I recently purchased a Nimbus Oracle 26" for trails, and I’m planning to convert my old Pashley 26x1.75 (36 hole) to a 29er. Since I plan to use it mostly on road and smooth trails, I don’t want to go overboard with the tire and am thinking about a Big Apple 50-622 (which, I’m pretty sure, will fit in the frame w/no mods).
What rim should I use, and where should I order from? At this point I’m thinking that my priorities are (in decreasing importance): Cost, Strength, Weight. The main selection problems that I’ve been having are getting consistent information on rim inner bead width. I’m thinking that I want something in the 23mm-25mm range, but it seems that some prefer wider and other prefer narrower.
For road riding, the rim width won’t matter as much as offroad because you will run smaller tires (like the Big Apple 29x2.0) and with higher pressure. If you go for MTB-like rims, you can easily find rims under 500g with more strength than necessary.
On the cheap-but-strong side, you can give a try to Alexrims. It is easy to find rims under $50 including shipping. Nothing fancy but not dead heavy either.
The only thing you have to be careful about: most bike rims are now manufactured for 32 holes or less for road rims. If you planned to reuse your current hub, it will narrow down your choice a lot., But it is still manageable.
I’ll recommend Sun Ringle Rhyno Lite rims. I have one on my 700c/29" wheel and also a 26" pair on an around-town bicycle and have had zero trouble. 36 hole is easy to find and around $30 shipped.
