fishboat

This thread was prompted by a discussion in the touring section..rather than derail that thread, it should be a new discussion.

There's a reasonably good selection of 26 inch tires available yet, but 26" wheelsets and rims are a bit harder to find.

I'm interested specifically in decent quality RIM BRAKE rim makes/models/sources to build some wheelsets out of. (Good hubs and spokes are easily sourced.)

Sun Ringle(CR18 & XL Rhyno Lite) and DT Swiss(535) seem to readily or somewhat available.

I'm interested in what additional options are out there..thx

Jeff Neese

You can't go wrong with CR18s.

jadmt

velocity dyad wheels. USA made not sure how great they are.

https://www.velocityusa.com/product/rims/dyad-26

veganbikes

Velocity makes a whole bunch of 559 ISO rims some of them also rim brake compatible and some disc brake compatible.A23

Aileron

Atlas

Blunt 35

Cliffhanger

Dually

NoBS
Alex also does some cheaper stuff which is decent and of course Sun Ringlé is always there. I have probably missed some other brands but those three come to mind but Velocity especially is a great option as you can get stuff for touring, road bikes, mountain bikes or heavy duty usage from them.

jadmt

question for those way smarter than me..
looking at the specs on the velocity Dyad that I included the link for above, do the BSD and the ERD seem odd? the ERD is showing 535 and BSD 630. maybe a misprint?

Iride01 

What makes them decent?

Inexpensive? Last forever? Inexpensive and last forever? Or just look aesthetically pleasing?

Chicken_fat

I’ve used Rhyno-lites and they were fine for me.

ThermionicScott 

Velocity also makes a 27" Dyad, so it's no doubt a copy-and-paste error.

base2 

As an accused Velocity Fanboi here whose built up about a dozen or so...Velocity rims come exceptionally round & true right out of the box. They build up nice with a minimum of complications/hassles that so often happen on budget rims.

The spoke holes are drilled at an angle pointing towards the flange that spoke goes to. This eliminates unnecessary stress at the spoke hole or upon the nipple.

The rims are pinned/chemically welded at the seam. So if running tubeless, this has obvious benefits over manufacturers that pin only the seam.

The well is deep. This makes fitting tight tires a bunch easier. The con to this is loose fitting tires, run tubeless can be harder to seat. When running Panaracer/Rene Herse tires, I solve this with 2 layers of 10mm Velox tape before installing tubeless rim tape as normal.

The ERD listed is true. I don't even bother independently measuring before ordering spokes anymore.

Then there is the usual options of various colors & machined brake tracks or not that most manufacturers just don't offer...There is the option of just about any rim being available in about any drilling 24-40 spokes.

Oh, and all Velocity rims have a build tension of 110-130kg/f so you can build strong, stiff wheels that can carry heavy loads with a minimum of spoke breakage concerns that can occur with low tension or over loaded wheels.

In short: The Quality Control is high & the product is consistent, well thought out & brilliantly executed. The times I have dealt with their customer service, it has been exceptional.

Back to the OP:
For 26 inch tubeless, & support of tires as wides as 2.5 inches, the Cliffhanger is the obvious choice. They have a nice wide flat spoke bed to avoid fatigue cracking. If you don't care about tubeless, are running 1.75 inch tires & want to save a bit of weight, Dyads are decent. Or for a bit of added strength the Atlas has eyelets at each spoke hole.

Iride01 

Well I was asking what "decent" meant to the OP since the title asks for decent....

Decent 26 inch rims, make/model/source?

But perhaps your version of decent is similar to the OP's criteria for what makes a decent rim.

fishboat

..the conventional definition of decent..that being good quality at a reasonable price.

Iride01 

I've ordered a lot of stuff from this place. Though not rims or wheels. They've always had a reasonable price for the things I looked at....

https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...?category=5527

fishboat

base2 ..thanks for the recommendation..the Velocities sound...pretty decent!

I run a set of 32H Cliffhangers on my touring bike and have had zero issues with them.

With winter coming, I figured building a couple wheelsets(one 26 and one 700) might be worthwhile(and fun).

jadmt

I bet the majority of people knew what you were asking ...I am sure someone will want to know your definition of a good and reason

jadmt

makes sense.

Iride01 

Well to be completely honest I was being a little sarcastic with my first reply. It just sort of goads me when people put such descriptors in their titles and questions. And using the word "best" really sets me off! <grin>

To me it's senseless to use the word since it is actually ambiguous or best or decent might not mean quite the same to all. And besides, if anyone is going to recommend something, would they recommend something that they thought was bad?

ShannonM

Based only on reputation, I'd rank Velocity rims as way better than "decent."

To me, Alex rims meet the definition of "decent": inexpensive, reasonably good looking, not too heavy, have nice-to-have things like double eyelets, and the couple of pairs I built were easy. Built straight and tight, no drama, (even for a novice wheelbuilder like me,) and took a beating like a good double-wall hand-built wheel should.

That, to me, is what decent parts are all about.

--Shannon

JanMM

One of the Bontrager rims that came on our new tandem in 2010 cracked a few years later. I had Velocity rebuild the wheels with Atlas rims on the original Velocity hubs. Both wheels (406 front and 559 rear) are quite robust.

icemilkcoffee 

If you’re planning on running tubeless, I would just go for Mavic UST wheels. You can find these on the used market. The UST rims have no spoke holes, and are much more foolproof to set up tubeless. Mavic UST rim + panaracer UST tire = a snap to mount , literally.
I just set up both kids mtb’s with tubeless, one with the aforementioned Mavics and the other with TLR rims, and the former is just far easier to deal with than the latter. Well worth whatever extra you have to pay.

ThermionicScott 

It's a valid thing to ask. Attributes like durability, light weight, tubeless compatibility, beauty, and low price are not likely to occur all at once, so determining which one(s) are most important to the OP will guide the advice we give.

jadmt

I emailed Velocity and it is now corrected on their website.

ted_major

I’ve built up three* 26” wheels using Alex Adventurer2 rims and have been pleased with the results. They were easy for this novice wheel builder to get/keep true and round with even tension and weren’t expensive. Still true years later without any touch up.

*A wheelset first, and then a dynamo front for a lighting upgrade a couple of years later.

LeeG

Dyads are good but light if your intended use is heavy duty w rim brakes. I built some mtn bike wheels out of them when they first came out and smashed the rim down a bit at the hook of the rim. The rim was still round but the hook/brake track wasn’t. After looking at them for awhile it’s evident that it’s thinner at the brake track than heavier rims.