Originally Posted by
TallRider
That certainly could have been a selling point in the 1980s, but hard-anodized rims largely disappeared by the late 1990s, I think mainly because the lack of advantage and increased risk of cracking became commonly accepted. So I'm less sure that "new and improved" would be the selling point for the second resurgance of hard-anodized rims. That's why I'm wondering if there is new information (less risk of cracking than previously thought) or perhaps a new implementation process.
Things go out of fashion. Given the variables involved, I would say the added crack risk is basically zero.
I suspect most of it is cosmetic. Bikes are increasingly moving toward either carbon wheels, disc brakes or no brakes (fixies). The new trend is uniform black (or colored) wheels with no visible brake track.
People want to get a similar look on their road bike. And if you're using it with disc brakes there's no downside.