26" Mountain bike rim recommendations

I'm looking to build up some new wheels for my mountain bike. I am
currently using Mavic X517 rims, which are pretty banged up after ten
years of good use. I weigh 185 lbs and do mostly cross country and
trail riding. I'm looking for rims that are strong and don't mind if
they are a little bit heavy. They need to be v-brake compatible as I
don't have disc brakes. Does anyone know of any decent 26" rims? In
the past I have always trusted Mavic, but I haven't purchased any of
their rims recently and I understand that they may not be as well
built as they used to be.


Thanks,

Peter.

On Sat, 14 Aug 2010 19:23:40 -0700 (PDT), Peter Van Buren
wrote:

I'm looking to build up some new wheels for my mountain bike. I am
currently using Mavic X517 rims, which are pretty banged up after ten
years of good use. I weigh 185 lbs and do mostly cross country and
trail riding. I'm looking for rims that are strong and don't mind if
they are a little bit heavy. They need to be v-brake compatible as I
don't have disc brakes. Does anyone know of any decent 26" rims? In
the past I have always trusted Mavic, but I haven't purchased any of
their rims recently and I understand that they may not be as well
built as they used to be.


Thanks,

Peter.

The Alex DM-24 is cheap, strong and reliable. They have been working
well on our tandem.

On Aug 14, 9:23*pm, Peter Van Buren wrote:
I'm looking to build up some new wheels for my mountain bike. I am
currently using Mavic X517 rims, which are pretty banged up after ten
years of good use. I weigh 185 lbs and do mostly cross country and
trail riding. I'm looking for rims that are strong and don't mind if
they are a little bit heavy. They need to be v-brake compatible as I
don't have disc brakes. *Does anyone know of any decent 26" rims? In
the past I have always trusted Mavic, but I haven't purchased any of
their rims recently and I understand that they may not be as well
built as they used to be.


Mavics are currently underbuilt, overpriced, and hyped. I'd stick with
Sun Ringle or Alex. Go to the websites of all three and try to find
recommended spoke tension. With Sun, it's an easy find, 110 kgf. On
the Alex site, again, it's simple to find their 120kgf recommendation.
Good luck on the Mavic site, because you won't find it. A bit of a
head scratcher, no?

Alex DM18 if you want silver, Adventurer if you like black. Cheap and
strong. Sun Rhyno Lites are good, and often come as part of a stupidly
cheap factory built wheelset. For a 26" bike, that's what I'd get.
Pull them out of the box, destress them, retrue, and ride.

On 14/08/10 7:23 PM, Peter Van Buren wrote:
I'm looking to build up some new wheels for my mountain bike. I am
currently using Mavic X517 rims, which are pretty banged up after ten
years of good use. I weigh 185 lbs and do mostly cross country and
trail riding. I'm looking for rims that are strong and don't mind if
they are a little bit heavy. They need to be v-brake compatible as I
don't have disc brakes. Does anyone know of any decent 26" rims? In
the past I have always trusted Mavic, but I haven't purchased any of
their rims recently and I understand that they may not be as well
built as they used to be.

Avoid Mavic at all costs.

SMS writes:

On 14/08/10 7:23 PM, Peter Van Buren wrote:
I'm looking to build up some new wheels for my mountain bike. I am
currently using Mavic X517 rims, which are pretty banged up after ten
years of good use. I weigh 185 lbs and do mostly cross country and
trail riding. I'm looking for rims that are strong and don't mind if
they are a little bit heavy. They need to be v-brake compatible as I
don't have disc brakes. Does anyone know of any decent 26" rims? In
the past I have always trusted Mavic, but I haven't purchased any of
their rims recently and I understand that they may not be as well
built as they used to be.

Avoid Mavic at all costs.

I have Mavic on my touring bike and they have been perfectly true for
more than 7 years now under heavy loads.

Simon Lewis wrote:

SMS writes:

Avoid Mavic at all costs.

I have Mavic on my touring bike and they have been perfectly true for
more than 7 years now under heavy loads.

There is no getting around the fact that Mavic rims have more frequent
problems with cracking than any other brand, even if most Mavic rims
do not fail in this way. Likewise, I have seen no other rim besides
Mavic whose weld heat-affected zone was soft enough to collapse at
reasonable spoke tensions, even though that is a uncommon occurrence
with Mavic rims.

The problem with buying Mavic rims isn't that you're overwhelmingly
likely to suffer failure, it's that failures are comparatively likely
even though they are among the most expensive rims available. They're
just not worth it.

On the other hand, if you happen into a free pair of Mavic rims, use
them. They are usually very true to shape and thus easy to build
with.

Chalo

On 8/15/2010 9:44 AM, SMS wrote:
On 14/08/10 7:23 PM, Peter Van Buren wrote:
I'm looking to build up some new wheels for my mountain bike. I am
currently using Mavic X517 rims, which are pretty banged up after ten
years of good use. I weigh 185 lbs and do mostly cross country and
trail riding. I'm looking for rims that are strong and don't mind if
they are a little bit heavy. They need to be v-brake compatible as I
don't have disc brakes. Does anyone know of any decent 26" rims? In
the past I have always trusted Mavic, but I haven't purchased any of
their rims recently and I understand that they may not be as well
built as they used to be.

Avoid Mavic at all costs.
On the shore Mavic are the rim of choice and others are used only when
you can not afford the best!

On 16 Aug, 00:25, Chalo wrote:
Simon Lewis wrote:

SMS writes:

Avoid Mavic at all costs.

I have Mavic on my touring bike and they have been perfectly true for
more than 7 years now under heavy loads.

There is no getting around the fact that Mavic rims have more frequent
problems with cracking than any other brand, even if most Mavic rims
do not fail in this way. *Likewise, I have seen no other rim besides
Mavic whose weld heat-affected zone was soft enough to collapse at
reasonable spoke tensions, even though that is a uncommon occurrence
with Mavic rims.

I've not examined a busted one but I remember looking at a cross-
section of their flash-welding nightmare. Seriously would not advise
them for rocky descents, the weldment creates stress risers adjoining.


The problem with buying Mavic rims isn't that you're overwhelmingly
likely to suffer failure, it's that failures are comparatively likely
even though they are among the most expensive rims available. *They're
just not worth it.

On the other hand, if you happen into a free pair of Mavic rims, use
them. *They are usually very true to shape and thus easy to build
with.

Chalo

On 15 Aug, 03:23, Peter Van Buren wrote:
I'm looking to build up some new wheels for my mountain bike. I am
currently using Mavic X517 rims, which are pretty banged up after ten
years of good use. I weigh 185 lbs and do mostly cross country and
trail riding. I'm looking for rims that are strong and don't mind if
they are a little bit heavy. They need to be v-brake compatible as I
don't have disc brakes. *Does anyone know of any decent 26" rims? In
the past I have always trusted Mavic, but I haven't purchased any of
their rims recently and I understand that they may not be as well
built as they used to be.

Thanks,

Peter.

Choose your front wheel rim first as this is most important to match
up with your chosen front tyre. The interior rim wall dimension needs
to be 0.7 of the tyre cross-section to maximise stability and
suspension for that tyre. Not matching tyre and rim like this will
compromise the performance of the wheel. There is some leeway with
the rear wheel, so a slightly larger tyre can be fitted on a matching
rim without any trouble. So if you are using a 2" tyre on the front
then you should use a rim with a 38mm intrerior wall to wall dimension
for best control, particularly with a thin carcass tyre and/or running
patrticularly low pressures. If you prefer to ride fast, you want to
be able to place your tyres with pinpoint accuracy and should heed my
advice. Or you can be fashionable and choose inapropriately narrow
rims, so you need to use excessive tyre pressure to maintain control
(yet runs relatively harsh and slow), which leads to you next thinking
you need better suspension kit. Ultimately the robustness of a wheel
comes down to the actual assembly of the spokes and using an
appropriate tyre size.

Rims can be had at list price from as little as about10 Euros and
there is no reason to believe these cannot be built in to the most
excellent wheels.

"wizardB" wrote in message
...
On 8/15/2010 9:44 AM, SMS wrote:
On 14/08/10 7:23 PM, Peter Van Buren wrote:
I'm looking to build up some new wheels for my mountain bike. I am
currently using Mavic X517 rims, which are pretty banged up after ten
years of good use. I weigh 185 lbs and do mostly cross country and
trail riding. I'm looking for rims that are strong and don't mind if
they are a little bit heavy. They need to be v-brake compatible as I
don't have disc brakes. Does anyone know of any decent 26" rims? In
the past I have always trusted Mavic, but I haven't purchased any of
their rims recently and I understand that they may not be as well
built as they used to be.

Avoid Mavic at all costs.
On the shore Mavic are the rim of choice and others are used only when
you can not afford the best!

Likewise down here in Australia, anything DH or freeride related, everyone
goes for a Mavic EX729 without fail, unless they cant afford them, then they
go MTX

Mine are all still perfectly true and tight, even after years of downhill
abuse. I have never had to touch any of them with a spoke wrench ever...

Cheers Dre