Originally Posted by
grumpus
Jobst Brandt would have disagreed, he thought hard anodising increased the chance of cracking at the spoke holes. That was years ago, and specific to a problem that Mavic had at the time, maybe rim materials and/or anodising have improved. The Ryde¹ CSS² treatment seemed to be a superior process but it appears to have sunk without trace, I wonder what the problem was.
¹ Ryde is a brand of Rigida Group, formed when Van Schothorst acquired Rigida; Alesa and Weinmann were also later subsumed.
² CSS is Carbide Super Sonic, a process of firing tungsten carbide grit at Mach 7 to embed it in the braking surfaces, producing a very hard wearing surface with good wet weather performance, and without the tendency to flake off exhibited by other brands' ceramic coating processes.
Ugh, I've read about how he removed anodizing with oven cleaner (sodium hydroxide). Maybe early anodizing had problems, but I never witnessed it, first good bike in 1989 with dark anodized rims. That dark anodizing is aluminum oxide like knife sharpening stones, way harder than the base aluminum, as it's supposed to be. But hardness is not the same as elastic modulus. I bought his book and thought he was the bomb until an engineering degree made me spot some things that were off. This was a mechanical engineer that denied the benefits of helmets, the physics of which are really basic and verifiable.
I was not aware of Ryde CSS, that sounds awesomely good. My guess is reduced demand due to disc brakes. One of my favorite designs, double-socket/eyelet rims, super durable in fatigue at the spoke holes, seems no longer produced, perhaps maybe a boutique maker still. Everyone wants light rims, and these are not light. Plus not compatible with aero section rims. Some double-wall rims are compatible; I wish they sold kits with correct size sockets and eyelets, and the application tools, to be applied by consumers needing only an arbor or hydraulic press.