But if the outer black was not hard-anodized then wouldn't the grey hard-anodized surface show through somewhere where the black is worn? The whole brake surface on one of the rears is completely worn through and partially on another. I'm not personally familiar with the process but are you saying anything that is HA and is a different color than this grey actually has another layer of color separate from the HA? Like for example my flashlights that are HA black?

Unfortunately there is a couple cracks on the one worn rear rim, around a couple spoke nipples. I know you all were talking about HA being more crack prone but I assume in this case it doesn't have anything to do with the coating and more about the strength of the aluminum that isn't reinforced on this model around the spoke nipples. I've been continuing to ride it and it hasn't worsened but I'm watching it. Was like that when I got it a couple years ago. That bike (my Prologue) is scheduled for a complete rebuild though, I'll be ditching the wheels, but my Ontare also with them I'll keep but they have seen little use and probably will receive the same from me.