Originally Posted by
SirMike1983
I've done the CR-18 swap on a couple bikes that I later sold, and I've put together CR-18 wheelsets for a couple people who wanted them. The rims are reasonably well-made, and they're certainly lighter than the Westricks. They brake as any modern, basic aluminum rim will brake.
The one thing I could not get past though was how difficult a time I had fitting tires to them. I fitted several different brands and types of tires to the various CR-18 wheelsets, and they always put up more of a fight than the Westricks for mounting and dismounting tires. This was universal to the CR-18s I had, and I'm not sure why it was such a struggle.
I haven't had that much issue with tires on my CR18 rims, and I use Schwalbe Delta Cruisers, which aren't exactly the easiest tires to get on/off. But I can see how tires would be easier to get on/off the older steel rims. I think it has to do with rim width--seems to me that wider rims make tire mounting/unmounting easier. The easiest for me is my Raleigh Crested Butte with Araya 26"x 1.75" rims--sometimes I don't even need to use levers to remove a tire! I wish there were modern alloy 26" (559) x 1.75" rim offerings, everything I've seen is narrower.