WT160

I bought a 700c 36h CR18 in polished finish the other day and swapped out a rim with it. I can't say that I'm that keen on the finish.
I want to buy another, this time in 32h, for another project, and I'm wondering about the other finishes.
I like the black, but I'm afraid of the finish wearing off. I have some black FIR rims where the finish has worn off the brake track, and I think that they look awful. I can't tell if the brake track is black on the CR18s; in some pictures it looks black and in others, not.
Also, how is the regular "silver" rim? It looks a little dull and rough, but I'm thinking that I may prefer it to the "polished" version.
Any experience or opinions?

ehcoplex 

I've got a few wheels with CR-18 rims. The black rim is black on the sides, and as the black anodizing wears, it'll start to look not-so-great, though this rim is pretty old and doesn't yet look terrible. However, this is an older wheel and it's possible the sides are now 'machined', which may be why you're seeing photos where the brake track isn't black. I *think* the CR-18 has been around since before machining the sidewalls became common, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are versions of every finish with and without machined sidewalls. The 'plain' silver ones I have are OK looking- yeah, a little dullish, nothing special. They're old enough that the brake tracks are worn/scarred, so I'm not sure if these had machined sides or not. I've got a couple sets of wheels with polished Sun M13ii rims with the machined sidewalls and (to my eye, at least) I think they look pretty good.

BTW, where did you get the polished CR18 rim? I was looking for those a year or so ago and couldn't find them anywhere.

WT160

Thanks for the reply. I see a lot of places with the polished rims. I got mine at Northwest Bicycle.
The other difficulty with finishes seems to be that some versions have "ABT," some kind of brushed braking track. I think my polished rims have this, which seems to be a good feature.

ehcoplex 

I think the 'ABT' is the 'machining'- supposedly it makes for more effective braking, though Jobst Brandt says differently.
I thought maybe Sun had discontinued the polished CR18, but probably it was Covid supply-chain issues if they're available again now.

Narhay

The silver is a matte silver.

Bruce27

Over the past few years I've purchased 2 pair of CR18's. The 27" pair has a polished finish and the 700c is more of a satin/matte finish. While my preference is polished, I'm content with both.

52telecaster

I like the satin finish silver cr18s. Good braking performance and the color suits me.

kingston 

The anodized silver rims don't have a machined brake track like the polished ones. A few years ago I removed the anodization and polished a set. Looks nice but it was too much work. Don't recommend.
https://www.bikeforums.net/18517533-post42.html

WT160

I just ordered a set of satin silver finish 700c 32h. The description says that they have "ABT." We'll see.

wesmamyke

I believe Sun rims calls the ABT brake track a brushed finish. Only the welded seam rims get an actual machined brake track. Not sure if they offer it anymore but I was partial to the black/silver finish.