moxfyre

Has anybody built or owned wheels with Alex DM18 or Adventurer rims? They're both quite inexpensive, $21 for the DM18 or $28 for the Adventurer in 18 mm widths, and aimed at touring and commuter use.

I'm wondering how they stack up against the $32 Sun CR18 or Salsa Delgado Cross rims.

tartosuc

I've never tried de salsa rims, but i can assure you that the alex dm 18 are stronger than the sun Cr18

moxfyre

You've used the DM18 and CR18 both? The DM18 looks like a good value for a sturdy rim. Anyone else

seeker333

I've never used Alex rims, but the time I considered them (due to low price - i also am frugal) I noticed they were heavy. My memory is that their entire product line was heavy. I think a 500+ gram rim should be durable.

CR-18s have been around for many years (10+) and have a good repution for a budget rim. I had a pair on my '96 cannondale. CR18s arent so heavy.

Might wanna check nashbar and aebike for good prices. Also bens bike on ebay sells velocity synergy for $20.

Something to think about.

pmseattle

I just built a set of wheels last night using Adventurers with XT disc brake hubs for my Novara Big Buzz. Can't say much about them yet since they won't be on the bike until later this afternoon.

pmseattle

One week after the preceeding post, and a little over 100 miles on the new wheelset, the Adventurers are doing fine. One thing I can definitely say is they cost 1/2 the price of Velocity Dyads which is what I was originally after when I went into the bike store looking for some new hoops. The build went without a hitch, except the DT Swiss spoke calculator came up short for the longer side for both the front and back wheels (since I used disc brake hubs, the front has a slight dish). They trued up easily with no annoying little bump next to the joint.

moxfyre

Thanks! Good to hear your impressions. How much dish does the front wheel have with disc hubs? I was thinking of building up wheels with the XT disc hubs in case I ever want to use discs in the future, since they're barely more expensive than the standard hubs? My understanding is that the rear hub doesn't have any extra dish compared to a non-disc hub...

pmseattle

The rear probably has less dish than a non-disc hub, and the front has a small amount. I used XT six-bolt disc hubs, and ended up using 288mm spokes on the short side, 290mm spokes on the long side for both front and rear. I'm not sure if the center lock hubs would be the same.

moxfyre

Good to know, thanks. I would definitely choose IS disc hubs myself, since centerlock seems to be non-standard and not offer any real advantages.