Originally Posted by canklecat

Those are some sweet wheels. I love the old school low profile lightweight hard anodized rims like the Araya CTL-370 (370 grams per rim, reportedly, the lightest clincher rim of that, and possibly any, era), and Wolber Alpine Super Champions that weighed in the low 400+ gram range. They just look right to me on a classic steel road bike.

But they can be a bit fragile. I read those cautions online after getting my first set of CTL-370 wheels several years ago with my Centurion Ironman. Some owners urged caution in tensioning spokes to minimize the risk of cracking the rims.

But I didn't pay much attention to the warnings. Around 2019 or 2020, the rear rims cracked on both of my wheelsets -- CTL-370 with Suntour GPX hubs, and Alpine Super Champs with Shimano 600 hubs. The spokes began to pull through, with cracking around the spoke holes. I noticed the first set -- on the CTL-370 -- only because I heard an unusual noise while riding, but no difference in riding feel or stability. I checked the Alpine Super Champs and found the same problem on that rear wheel. Both front wheels were fine.

The rims might have cracked anyway after more than 30 years. But I neglected to measure spoke tension. These ultralight low profile rims tend to go out of true easily. Whenever I noticed a wobble I simply squeezed pairs of spokes between my thumb and fingers to roughly guesstimate tension as I used a spoke wrench to true the wheels by eye. After doing that for a few years I probably overtightened some and under-tightened others. That's especially tricky with rear wheels as spokes need careful tensioning on both sides. I did dribble lube between the spokes and nipples to be sure the spokes weren't twisting along with the nipples, but that probably wasn't good enough for multiple instances of truing the wheels over a few years and a lot of miles on rough roads.

If I get another set of those ultralight low profile rims, I'll get a spoke tensioning gauge and do the truing on a stand, rather than eyeballing it on the bike.

I've also heard recommendations to periodically de-tension and retension spokes on those wheels. No idea whether that suggestion is good, bad or "maybe, probably doesn't matter."

And riding supple tires, 700x23 or 700x25, probably won't hurt. They sure feel better. My favorites have been Continental GP Classics with root beer reddish-brown skinwalls (700x25 only) and Soma Supple Vitesse skinwalls. Excellent values, durable and long wearing with good puncture resistance without a harsh ride like Gatorskins or other puncture resistant tires, and they look great on a classic steel road bike. Continental Ultra Sports are also an excellent value, but a PITA to mount without a tire bead jack. When I rode Ultra Sport II tires I always carried a Kool Stop bead jack in my jersey pocket or strapped to my seat bag. The GP Classics and Soma can be mounted with just my hands, despite age and arthritis.