jdefran

Building up a new commuter, and am considering these rims as an option...want to know your experience with them.

I am going with the 36H version and running a 28c tire. Provide your size, weight of load and riding condition/style in the review.

fietsbob

If your boat floats best on lightest weight rims, go for it.

Open Sport is a bit heavier because the extrusion die for the aluminum,
is a bit different.

road hazards hit hard enough will always be a limiting factor.

Jan Feetz

Open Pros on 105s 32hole. 180-185 lbs depending on time of year and type of alcohol. Have about 20K on them. These suckers will not die.

jdefran

Cool, thanks for the info so far. I am going with 36H, 3x to 105 hubs; they are prebuilt so a stress relieve and re-tension might be in order.

modernjess

I don't but I would in a heartbeat. Open pro's are strong, and in 36h you will have no issues unless you weigh 400 lbs and like to launch off things a lot. They'll be light and fast and strong. Make sure they are built and tensioned properly. Good wheel builders are worth every penny.

Andy_K 

I've got a set of Ultegra/Open Pros, 32 spokes laced 3X. I weigh about 200 pounds. I've used them for commuting, long road rides and CX racing. About a year and a half ago I tore up most of the drive-side spokes in a cyclocross incident involving the rear derailleur making its way into the spokes. The derailleur broke in three places. I rebuilt the wheel with new spokes and it has been fine since.

1242Vintage

I have 32 spoke Open Pro/Ultegra on my commuter. I weigh 190 lbs and usually commute with a 10-15 lb backpack. Have 18,000 miles on them and just starting to show wear on the brake track. They have served me well and when they wear out in a year or so I'll have my favorite LBS rebuild them.

spare_wheel

mavic open pros are fine training/commuting rims. i personally prefer cxp33s when it comes to hand built wheels but i have a set of ultegra open pros for my drop bar bike. and as for the previous poster who stated that open pros are light...well...most of my wheelsets are 150-400 gms lighter than my 32h ultegra open pros.

tarwheel 

I have commuted on Ultegra - Open Pro wheels for the past 5 years, and I've got them on three of my bikes. They can make strong wheels, particularly with 36 spokes. I currently weigh about 170 lbs, but have weighed as much as 200 while commuting, and typically carry loads of 5-10 lbs each day.

That said, I think the quality of Open Pros has suffered in recent years and my most recent set of wheels were built with DT Swiss 465 rims. My last two sets of OPs destructed after about two years of use, one with corroded eyelets and the other with cracks in the rim. However, I have another set of OPs that are at least 5 years old with 20,000+ miles that appear to be going strong with no issues.

For the price, OPs are fine wheels considering you can buy a new set of Ultegra-OPs for $250-300 or used ones for $150. However, if building a new wheelset, I would probably consider Velocity Aeroheads or A23s, Mavic CXP33s, DT Swiss 465s or 415s depending on my budget.

xB_Nutt

32 double butted spoke Open Pros and Ultegra hubs from bicyclewheelwarehouse.com here. Although I only weigh 140 soaking wet, they are plenty strong and I'm hitting pot holes and man hole covers all the time. I have used them on a loaded 30 lb+ steel bike with racks and bags with 28s and 32s and on a lighter bike with 23s. For the money they are a very nice balance of strength and weight. Still straight and true after a few years of use.

labrat

I’ve commuted 5,000 trouble free miles with a set of Ultegra/ Open Pro’s (32h front, 36h rear) mounted in my road bike before the rear wheel was bent (along with the frame) when I was hit by a truck. Had the same wheelset on my cyclocross (CX) commuter (Nashbar Aluminum frame, Surly LHT fork) and have had impact damage on several spots on both wheels. Odd thing is that it’s the same rider, same roads and the road bike wore 25mm Continental Four Seasons while the CX bike wore 28mm Continental Four Seasons. I finally got fed up with the impact damage on the CX and laced up a set of A719’s along with 35mm Schwalbe Marathon Racers - about a thousand miles later I’m sure the problem is solved.

Long way of saying I’m very happy with the Open Pros on the road bike but they didn’t work for me on the CX bike.

Drew Eckhardt 

They're fine.

140 - 215 pounds (now 175-180), +15 pounds of pannier and stuff on a rear rack, sometimes thinking about work instead of going around sunken utility covers (we don't really have freezing weather or the potholes that go with that). 32 spokes (DT 2.0/1.5 Revolutions except 2.0/1.8 Competition rear drive side) with alloy nipples on 1996 Campagnolo Chorus hubs.

It didn't take me long to bend the Reflex clincher rear (slightly lighter than the Open Pro) I originally used at 150 pounds; but the Open Pro replacement held up until crashed maybe 7-8 years later. The front lasted 12-13 years until I tried riding it with 200 pounds on it after which I got a few months use. My current rear is 6-7 years old with concave brake tracks and unknown mileage and front only has a few thousand miles on it.

They work OK and are nice and round to build with, but I worry that they're not that much heavier and therefore stronger (being deeper at the same weight would work too but they share the same ERD and profile) than the Reflexes they replaced (arguably not strong enough to use in rear wheel applications even if you're at a good racing weight) and you can get more durable rims that don't have reports of cracking around the spoke holes. I probably wouldn't choose to build a new wheel with them but also wouldn't go through the trouble of replacing both rim and spokes after crashing or wearing one out so I could have something else.

dedhed

Ultegra/OP 36h, 700 X 25, 160# + pannier, crappy midwestern roads. This is their second season - about 4.5k on them without issue. Bought new, supposed "handbuilt" on line. I had them touched up when we got the week of winter here and shop said they needed very little and tensions were good. In short I'm happy with them.

mechBgon

I've had some cracked Open Pros come through the LBS, ditto for DT Swiss 465. I do use some Open Pros myself (well, I still have the rear, anyway, the front got switched to a Reflex Ceramic) on my commuter, 155-160lbs plus occasional rear-rack loads of ~15lbs or less. Riding style... a mix of rural roads at training pace and city arterials at automobile-combat pace.

When the time comes for a replacement, I may try some Velocity A23s, a new-school "wide-body" road rim with similar weight to the Open Pro. Lack of eyelets doesn't concern me; from what I've observed over the decades, I could take them or leave them.

Litespeedlouie

I rebuilt my commuter bike wheels this last fall with Open Pro CD 32 with the ceramic coating, and so far just great. Braking is decent even in heavy rain, no sign of rim wear, and reasonable wear on Shimano and Kool Stop pads. My commute is not very far (couple of miles each way) but it's urban, poor pavement, all weather, day/night. I'm about 160 but can roll with cold/foul weather gear, steel bike/Ultegra, lights, fenders, rack, 2 panniers, Kryptonite NY lock (5lbs), plus whatever load (groceries, briefcase-pack. etc). 20 tire in front (required for fender clearance) and 23 in back. I try to take it easy and safely. No problems. I transferred the new rims to my 22 year old wheels myself and did a little spoke touch up after a week. I think they are DT straight gauge spokes. No telling how any premade wheel will come, so I'd check during the first few days, for sure.