Originally Posted by
mrrabbit
Everday commuting?
Since 1996 except last August I cut back to 4 days a week (totaling 95 miles) after getting an office farther from home. I took some time off for a herniated disc, a broken leg, and a couple of additional surgeries. I also used different wheels with cyclocross tires mounted for snow days in Boulder, CO.
Starting with Reflex clinchers, switching to Open Pros after Mavic changed to the heavier rim and I damaged the original Reflex.
Obviously they work well enough for some people.
You are not exaggerating out of some out of some need to defend Mavic are you?
Nope. I answered the OPs question and related my experience about Open Pros working fine. I continued the thread for my own amusement while waiting for a computer to process.
An Open Pro wouldn't be my first choice (deeper/heavier rims are less likely to bend on an unnoticed obstacle, they've gotten expensive, other rims are more aerodynamic, and other rims don't have anecdotal reports of extrusion thickness variation and suggestions that alloy selection/quality has changed over the years) although I wouldn't choose not to ride one I owned or replace it with something else after a crash (which would imply spoke replacement for the different ERD and a little more work).
The OP owns one.
I almost routinely toss out a half dozen to a dozen Open Pros each year - Mavic does the best they can but all the eyelets do is buy a little time. I.e., they eventually tear out. The old Reflex clincher? Even worse. There the material separation occurred along the sharp transition from the sidewall to the inner body.
At what tension (average and variation)? They don't tolerate high tension. Representing what fraction of Open Pro rims owned by your customers? There are a lot of Open Pros out there so lots of failures aren't necessarily a high failure rate. How does that compare to the failure rate of other rims with similar mileage?
While I might not risk building and selling wheels with Open Pro rims I wouldn't go as far as blaming the rims.
As I've stated already...it's a lightweight racing clincher. Sure, I'd love to use them and CXP-33s on a commute bike - but then again I can deal with problems that crop up. I can't assume the same for my customers - hence why I don't push my personal desires, preferences and greed as advice to my customers. Not a good practice to be honest.
While there are better choices no one is buying anything here.
Lots of people have used Open Pros without issue so they're not guaranteed to fail.
The OP's ultegra hub and Open Pro rim are farther up the food chain than his RSX hub + CXP-10 with the associated price tag leaving room for a wheel builder's personal attention and chances of a good build higher. In that situation I'd take the Open Pro.
Personally I'd avoid the pre-built wheels due to questionable build quality especially used ones with unknown fatigue and small bends on top of that unless it was a screaming deal for the hubs.
Probably try Velocity Fusion or A23 rims next time - I'm not happy with the unusual tightness of Continental tires on Kinlin XR-300 rims, the velocities come in classic silver, and I should be able to get replacements for a long time.