machined vs. non-machined
 

sorry to bring up a subject that may have been argued to death. search came up with nuffin'.

i'm looking into new wheelset options for the future and (of course) like the look of non-machined but am curious if it'll dramatically stunt braking(front only). of course i'd imagine in the rain a brake there would be a huge difference, but we don't get enough of that around here to worry about it.



so, school me.

if you care more about aesthetics go with un but if you want practical use go for machined since you get a better brakin surface. i heard that after a while of using a brake on un it wears out the surface unevenly and thereby makes your once clean lookin bike ugly because of the streak marks (also making you wish you went with machined) id say go with machined if you use a brake and unmachined in the back if you want that look (take a look a my bikes to see) of course your only lookin for front though

machined sidewalls can look good. anyway, non-machined with brakes might look good, but not for long. sometimes it's noisy, and sometimes it decreases stopping power.

I personally prefer machined sidewalls over non-machined in terms of aesthetics on Deep V's. I think machined Deep V's are kinda ugly... but yeah, it just boils down to if you have brakes or not. I run brakeless but have machined Fusions and they are nice.

Running a brake on a non-machined front will effectively "machine" the front. That's the only difference. Braking may not be as good at first, but the pads will quickly "machine" the front. And the rim will look a little funky as the "machining" won't be all even and as nice as the factory can do.

So, whatever rim you pick, you will have a machined front.

Yep. Non-machined rims don't look so hot after serious braking usage.

All rims used to be non-machined until fairly recently, and some people say that the machining process weakens the rim. Some rims like higher-end Mavics have fancy pantsed machined surfaces that dissipate heat more quickly and brake more efficiently, but Velocity doesn't do that.
I just got a new non-machined Deep V front wheel (not for looks, just 'cause that's what they had); after about 125 miles of running the brake a little tighter than I would normally, the coating is gone and they brake fine. No noise or other weirdness during the break-in period - braking just felt like the road was a little bit wet.

Get machined for all brake surfaces. Why get umachined? I run machined front only.

to jump in here, I like the look of a totally black rim, machined or not. Are the Deep-V, Ellipses, or others available in a completely black and machined rim? I really don't like the look of the silver machining ring I often see. I'm thinking something along the lines of anodized surface so the black doesn't wear off like paint. Thanks.

If you plan on going non-machined and still want a brake, go for a drum brake.

Some bikes don't look bad with both wheels machined.

Anodizing won't wear off like paint, but it will wear off eventually.

I'm pretty sure that I've seen Mavic Open Pros that were all black and also machined.

Here's a pic that I grabbed of craigslist which shows what non machined rims will look like after a bit of use. Note that these rims are pretty old, and probably pre-date the factory machined brake surface "innovation".

I agree about the aesthetics of machined sidewalls but going back to unmachined wheels, no way.
The good thing about disk or drum brakes is that you can even paint you rims if you want.

They're wheels.

They're going to get dirty and scratched.

Accept it and move on.

do you use your brake everytime you stop or just in emergencies? just because you have a brake on a saftey measure doesn't mean you have to use it very often, if this is the case and you prefer the look of non-machined, go for it.

this is going to be pretty much the same as everyone else, but to throw in my $.02... i broke down and put a brake on my unmachined deep v's after moving to baltimore from flat-as-a-pancake lubbock, tx. i tossed it back and forth a lot in my head about what would happen to my rims, i've only been riding the brake a couple months and don't use it unless i NEED it, but i've still worn down the rim a fair amount. since the rims are a light color, from more than 10 ft or so you can't tell, but get much closer and the streaks are there. if i had known i would be going the brake route, i would have gotten machined, but so be it... point is if you put a brake on an unmachined rim, it is eventually going to be un-pretty.

hmm, the machined up front/un-machined in back look is pretty ok. it's not a huge looks issue. i'm much more into function than fashion. but when have these options you gotta think for a sec sometimes. thanks you guys. <3

I agree, I just put a brake on my once brakeless bike black un-machined deep v.

fu¢k it.

I thought I'd bring this thread back as I'm making a similar decision as the OP.

I'm going to be getting a set of white deep v's, I'd like to get non-machined rims for aesthetics but I am going to be running a front brake.

So my question is, has anybody ran cork brake pads (the kind used for carbon rims and minimal wear) on deep v's?

If so, did the cork pads wear the rims finish down to the bare aluminum?

If you're going to run cork pads on a powdercoated rim, you might as well just leave the front brake off in my opinion. Do you want a brake or a pretty white wheel? You can't have both.