Originally Posted by
TallRider
The brake track is indeed more durable, but that's because it provides worse braking until the hard coating wears away and the brake pads can contact the bare aluminum underneath.
Maybe the increasing popularity of disc brakes has contributed to the return of hard anodized rims?
That said, the only hard anodized rims that have given me problematic braking were Super Champion "Mixte" rims. I just ran Modolo "sinterized" pads until they wore through the anodizing.