Hi All, I'm going to move the wheel set on my primary touring bike to my beater / back-up touring bike. Thus I'm looking at rim's opinions, primarily, and and a tire I have not yet seen reviewed.

Just to keep this thread simple, I'd like to stick to just this one rim and tire. I'm not trying to be an A hole, but these two subjects can cause some unnecessary debates.

I keep being drawn to the Velocity Chukker because of the aero profile. I know that in the past there were some issues and full on failures of the brake track, but as far as I can tell the failures are mostly with either late Australian or early USA production rims. Anyone have experience with any later production examples?

To mount on the new rims I'm considering 700X35 Vittoria Randonneur II tires. I can find no info on this version of the tire.

TIA,
Brad

I like the Atlas myself. Budget version is the NoBS if available. Note the thick spoke bed to resist deformation/cracking from fatigue.

I had some Vittoria randonneur 2 tires in 35, but swapped em out for 32s because of space for fenders.
So the 32s have been used for probably 600 miles and they are great.
Love the feel and they have been really solid in terms of traction.

They were easily the worst tire ive ever mounted though. A couple of flat spots no matter what mounting tricks i tried. An lbs used that tire bead seating plier tool and went to town before they sat properly.

Take that negative for what its worth as i would guess the issue is rim specific. I have them on Sun cr18 rims.

[MENTION=9775]seeker333[/MENTION] , I liked those rims also, I just have the hots for something more aero. Thanks
[MENTION=385973]mstateglfr[/MENTION] , Thanks for the review of the tires.

Brad

I dont know what constitutes the early or late production runs, but these were bought in 2011 and went into service for the 2012 season. I weighed well over 300# and had 55# of pannier gear + my LHT and it's accessories, put over 15,000 mi on them over several seasons with no issues whatsoever. These are the 40h edition, and they have given the proverbial "bulletproof" reliability. The receipt is from Peter White in New Hampshire.



Hope this puts your mind at ease for rims. Cant help with the tires as I run Schwalbe Marathon Plus 35's.

[MENTION=347563]Bicycle365[/MENTION] , Thanks for your review. I'm planning to use 36H rims and Deore hubs... not nearly as robust as your wheel set, but comparable to what is already on my primary touring bike which is fine for my 180 lb. self (I just bought five boxes of Girl Scout cookies and expect to gain a little. ).

Brad