GV27

Guys, looking to get some wheels built up and shopping for rims. These will be all-rounder wheels built around a set of NOS Campy Chorus hubs. I want them to be durable but fairly light - I'm VERY easy on equipment (I rode a set of Fiamme Gold Label rims for like 20 years!),

The thing is, every rim I research, somebody comes in and says they are total garbage. Start cracking during build, where they're pinned together comes apart on the first ride, etc. etc. What's the deal?

My main in the running rims are Sun CR-18, Mavic Open Pro, Velocity Aerohead (like the offset in the back) and Velocity Synergy. Again, what's the deal? I see threads where people swear by all of these and then someone comes in and say they are worthless.

At the same time, I'd like to see some opinions on these rims.....

Thanks,

Chris

johnknappcc

Open Pro++++ Solid, relatively light weight rims. Handle Chicago streets very well, and if you know Chicago, that is saying a lot.

robertkat

Go with either of the Velocity rims. Seriously. For what you are looking for, the Aeroheads may be perfect, and with the off-center on the rear you get a better wheel. I personally have nothing against the other rims, however from talking to my wheel builder (who was a builder for Masi when they had the frame shops in Carlsbad), he gave me a pretty good explanation about why the Sun and Mavic rims are not so good. That he has built 3 sets of wheels for me using velocity rims, I can't agree more. Especially since one of the wheel sets replaced a set that was built up with the CR-18 rims.

hernick

All these rims are good rims that can be built into durable wheels. They are road rims, not appropriate for heavy offroad use or jumps. The quality of the wheel build is more important than the rim you use. A good rim can be badly built into a wheel that won't stay true, but all of these rims can be built into good strong wheels that will stay true.

Of course, there are lemons everywhere. If you're unlucky, you can get a defective rim, but those are rare. Somebody who gets a defective rim is more likely to complain about it than somebody who gets a good rim is to praise it...

zzyzx_xyzzy

If I were picking I'd go with one of the Velocity rims, mostly because I haven't built with a Velocity rim yet. But I think any of the rims you named can make for a fine wheel, as long as your builder can get to an appropriate and even tension. A lot of the reviews on places like MTBR or roadbikereview are coming from a very biased sample, a lot have undertensioned machine builds, overtensioned hand builds, or people on MTBR who take a light-duty XC rim like the CR-18 and go off boulders and drops with it.

DaveSSS 

DT RR 1.1 rims are working quite well for me.

AEO

use any of those rims, and use 2.0/1.8/2.0mm or 14/15/14 guage DB spokes with brass nipples.

have the tension on the low side with higher spoke counts and I think you are set.

GV27

Yeah, that's pretty much the just of how i was taking it - they're all pretty darn good. Currently my stable contains Velocity, Mavic, Campy and Fiamme rims. They all seem to be pretty good - some are darn-right ancient.

Like I said, this'll be an all-rounder which means to me a lot of road exploring - both paved and not with some cyclocross-type riding thrown in very occasionally and a ton of commuting. Like I said I'm dead easy on equipment so I figure I'll go pretty light on the rims and spokes but have them built up nice and sturdy. My Campy hubs are 36 hole front and rear.

I may need to start a new thread for this but can someone recommend a good builder in the Denver/Boulder area? I've built my last couple of wheels myself but I'm not very good at it (being egotistical I think I'm better than just about anyone at working on the rest of a bike, but wheel building is as much art as science and I suck at art) and I want these to be a pretty special wheelset (as you might have guessed with my choice of hubs).

I was thinking Vecchio's up in Boulder or I've also heard that the guys at Excel build a good wheel but not sure if they'll build them on my hubs? I'm also close to Wheat Ridge Cyclery. The guys at my LBS - Green Mountain Sports - seem to know what they're doing - but it's hard to say as I'm so poor at wheel building anyone looks like they can do it better than me!