Dylansbob 

Title says it all.

Need to build up a new front wheel and would like to get as wide as possible rim while still maintaining my rim brake. I can't think of anything off the top of my head that would be as cheap and readily available as Sun Rim.

masi61

internal rim width of 22 mm is pretty close to that of a Velocity Quill at 21.1mm. The Quill is the same shape as the disc specific Velocity Aileron. It can be ordered from your bike shop. The price is going to be higher but it might be worth it I you are trying to save weight or wish to be able to run tubeless tires.

I'm a fan of the Velocity A23's and run my set with tubeless tape but use latex tubes and Challenge high thread count tires in 700x25 width. These rims are under rated in my mind. The Quill rim looks like it should be great as well. The Velocity rim is going to be about 200+ grams lighter than the Rhyno Lite. Why ride on such a dud rim when you can have your cake (wide rim for use with wide road tires) and eat it too (reasonably lightweight)? The only downside to the Velocity Quill is the slightly more expensive upfront cost. But I purposely did not mention the HED Belgium Plus clincher rim because these now retail for $165 each.

Bill Kapaun

The XL version is 23.5mm internal.

Russ Roth

I would not consider the quill to be a good substitute for the Rhynolite from my experience, I recently built one up and struggled to get the spoke tension close to proper without the wheel warping. Velocity's customer service was kind enough to send me a replacement which I will build up shortly and hope does better, might put the other on the front where the spoke tension can be a little lower. I had high hopes for it since I built Ailerons in January and love those rims and will be buying another set when I build my cross bike. Not only is the sun wider but it is stronger. I also love the a23 and built a new set yesterday to replace an old set of aeroheads from 18 years ago.

I'm not certain that Velocity has a true equivalent, if I were to want really wide 700c with a brake track I'd get the velocity cliffhanger which is wider then the sun by a few mm inside and out though it looks like they'll set you back 90 a piece from bikewagon through ebay; the brand is worth the price though I wouldn't disparage the sun either, they do prove very durable and utilitarian.

ThermionicScott 

Why do people say "title says it all" if they're going to keep talking?

Andrew R Stewart 

To make their point again. I am close to someone who repeats their comments three times often. I've learned to pause after the first time, then again after the second time and wait for number 3 before I might respond. Andy

masi61

That’s interesting (your experience with the Quill). I have a set in 28 front/32 rear in polished that I was planning on asking my LBS mechanic to build up for me. He has built all my wheels for me over the last 20 years. After he builds me a set of wheels he usually says how true it stayed as he built it up and if there were any uneven spoke tension issues he ran into. My everyday A23 wheelset were 32 front / 36 rear and he used the lighter butted DT Swiss (Revolution?) spokes and alloy spike nipples. He is a proponent of just enough spoke tension. He hand stress relieves this wheels 2 or 3 times then trues as needed. But once they are ridden they typically require at least one follow up minor tension and true (there is no charge for this). Once we’re there, the A23’s have been great.

I hope your 2nd experience building up a Quill rim is better. I know the extrusion is thinner than older clincher rims but as far as I know the extrusion is pretty technical - the semi aero shape has a bit more inherent strength than a box section rim. Also I believe the extrusion is slightly thicker at the top of the curve where the spoke holes are so cracking at the spoke holes does not appear to be an issue.

I wondered if the OP is even using 700c rims? He/she doesn’t say. If it is a commuter bike then yeah, I’d be interested in hearing about the Velocity Cliffhanger.

Trevtassie

Rhyno Lite XL is wider than a Rhyno Lite. I like them, welded and with eyelets. I'm running 2.5" on them with no issues.

Russ Roth

OP mentions 700 in the title, took me a while to realize that too. The A23 I built I did 32/32 with wheelsmith DB which are 2.0/1.7 in the rear so slightly thinner then a DT and an Wheelsmith XL in the front which is the same as a revolution. Velocity recommends a max of 120kgf so on the back I went with 120 drive side so non-drive would be as high as possible. The front I only went to 105kgf, the front of course has even tension and has less weight so I only went to 110kgf. They built as perfectly as I like. I hope to have the quill built this weekend. I'm keeping an eye out on the cliffhanger to replace the cheap rims that came on my C-dale tandem since I suspect they'll be lighter and faster.

masi61

Good to know. I think Roger, my wheelbuilder stops way short of those tension numbers. He may not even use a tension gauge. Occasionally I have had some spokes spontaneously come loose. But for the most part it hasn’t been a problem. Now I’m curious about the thicknesses of the butted Revolution spokes - time to utilize my metric dial indicator...

Please post back here about your Quill wheel build. BTW: what tires were you thinking of using?

The Quill wheelbuild I am considering will be for my year 2000 era Cannondale “Silk Tour” touring bike that I picked up cheap. The original factory Mavic 519 rims laced to “Coda” branded hubs with 135mm rear spacing are going to be set aside for some future transcontinental tour that I may never take. In the mean time, I plan to use used XTR M900 hubs 32 spoke rear, 28 front with the Velocity Quill 32r/28f polished rims in a 3 cross rear, 2 cross front configuration. I’ll most likely use the lightweight DT Swiss butted spokes (again)with anodized alloy spoke nipples for looks and to save more weight. My intent is to lighten up and modernize the Silk Tour to today’s road/gravel sport cycling sensibilities. I may run tubeless tires but since I am primarily a road rider (with a little gravel riding thrown in), latex tubes with some nice Challenge Paris Roubaix 700x27 320 threads per inch tires would fill the need here really well I think. AFAIK the XTR M900 HG freehub body will take a Shimano road 10 speed cassette.

Dylansbob 

OP here.

The build is for something silly I like riding, a fgfs frame being used a fixed mtb. I had been running 29 x 2.1 clements on some ultracheap, egg-shaped knockoff deep v rims. They seated just fine, but clearances were a bit tight for offroad riding. I just laced up a E13 29+ (~30mm wide) rim to a rear hub and really like how the 2.1 shapes up on it. The fork is a bit tight height-wise with the narrow rim, so I'm hoping that if I relaced to a wider rim and flatten out the tire profile a bit I'll have a bit more debris clearance.

OneIsAllYouNeed

I've also used a wider rim to improve vertical clearance from fork crown or seat stay bridge. [Off topic: it was on my winter fixed commuter with studded tires. I couldn't exactly run out for a slightly smaller tire. I subbed an Alex Adventurer rim for the i13 rim that was on there and it solved my problem] You've got options...

Alex Adventurer2 26.2mm outer, 21mm inner
VO Voyager is 27mm outer, 22.1mm inner
Alex EV23, 27.4mm outer, 23mm inner
Rhynolite XL is 29.2mm outer, 23.2mm inner
Velocity Cliffhanger is 30mm outer, 25mm inner