hubset that I already had. The first time that I rode them I remember thinking the ride was exceptionally smooth. They are my favorite road bike wheels, but I don't own any of the real fancy ones and probably never will. I like the feeling of self-sufficiency that doing everything myself gives me.

Module E. Holds true longer than any other rims I've used. Mirror like finish is sweet too.

For commuting I like Velocity Dyad's. They are relatively inexpensive, durable (rated for tandems) and build a nice true wheel. I have had a couple "incidets", one that blew the tire off the rim. I put the wheel on the stand and was pleasantly surprised to find it only needed very minor adjustment. I am convinced that similar incidents with other rims I have used would have caused a dent in my wallet about the size of a new rim.
Enjoy

For commuting I like Velocity Dyad's. They are relatively inexpensive, durable (rated for tandems) and build a nice true wheel. I have had a couple "incidets", one that blew the tire off the rim. I put the wheel on the stand and was pleasantly surprised to find it only needed very minor adjustment. I am convinced that similar incidents with other rims I have used would have caused a dent in my wallet about the size of a new rim.
Enjoy
I'm not sure about the deep-V of the Dyads. They worry me a bit in terms of true touring where sidewinds become a significant factor. Even their added width would not encourage me to consider them.

Having said that, I fitted up Velocity Aeroheads to my tourer a several months ago. Standard front rim laced to my SON dynohub. Rear was a complete wheel with the offset Aerohead rim -- all supplied built-up by Velocity. Only about 3,000km on both. I am very happy. Fitted currently with 28mm Michelin Dynamic tyres.

As a reference, Alex rims were supplied on the bike. I was unhappy from the start. It took me 27,000km to change over to the Velocitys. Stupid me.

By the way, Velocity being an Aussie company was quite important in my decision to go with them. However, as noted by comments from various users, the bare rims do need a bit of clean-up to get rid of the drill-dross.

Cross max on my MTB and Ksyrium on my roadbike. Both are light and just as straight as on the day i bought them. Then again i'm no freerider but cc. roadbike is just trainingtool. My weight is 86kg (193 tall) but i feel no flex goin uphill. Had spinergys befor on rb but had to open the brakes when ridin up a steep hill. The first crossmaxes i had flexed, didnt like em. But the ones you can buy now are just fine for me.

Mavic 719's. They held up well on the blue ridge parkway and on rocky trails.

MAvic CXP30....strongest rim ever, but they don't make 'em any more......bit heavy, 555g

Sun CR18's. A real real.

I'm going to purchase some blue Mavic Cosmos for my klein soon.

MTB - Sun Rhyno Lites
Road - ????? - I've only ever had Mavic Cosmos, but they are great.

khuon, what bike did that Araya/Shimano wheel come on? I'm pretty sure I have the same front on my MB-2.

halfspeed, I like the look of the M13II (classic, understated) but I'm currently trying to sort out some braking issues with mine as you might have read.

My all-time favorite rim is the Open Pro. Again, I'm not a big aero freak weight weenie technogeek, so what's good in my book is different from some. But the Open Pro is stiff, light, strong, good double-walled, all business.

khuon, what bike did that Araya/Shimano wheel come on? I'm pretty sure I have the same front on my MB-2.

It came on my 1990 Nishiki Ariel... Richard Cunningham designed mass-produced steel version of his Mantis XCR with elevated chainstays. I loved that bike. And BTW, I covet your MB-2. ;) Does it have the sexy biplane crowned fork?

Nope, it's got the lugless unicrown fork. The biplane is pretty cherry. And unless you're in love with the frame or stem, there's not much else to covet about it. It's a cheapo SS convert now with some NOS Sun rim, cheap Shimano cranks with stripped extractor threads, and sundry other parts. But it's pretty nice for a general SS basharound, offroading, snowbiking buildup, just not really an MB-2. :)

Add me to the Sun Rhyno Lite camp with the CR18 as a second choice. I really like an inexpensive, strong rim. They are on my mountain bike, our tandem and will be on my wife's mountain bike at the next upgrade, and on my touring bike when I build it.

Doc

yeah... for MTBing at least, Sun makes some excellent rims. I have been pretty impressed with my Sun O² XC rims.

Sun Mammoths are my ultimate. I know they wiegh a relative ton, but for 35 bucks a hoop, I have never had to retrue any. Ive bashed one, but it was a totally cased urban edge hop at 25 mph and it hit in about 1/4 " but didnt go out of true or mess up spokes, rode another 100 mi on it too.
On the more normal side I like my Sun DS-2xc, 90 buck complete wheelset. 2 race seasons and still counting.

Road - Mavic Open Pros
Mtb - 517 SUP Ceramics

The older Mavic DeeMax's probably. I have seen some rims on the net somewhere, forgot what they were they were 48 spoke and probably weighed a ton, but they looked hell strong.

Mavic EX721

1. Topolino.
2. Velocity Aerohead
3. Mavic MA 3
4. Super Champion Competition
5. Fiamme Red Label

i cant decide if i like m13II's or cr18's better...i like the extra width on the cr18, but the m13II's look so classy. i really like the fact that they are both available in 27" though. i wish more rim and tire manufactorers offered more in 27" rims. im a young old fogey i guess.

We've abused the Sun Rhyno Lites on our tandem, with no problems at all. They're pretty industrial looking, but can't beat the price/strength/weight ratio.

I'm not sure about the deep-V of the Dyads. They worry me a bit in terms of true touring where sidewinds become a significant factor. Even their added width would not encourage me to consider them.

Having said that, I fitted up Velocity Aeroheads to my tourer a several months ago. Standard front rim laced to my SON dynohub. Rear was a complete wheel with the offset Aerohead rim -- all supplied built-up by Velocity. Only about 3,000km on both. I am very happy. Fitted currently with 28mm Michelin Dynamic tyres.

As a reference, Alex rims were supplied on the bike. I was unhappy from the start. It took me 27,000km to change over to the Velocitys. Stupid me.

By the way, Velocity being an Aussie company was quite important in my decision to go with them. However, as noted by comments from various users, the bare rims do need a bit of clean-up to get rid of the drill-dross.


I ahve not ntocied a difference between the arrownhead and the deep v. I ahd arrowheads on the front and back then i goofed up the rear wheel and replaced it with a deep v. I wanted a bullet proof wheel as I was heavy and hard on wheels. it held up great till i got hit by a car. then it only got a bit out of true.
the prices are great for velocity rims and their hubs are nice too.

Krysiums SC's, light, still true after 8000kms.

CHEERS.

Mark

Velocity Aerohead with OCR on rear.