This statement comes from somebody who knows nothing about cars. White paint actually shows the least flaws and dirt of any color, it's the least reflective paint. While black paint is the hardest to get really nice looking because every flaw shows right through as if looking at a glass mirror.

And about weinmann wheels being 150 grams heavier than velocity deep v's, I did a quick few searches and couldn't find it, but I am stuborn and knew I was right so I kept looking. There was a thread going, really long, about building light wheels. A guy decided to switch out his weinmann rims for a set of Niobium, you can see he started to talk about it on page 3 and stated weights on page 4, listed below. They are 100-130 grams heavier, so not that extra 20g my memory thought, but still weinmann rims are heavier than velocity by 100+grams, and velocity are heavier than niobium by 80+grams.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...hlight=niobium

True. Whereas the white bar tape on my sister's bike is grey where it's held, and the white straps and rims on my bike are both filthy looking. Especially the front wheel, since I run a brake. Maybe you've magically not been exposed to dirt on your rides, but my bike sure has.

Stryper - I know plenty about cars, thanks. But apparently you know more about how much I know than I do (good for you, champ). I was being slightly snarky. Speaking solely of color, the car I own that sees the most use is silver and I clean it when necessary. Cars and bikes travel on the same roads, dirt is dirt and white is white. When things get dirty, you clean them. It's easy.

At any rate, I missed the part about white bar tape. Agreed that white bar tape isn't the best idea. I'm not "magically not exposed to dirt" but my white rims don't get very dirty. As I said, I give them a quick wipe down every now and again but I use a brake too and it's really not bad enough to be any kind of big deal.

Now go clean your white shoes...they look horrendous!

hahah. of course I always had the notion in the back of my head that the white might not exactly be a good idea......thanks for the help guys. Haha. So the disc wheel guy was kidding.

Well in that case, Ill keep doing my research about who makes the better wheels.

yo scrodzilla where did you find your machined/nonmachined dp18s? I was looking at the black powdercoated tessas on eighthinch.com because they are mad cheap and look nice, however I run a front brake but still want my rear rim non machined and neat. They only sell them in machined and nonmachined powdercoat.

I got them from Bell's Bike Shop in Philly. I had them built because I wanted a certain color combo (quick...someone call the tarck police) of white rims/hubs with silver spokes & black nipples but they've got plenty of machined/non-machined sets available. If they don't happen to have what you're looking for in stock, they'll build it.

http://shop.bellsbikeshop.com

Would braking on a powdercoat surface really be a disaster?

Define "disaster". Inefficient braking, or the finish wearing off?

Mostly inefficient braking as I bike in traffic. But Id also like it if they didnt make complete mess of the rims. Im hoping that over time itll just scratch through the clear coat, while retaining good braking power and minimum squeaking, and finally form a semi-neat worn area in the rim. Haha might be a little too optimistic. Im running kool stop salmon brake pads btw.

Your brake pads will end up scratching through whatever finish is on your rim but it won't look "neat". Your best bet is to just get a machined front.

Or just not care about it it looking "neat."

With the wheels in motion, a machined rim is going to look the same as a brake-worn rim.

well........if you guys really are going to debate over which rim to use thats most efficient for braking, i mean that sounds kind of stupid to me even though I havent been riding fixed for a long time.

I mean, they made machined rims for braking, and obviously by implication, non machined rims are not built for brakes? If you are getting teh non machined wheels purely for aesthetic purposes and you use a brake, that completely defeats the purpose of getting the wheel for aesthetic purposes IF you say that the machined wheel will NOT look neat if used with brakes.

Why not just get the wheel that was BUILT for brakes, and leave the nonmachined ones for those who ride brakeless?

IDK? just a thought?

^ He gets it.

if you get a silver rim, you won't notice much a of a difference at all. not for awhile, at least. and braking power won't be compromised nearly as much as with a pc'd rim, where the pad might just slides over the surface of the paint. silver rims also just look classy and sexy no matter where they go. they are the high-rent district of rims finishes, where white is the Williamsburg of finishes.

I agree. I mean...I hate you.

:D

Wrong, silver is best. I can go months without washing a silver car and it looks sorta dingy, but totally presentable.

Dark road grime and dirt will clump up and form nice dark blotches over time, and the neutral 'gray' and reflective nature of silver means anything on it is maximum 50% lighter or darker, whereas white means a piece of black soot is 100% darker. Silver also takes on more of the surrounding environment, so the black road below is reflected off the rocker panels where most of the dirt accumulates.

+1 on these guys. They are really decent to work with, and since they build them there, you can make requests if you want something unusual. (Machined front / non-machined rear is pretty standard for them.)

White rims aren't a big deal at all, nor is white frame, like you said, you can just wipe em off with a damp rag or something and they will be perfectly clean. A white chain will be dirty from about 5 minutes after you start riding with it until the day you take it off. I think any bar tape other than black will be dirty within a week or two. Even my dark blue wrap was pretty much black within a month.

Okay guys what happened to that epic thread about braking efficiency with MSW/NMSW rims?

QFT. My green tape is already starting to look kind of grimy after just a few days of use.

http://www.clutchtees.com/images/W/l...20it%20out.jpg
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http://www.todayandtomorrow.net/wp-c...3/hell_yes.jpg
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Get a room.