Rims?

[tintin40]

Now one of my LBS has had a look in the cupboard and found these 'old' rims.
I know very little about these. Please educate me

Mavic ceramic's
D521 32 hole - £45 each schradier
X517 32 hole - £45


Plus a Ritchey 'Rock' WCS in a type of blue ano 32 hole. £25 presta

Thanks in advance

 

[cce]

back in the late 90's, early 2000's, the X517 was mavic's top XC rim, quivalent to an old-skool 217. the 521 was the DH rim, equivalent to an old-skool 121

 

[tintin40]

So as i do XC the X517 would be a good choice? any idea of price & weights

 

[development_cycle]

X517 is a very nice rim. I had to get one of my 230's replace as it had a big dent in about '99/'00, and I have been very pleasantly surprised with it. There are people that claim this was the last of Mavic's good quality XC rims!

I'm tempted to get another one so I have a matching pair as the other 230 is showing signs of wear now.

 

[Anthony]

So as i do XC the X517 would be a good choice? any idea of price & weights

Mavic quoted the 517 as weighing 395gr whereas the 717 is 420gr, so they obviously thought they ought to make the 717 a bit tougher as the 517 had a reputation as being a bit fragile.

I believe 517s are now reasonably rare, and desirable if it's a 517 you're replacing and you don't want a mixed pair, so TBH I don't see why anybody would sell them cheaper than 717s.

The 317 is a simpler and slightly heavier xc rim, X stands for xc and D stands for downhill. Ritchey Rock were quite cheap, but if they're blue and you want blue, then who cares about function on this site? [so I'm told]

 

[cce]

i last bought new wheels in this period, and decided to go for a 519 - it was the "FR" variant (when FR was much softer than today) and was midway between the two. pretty light and very strong.

 

[tintin40]

So as i'm now planing a 'Garage Queen' project when my Trimble frame arrives the X517 would be a good match. But still around £50 for a ceramic rim then. which is a bit painful.

 

[Anthony]

So as i'm now planing a 'Garage Queen' project when my Trimble frame arrives the X517 would be a good match. But still around £50 for a ceramic rim then. which is a bit painful.

Pardon my ignorance, but are ceramic rims really retro?

I don't know when they started making them, but the key thing about them is that they are black and through most of the retro era the colour schemes of bikes were designed around silver rims. My 97 Kilauea, although too recent for some to call it retro, is definitely silver-oriented. I do run a ceramic on it, but only because I put function ahead of form, it definitely doesn't look right. And a carbon seat post was a complete no no, so form had to go ahead of function on that one.

So basically I'm wondering whether an early 90s garage queen shouldn't have silver rims rather than ceramic? Or sunset, etc, but not black?

 

[tintin40]

I remember ceramic Mavics back in 92-93 time unless my memory is playing tricks on me

weren't 231cds ceramic?

 

[Pickle]

weren't 231cds ceramic?

Almost certain they were..... :?