Originally Posted by furballi

Mavic's QC has dropped over the last few years. Cheaper Mavics are now made in Taiwan/China. Bought two Open Sports last year. Returned three due to large gap (~1mm) at the pinned joint. A719 and A319 were very very good boxed rims. These are now superseded by the deep-Vs.

I've built A319, A719, and Velocity's Deep-V. Deep-V is significantly easier to build. No problem handling high-spoke tension to compensate for heavy rider. It held up better than the boxed Mavics under normal use. Only minor drawback is the need to buff the anodized braking surfaces with red Scotchbrite prior to use. This will maximize braking performance from day one.

Look at those high-end rims. Less spokes, but still retain the deep-V design. The boxed Mavics (A719 and Open Pro) were good 10 years ago. I don't have hands-on experience with the wider Velocity Chukker, but they appear to be even stronger than Deep-V. Chukker's wider cross-section should be ideal for heavy-duty touring.