how is the braking surface of mavic's open pro CD? recommended?

I found that it works well. Not quite as good dry, but better wet and very linear.

thanks.

is there really much a difference between these and the OP CD ceramic?

I'm looking for a quality, box-rim with double eyelets in black without a silver machined braking surface. strong, classy, and all-black.

I have a set of CD and the coating wears off of the braking surface pretty quickly. I would get either the ceramic or the plain black depending on whether you needed the ceramic coating.

I have OP Ceramic rims on 3 of my 4 bikes. Definitely find this an excellent product, especially in the wet. In dry,they are a bit touchy, but nothing you cannot get used to. I have Campy Record brakes on all these bikes, and use the standard Campy brake pads. They may wear quickly early on, but my experiance is that they will then be quite stable for some years. Not to dis' the use of those specialized green ceramic specific brake pads, but just to note that some standard pads work well, too.

any anodizing and paint will get machined away by the brake pads anyways.
it won't wear evenly all around so you might as well get machined rims which have a nice, even finish all around.

I have a nice set of Open 4 CD's that I have had since 1991-ish. I raced them all this cyclocross season. Couldn't have asked for a better rim. Worked great. coating is still mostly there. Only worn away in spots.

I have a set of wheels built with the OpenPro CD Ceramic rims. I am not sure how long I have had these wheels (maybe 8-10 years), but the braking surface looks pretty much the same as when the wheels were new (that is to say, black). I have ridden these wheels on bikes with Chorus and Record brakes (with the original pads), and I have had no issues with braking. I don't ride often when it is wet (from rain or snow), but when I do, these are the wheels I would choose.

my CD's are dark gray/grey.

I tend to agree with this quote but I haven't used the OP CDs just the "standard" Op.

Here's a picture of mine after a cross race this year....

I would disagree with this. My CD's have thousands of miles on them and they look like new. The coating has outlived the nipples on my rear wheel. What type of brake pads are you using? I first went with the kool stop greens and they worked good, and now switched to Zipp's Carbon carbon pads with good success.

People are confusing CDs and CD Ceramic.

Cds have an anodized surface that will wear off after a time. They are a little sketchy in the wet until the anodization wears off. The main reason I like them is that they last a bit longer mainly because of the time it takes for this to happen and they make it easier to clean the wheel as stuff does not stick to the rim as much.

Ceramics have a ceramic surface that lasts the life of the rim. They are very good in the wet but you need to use the specific brake pads to get good performance. They are great for really sloppy conditions that eat rims.

Mine are CDs which you can see in the shot I posted above. I have been riding them off and on since about 1991. Most of the anodizing still remains. I have only worn through in sections and that was only accelerated during cross season.

in this thread, people say that ceramic can easily chip or crack. has this been true in your experiences?

thanks.

I used to buy CD rims- but found that the coating does give better braking- But It did not last long before it wore off (Mountain biking). Once it wore off a slight loss of braking did occur but not drastically

Not used ceramic myself but know of several Road Tandems that use ceramic and Cracking and chips are not that common. It does occur but it just wears the pads a bit quicker.

In my experience, the ceramic coating will chip. I have never seen cracks. Chips seem to be caused by banging during transportation, not the acts if riding. I use something like 400 grit sandpaper to smooth out the chip, otherwise, I have had some "clicking" or roughness in the brakes.

See now, my experience has been the exact opposite. I find that in situations where the rim is wet, running through standing water, etc., it takes longer for the pads to clear a CD rim than it does to clear a std OP. After the coating wears down, this improves.

One other thing that people have reported about CDs is that the hard anodization can cause cracking at the eyelets. I have not experienced this, but I am a very light rider - 135lb..