seafoamer

I have Sun Rims CR18's on my commuter and just can't deal with the impossible tire changes any longer. And reading the reviews HERE, I can see I'm not the only one with this problem.
Looking for suggestions of rims to replace it with.
For tires I'm running Vittoria Randonneur Cross 700x35's in the good weather, and studded HAKKAPELIITTA W106's (700x35) in the winter.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!!!

squirtdad

My experience was that it was the combination of rims/tires that make a tire change hard or not.

I have CR18 and when I had a pair of cheap forte 2k somethings....the tires were a huge pain to get on and off. I had to use steel levers. Once I had my first flat while commutting...that was it.

I have the Panracer T-Servs (700/28) on the CR18 and the install was night and day compared to the the previous tires...much easier

So if you have to have the tire you listed...and they don't work with the cr18...then new rims, but you might consider other tires rather then a wheel rebuild.

seafoamer

Thanks for the reply. Living up in Massachusetts makes using another tire other than the studded 106's not really an option for me.
The combination of loving the 106's, and reading the horrendous reviews of the CR18's makes it an easy decision for me that the rims have to go.

Booger1

I'm not sure if these rims will make your tire changing easier but the are great rims,Mavic A719.Not cheap,heavy,bombproof!

Yan 

The Mavic CXP33 is a good rim.

fmileto55

I have had good experiences with these on my commuter bikes:
Mavic A319, (A719 should be good also)
Velocity Dyad, Synergy

dynaryder

I had way too much fun getting the first set of tires on my RhynoLites. I swapped on new tires last Fri using one of these,and there was zero drama.

https://aebike.com/page.cfm?PageID=30...ils&sku=TL4022

CastIron

I started running the Vittoria Randonneur tires on two sets of wheels this spring (both DT swiss rims, 1 set each in 700c and 26") and I have to say those tires were the hardest ones I've ever mounted. Great tire, ***** to mount.

So try another tire brand since it's a cheaper way to do business. Having said that, I'll plug the DT Swiss RR 1.2's I just built up (pictured with the other set. Dig the whitewall action, yo.)

lambo_vt

I switched my runaround bike from Randonneur Cross 26x1.75 to 26x2.0 Big Apples... those Randonneurs were a gigantic pain to mount/remove and were heavy and slow to boot. The Big Apples went on without levers. I forget the model of wheel, but they're relatively cheap (I assume) and made by Alex.

Similarly, I put Ultra Gatorskins on my road bike to replace a set of nearly-gone Rubinos, mounted on Mavic Aksiums. The Rubinos were never a big deal, but the Gators mount by hand without levers. Maybe it's a folding vs. wire bead thing?

Bat22

700x35c Vittoro Randonneur 14,000 miles and the tread still looks good!!!!
Added tire slime and use them for 3 season riding.

PaulRivers

Ditto, I've heard great things about them, especially concerning their sturdiness.

Hydrated

I don't know what you expect from a commuter rim, but I think that you need to look at those reviews again... but this time try actually thinking about what the reviewer is doing to these rims and why they are complaining. I read through many of the reviews on the website that you posted, mainly because I run CR18's on my commuter with no problems. I was very curious.

The complainers fall squarely into two categories:

• Those who are abusing the hell out of their rims, and can't figure out why the rims fail. Many of the bad reviews come from users who are disappointed that these rims fail when you do jumps and downhill craziness. One guy was even complaining that these rims don't hold up when you do jumps of higher than two feet! How often do you jump your commuter bike off of the nearest picnic table? Jeeeez...
• Those who used these rims to execute a crappy wheel build. Many of the other bad reviews come from folks who complain of their wheels popping spokes and warping. They don't even realize that these problems rarely come from the rims... these are symptoms of a sloppy wheel build. If you're popping spokes, don't look at the rim... look at the wheel builder.

As for your tire mounting difficulty, switching tire brands is much cheaper than building new rims.

The CR18 has been out on the market for a long time, and many of us have a ton of uneventful miles on ours... so I'd doubt that they're total crap. They're good rims as long as you realize what they're meant for.

Hell... if you send me your CR18's and the parts, I'll build you a set of wheels that you can ride until you wear through the braking surfaces.

rhm

I have CR18's and haven't had a problem changing the tires. As was mentioned above, you have to get the specific combination of tire and rim right; certain tire-rim combinations don't work so well. I've had good luck with Schwalbe Marathons and Panaracer something-or-others.

Shimagnolo

+1
My experience with Velocity Synergy's:
- 700x28 Continental Ultra Gator Skins = easy.
- 700x32 Schwalbe Marathon Supremes = hard.

seafoamer

I don' think you get it. I wasn't looking at the reviews of the performance of the rim, I was looking at how many of those reviews said it was the hardest rim they've EVER tried to put tires on. You live in Georgia, I live in Mass & ride in -0 weather. I don't want to die cuz I froze my ass off trying to change a tire on a rim a lot of people have a hard time with.

Here's a few in case you missed it:

"Rim diameter too big for tire; removing tire = NIGHTMARE even with the best tools and techniques. Overall rating would be different if the rim would be better sized. Otherwise, it's just an OK rim. I will never buy sun rims again. (I also own sun rim rhino lite, same sizing problems but way tougher). "


"Completely impossible to change the tires
Completely, totally impossible to change tires. I hate these rims. I really really really hate these rims"



"they are a pain to get tires on and off"

"SON OF A B**** TO TAKE A NON FOLDING TIRE ON AND OFF"


"While riding I literally pray for not having a flat tire. To fit a tire on those rims is extremely difficult even with two tire levers. I recently bought folded Schwalbe tires and they seem to get in easier. Anyway changing tube during the race costs much time! The rims are unbearably tight."

"These rims are just slightly wider than standard 26 inch fare, just enough to make fitting wire-rimmed tubes nealry impossible. USE FOLDING TIRES ONLY on these rims."

"ERD is a little large, making tire replacement difficult."

"I can't find a tire to fit!!!
All the reviews about bends and spoke breakage are poor riders and/or poor builds. But what the hell do I know, I can't ride mine beacuse I can't find a damn tire to fit.
So much for standard sizeing."

This doesn't include the other people I've read here and on other pages who seem to have the same problems.

seafoamer

Some threads here w/ ppl who've had the same problem:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.p...4&postcount=12

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...highlight=cr18

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...highlight=cr18

Hydrated

OK... Go forth and swap rims, my son.

(But I've used Maxxis and Conti tires on my 700c CR18's. Never had an especially hard time mounting them.)

randomgear

I have both CR-18 and the Rhyn-Lites - both a little tight, but not enough to worry about.
Schwalbe Marathon Winters, Marathon Plus Tour, and a Geax Roadster tire all have been on both with not that much trouble. Maybe I have rims from a slightly better batch.
I follow the basic instructions from Team Estrogen: https://www.teamestrogen.com/content/asa_levers using levers. I am careful not to stress the levers too much, I have broken one plastic one mounting a tire to these rims before.
All that said, I ordered a pair of aluminum tire levers this weekend.

randomgear

More to the point - changing a room temperature semi-difficult tire/rim combo might be near impossible at near 0 degrees F. I imagine that the tire and tube would stiffen up considerably and the plastic tire levers would become rather brittle.
The last (only) coldish weather flat I have had was right in front of my LBS, as it was opening. About 20 Degrees F and breezy that morning.
I wimped out, and had them change it (it didn't seem right to ask them to allow me to change it myself in their nice warm shop). They did, however, find the cause - a nice tiny hole in the sidewall that I missed the day before.
Having a flat in colder weather, with no place to warm up, would be miserable. I might end up pushing the bike to a bus stop, or calling a taxi, rather than risk frostbitten fingers, trying to change the tire.

ItsJustMe

I have a Alex Adventurer in front and a Salsa Delgado Cross in back. Both seem tough and I also run tires in the 32-35 range and they're good sized for that. The Alex rim is pretty inexpensive ($27) but plenty tough for the front on my bike; even the crappy single-walled rim the Giant came with lasted 14000 miles of gravel road and potholes without problems. The DelGado is a cross rim and I think it's tough as nails. It's a bit more expensive at $40.

Honestly, I would have gone with an Alex Adventurer in the back too, but at the time my axle was broken and I just needed a new wheel, I didn't really have time to build a new wheel, I required 36 holes for durability and I was having trouble finding 36 hole prebuilt wheels, and the components were shaping up to be as much if not more than prebuilt wheels. I'd always built my wheels before but I figured I'd try a decent prebuilt wheel and see if it would hold up as well as what I built. So far, so good, though I did relieve the spokes before using it, it didn't look like they did that.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

I love my CR-18's. Strong and not terribly heavy.


Show me one tire that ISN'T a b1tch to change in 0 degree weather. Everything is a b1tch in zero degree weather.

MCODave

Are you planning on re-using your hubs? If so, what are they? Not every rim comes in every drilling (32 hole, 36 hole, etc.) Also, what is your bike - cyclocross, touring, hybrid, 29er? Rim or disc brakes?

But even without knowing any of that, my first two recommendations for 35mm tires on a road/touring/cyclocross bike with rim brakes would be the Velocity Synergy and the Salsa Delgado Cross.

The Velocity comes in an offset design for rear wheels that would really help if you are running 9 or 10 speeds. The Salsa is cheaper but other than no offset is probably just as good.

andrelam

I have two wheels using Velocity Dyad rims built by Peter White (32 spoke front, 36 spoke rear) on my year round commuter. The rim width is perfect for the Nokia W106 in 622-35 and Bontrager Race Lite Hard Case 622-32. Both tires mounted without too much effort. Both tires have wire beads. The Nokias come off just a little easier and the Bontragers, but both come off with the user of one or two tire levers. Getting the tire on requires a little pressure with the thumbs both nothing crazy.

Happy riding,
André