I'm looking for a relatively inexpensive, 32 hole, eyeletted, double walled, 700c, clincher rim (or actually a pair of them) to build up into wheels with 32-38 (maybe 42) mm tires that wouldn't look out of place on a classic bike (so probably box section). I want to build up some wheels that are fairly strong for commuting, potential touring, and maybe a bit of gravel grinding. I'm also a rather inexperienced wheel builder (4 wheels to my name), so I'd like something that builds fairly easily. Are CR-18's still my best bet for this? Is there something better? I hover around the wrong side of 200 lbs (though trying to go lower) if that matters at all.

From the bulk of the parameters, Velocity's of some flavor. But I would abandon the cross section requirement.

I recommend CR-18's for a good, inexpensive, "meat & potatoes" rim.
A 42mm tire might be on the "edge" of suitable widths, but should work.

I saw these in person last month as I was considering a wheel build. They're nice but a little shiny for my application.

Pacenti PL23

https://www.benscycle.com/p-3913-pac...-rim-700c.aspx

I think Mavic Open Sports are a good value and look nice as well, but might not be wide enough.

yeah 42 might be a bit of a stretch. I'm probably going to go 35-38 (I put a different wheel in there with 32's and just saw lots of room and thought I'd take advantage of it, plus I have fenders that are going on that are massive - had a deal too good to turn down on 52 mm aluminum fenders even though they make small tires look silly). I would use the wheels I have, but I came across a nice dynamo hub and light on a great deal and figured I'd put them on the bike too, so see what I could come up with on my drop bar conversion.

I have heard good things about the pacenti tires, but those are a bit more than I'd want to spend.

I ended up going with Velocity Dyad 700c in "Silver", which are more of a matte "brushed" look. At first I was a little worried they wouldn't look right on my '87 Miyata, but I'm so happy I chose them. They were $69/rim at my wheelbuilder's.

Yeah, box section isn't an absolute by any means. I just thought some deep section might look a little out of place on a vintage-ish touring/all-rounder bike. Plus shallow section are easier for me to keep the nipples under control. The 22 mm of the Dyad's that Velocivixen recommended should be as bad as the 28 mm Kinlin XC279 I was working on most recently where the nipples kept falling off my cheap nipple bit and getting lost in the rim.

I also remember hearing some love for a Zac 19 (or something like that once upon a time). Any others?

You might want to look into H Plus Son TB14s. No first hand experience from me, but they seem to fit your criteria and have a good reputation.

I do like the look of those and have heard good things as well. The cheapness of the CR-18s is a strong point (about half or less the cost of the TB14), but those TB14s do look nice, are slightly wider, and are believed to have a more consistent weight. With my intended use, weight isn't an issue, but I've heard that the weight of CR-18 is highly variable and I don't know what that means about other aspects of the construction. Also, a few people seem to have said some tires (including panaracer paselas which I like for the tan sidewall and low price) are very hard to mount on the CR-18.

From personal experience the CR-18s are a good choice for what you want to use them for.

Brad

My next mention. I have a set of these laced to Velo Orange Grand Cru hubs and they're wonderful. I didn't build them, so can't say how easy/difficult they are to work with. A friend & bike mechanic, who has a love of vintage, sometime uses Velocity Synergy. Seem to look similar to CR18's.

When I was deciding on my wheel build (only my 2nd set of wheels) for the '87 Miyata my wheelbuilder said that TB14, Pacenti PL23, then CR18's (those were the choices I had come up with) were "easiest" to work with in that order, saying the CR18's were a little more challenging to get true than the others. That's when she suggested the Dyads. Now if you're an experienced wheel builder then this won't make any difference.

Vintage frames are not all the same, so pay some attention to actual space available with those fenders. I have some 700x28c on CR18 on a 1984 Trek 610, and the fit is tight for SKS P-35 fenders. 32 mm Paselas only fit decently without fenders. OTOH, on a Woodrup I had the same wheels fit with the 32 mm Paselas and Zefal 45 mm plastic fenders.

Either work out your clearances to see what tire you might really be able to take, or take it step by step, so as not to buy what you don't need or can't use.

I have three rim suggestions, with comments:

Sun CR-18: inexpensive, strong, not particularly flat or round -> spoke tension will be a bit uneven, and takes quite a bit of time to true.

Alex Adventurer: a bit more $ than the CR-18, better tolerance control -> faster build, more even spoke tension than CR-18.

Velocity Dyad: my favorite, round and flat, fast to built, easy to true.

Regarding nipple tool; take an old spoke, crush the threads about 2 or 3 in from the end, so that a nipple can only screw that far onto it, thread nipple onto the old spoke backwards, dip in lubricant, push thru rim, thread onto spoke, grab nipple, unscrew tool. No lost nipples.

i have heard the same comment from my wheelbuilder.

I've built a few CR-18 wheels and they aren't overly onerous to build. I've also built an open pro wheelset so that's my only higher priced rim to compare them to. Most of the wheels I build I used the cheapest generic rims I can get my hands on. If you slowly build up the tension on your wheels it won't be hard to get them nice and round. The advantage a home builder has is that they can take the time to do this. I've also used the alex dm-18 which is pretty much their version of the CR18 and it was rounder out of the box than the CR18's I've used. I think the eyelets on the CR18 are steel so they may rust over time. I don't have any rims to check right now though.

I have built several wheelsets with CR-18's. My current commuting / do all / touring wheelset has 32 hole CR-18 rims. I have not found them difficult to build up, but maybe I was lucky. They are handling 38mm Vittoria Hyper Randonneur tires with no issues.

CR18's are a little on the heavy side. They build up great, though.

I recently built a pair of wheels with Pacenti rims. I chose them for lighter weight. I haven't ridden them yet, so no report on durability or anything.

Velocity rims get good reviews. There are also other models of Sun rims, such as the M13 or some such. I think those are lighter than the CR18.

Velo Orange also makes handsome vintage-esque rims.

That's very helpful.

Yeah, I suppose I should go and actually measure. I recently got two frames, one that I was going to build up for me and one for my wife (we're both about the same size - close enough that bars/stems should make either fit either of us). I'd gotten a 1985 Cannondale ST400 that was supposed to be for me and a 1993 Specialized Sequoia that was going to go to the wife. But based on our actual wants and likely uses (and cosmetics), the ST400 that can only hold 32's with fenders (and even that is a little tight) is going to probably be my wife's bike and I'll be taking the Sequoia, which, while not quite being vintage, being a bit heavier, and lacking the lugs and non-unicrown fork I was looking for seems like a more versatile all arounder to complement my 1990 Concorde Aquila that is my road bike for going fast (-ish). It's also a bit paint challenged, so my wife will be getting the prettier one. Since my wife will only have one bike and will mainly be doing cruising along on even pavement, the 32 mm tires should suit her just fine.The Sequoia runs canti brakes and looks to have almost an inch of clearance (not measured just a quick visual in the middle of the night last night when I needed a break from grading papers) when I put my wheels with 32 mm tires in there (before fenders).

Yeah, those V-O rims do look nice. I hadn't included the M13 because its 13 mm inner diameter probably rules out wide tires.

I believe that the Sun M13 only take a tire of a certain width. I think those are the ones I looked up online because our local coop sells them new laced or Origin8 hubs for a reasonable price. So might want to check on what size tire those can take. My friend bought a set from Harris Cyclery and they spin nice and smooth.

I like CR-18's and have used them on both 26" wheel build ups and 700c (I think 8 to 10 wheels over the years), they tend to be durable and hold true well. I currently rock 38c Vittoria Randoneur tires on them. No mounting, dismounting issues, I wouldn't hesitate to put on a bigger tire, but Sun Rhyno Lites would work even better for something like that. I had a Panaracer hybrid tire variant on there before and had mucho trouble mounting and dismounting tires, but also had the same problem with mounting them on Mavic Open Sports. I think it is the nature of some Panaracer Tires.

Mavic Open Pro's and Open Sport's are high quality rims too, never built with them but have them on wheels that I own and they hold true well.

Anyway, I think CR-18's are a great rim at an excellent price point, a great beginner's rim too due to relatively low cost compared to the competition. That's just my $.02. I think the most important thing for rims is that they are at least double walled and have eyelets, the rest I think mostly is preference. I have noticed that wheels with Double Butted spokes as opposed to a straight single gauge tend to hold true and not stretch as much over the life of the wheel.

I also built up some 36 hole VO Raid rims on Campagnolo record high flange hubs. Great wheels. Built up smooth and easy, too. But the rims cost about 2x what the CR-18's cost, if I remember correctly.

I have been wanting a project to build some wheels with H+Son TB-14 rims. Maybe sometime soon.

I happen happen to have 406-47 tires on CR18 rims