Not being a dick but how do you weld bottle cage threads to a finished frame?

I don’t have an answer for this due to lack of experience with brakes... but I’m guessing they don’t use the brake much unless emergency calls for it?

I wouldn’t suggest using the Chinese eBay wheels. I’ve never seen them in person, but I can see a quality difference just in the pictures they provide. They often look cheesy and toy-ish imo. Plus I’m not sure I would want to put my faith in sub par carbon components. Many carbon wheels will still have an aluminum brake track too. Both tri spokes I’ve owned have been this way. I just take a quality paint pen to the braking surface.

You can get smoking deals on used carbon wheels if you are patient. Just look on Craigslist and eBay regularly. Obviously meticulously watch for cracks and damage to the carbon

I've kept mine black by not riding them in the rain

the design is literally based on material wear. Some alloy rims even have a ‘wear indicator’ on the sidewall, just like tyres. Obviously a rim sidewall can last a very longtime. Far longer than you’re likely to want or need to use the rims. But every time you pull the brake lever you’re wearing down the aluminium. If you ride in the rain a lot, with rim brakes, the life of your rim will be greatly reduced. The hardness and type of your braking compound can make a difference, but most people are using more or less the same compounds, regardless of brand, because every manufacturer is copying each other. My one advice for people who use rim brakes in the rain, regularly, is to clean and inspect the pads regularly. You’re at a much higher risk of your brakes tearing off small pieces of the sidewall and having them get embedded in your pads. This will happen more if your sidewall has a machined braking surface.

as far as the anodising is concerned, my opinion is that it just makes no sense. Yea it looks good, but it will wear away. So don’t buy anodised rims unless you’re using disc brakes. If you care about those aesthetics of course. it stands to reason that you do though, if you specifically chose colour anodised rims. Anodising is essentially just a coloured (or ‘clear’) electrolyticly forced, (surface) oxidation. Manufacturers like anodising because it’s cheaper than polishing or paint as a means of protecting against oxidation. (It’s also easier to control the thickness than paint) The extra ‘hardness’ that anodsing provides, that manufacturers like to talk about, is materially useless to a bicycle rim, or hub, or frame, or handlebars, etc. etc. Because it’s only at the surface. Most silver anodised riims, if they have a machined sidewall, will be bare aluminium or clear anodised on the sidewall. So the wear is the same. It has the same effect.