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Hey dtech,
Yeah, I'm still bike commuting, but only during DST. My commute's too far along major arteries for me to feel safe when it's dark. I slacked off a little this year & only rolled up a little over 2,600 commuting miles. Still, that gives me nearly 6,000 commuting miles between last year & this year, & over 9,000 miles kept off my C900 at the same time! Plus, with the money I've saved by not driving my car, I'm finally getting my first-ever custom bike built!
All the road rims I've used are 32h. I've had the most experience with Mavic "OEM" rims. I don't remember the model number, but they were a lower end rim, meaning they were more plain & had no spoke hole eyelets reinforcing the spoke bed. I've used one set for at least twelve years before the 14 ga rear spokes (non-drive side) started routinely popping. I've still got the set waiting to be rebuilt with new spokes.
After that I used Wolber Super Champion hard ano rims that I had a friend lace up for me. They did have eyelets, but after about two yrs I discovered the spoke bed splitting apart & lifting in several areas around the rear wheel. I suspect he over-tensioned the spokes, but I had no way to verify that at the time.
I replaced those with a pair of Ritchey Rock 450CE rims I built up myself. (Let me say right here that the Park Spoke Tensioner is now one of my favorite tools!) They also have eyelets. I really like these rims! They're made by Sun & are a bit heavier than the Mavic "OEM" rims, but these days I'm more concerned with durability since I take longer rides/commutes than I used to & don't want to end up stranded a long way from either my destination or starting point. I built these up with 15/16 ga double-butted spokes in front & 14/15 ga d-b rear. I fimly believe that d-b spokes add a bit of resiliency (suspension?) to the wheel structure, muting a lot of the shock forces that might otherwise concentrate in the spoke bed. The other big stress item in wheels is skinny tires. 23mm & narrower is just asking for wheel problems down the road.
I don't know much about either wheel you're looking at, but from the info I can find I'd say the Mavic rim is definitely the better buy. (I'm guessing they'll build a new wheel around your old hub?) The Synergy wheel might actually be a better wheel for you based on what I've read, but for a used wheel I'd want a better price. PricePoint is selling an Ultegra/Open Pro Road wheelset (pair) for $250. Peter White is selling Synergy rims at $65 each, so you could built yourself a NEW wheel (with your used hub) for $150 & have a new Park Spoke Tensioner included in the cost of build.
posted by 57.80....
, Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:33:19
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