During the BB200 this weekend, I hit a substantial rock quite badly on the Roman Road to Rhyd-yr-onen. “Good job I’m tubless” I thought as I crashed into it. Until the tyre went flat. 🙁
Quick inspection and its dinged the rim bad enough for the tyre not to seal, so I stuck a tube in and got away with it. No doubt I could have down with more air presure to compensate for the extra kit I was carrying, but hindsight is wonderful isn’t it?

But, I need to replace it, its a Halo Vapour (aluminium). I’ve had DT5.1ds before which were similarly soft. I always liked the fact they were soft, because even if they were bent, at least you could ride home. But now I want something a bit sturdier.

Any recommendations?

Something heavier – but you can still dent it, it’s about volume and pressure for your weight and terrain.

The Mavic EN521 is pretty bombproof. I had them for several years with no issues. Recently moved over to the WTB frequency i25 rims. They have done Mega and a few places around Wales and seem pretty solid so far. A good build makes the world of difference as well.

As said before, any rim will dent if you **** it hard enough.

I my experience Maxtal alloy Mavics are the most ding-resistant I’ve come across.

I’m sure someone will be along in a minute to tell me that I’m wrong and that Mavic rims actually extruded from an obscure form of stinky French cheese.

819s are pretty ****ing solid – if a bit heavy and narrow, presumably the beefier 821 and 823s will be more so.

Carbon ones, they just crack if you hit them hard enough 😉

EX721 are tough (maxtal alloy)

+1 for Mavic 721s, if the weight suits your needs.

I’ve only had them as DH rims myself, because my Crossmax SX just carried on being perfect for years on my AM bike.

My Flow Ex’s have remained impressively true and dent free.

I have had to get the file out a couple of times over the last 2 years to tidy up the surface after a rock strike has left a tyre slicing rough bit on the edge of the rim, but no actual dents so far…

In my experience…

soft rims* = dents easily but normally holds a seal, sometimes if you really bend it good then the bead wont seat properly.

hard rims** = rarely dents but pinch punctures a lot more easily and puts holes through tyre bead/sidewall

I’ve found the pinch punctures from hard rims happen more frequently than the soft rims not sealing for me, so I tend to take the hit (no pun intended) of dents now.

Both require a tube if it happens on the trail, but one leaves a hole in my tyre and the other doesn’t, and it’s often easier and quicker to bend a dent out at home than stitch and patch a tyre.

Stans may be a good half way, I’ve only got them on one bike thoguh and only put a couple of hundred miles on them so far, so not really enough use to comment at the moment.

*DT Swiss(cheese)
**Maxtal Mavics are hard as nails.

My old Alexrims DP20s have never had a hint of ding and yet had a lot of abuse over the years. Cheapo OEM rims on wheels that came with an old bike. Have been replaced with Arch EX rims now, just because I needed new hubs to take the axle sizes so went with a new wheel build.

vs my Crank Brothers Iodines, which have had numerous dings. Biggest from flat tyre and briefly rolling rocks on the rims. The old Alexrims by comparison had same kind of incident… not a ding.

In addition to tyre pressure the tyre construction is also critical. Its all rocks and water bars for me and dual ply or very heavy sidewalls are all I trust. I’m running Schwalbe super gravity Magic Mary / Hans Dampf at the moment tubeless with no punctures or rim damage yet – good thing too as my Specialized OEM rims are constructed of Brie.

729s are very strong might be to heavy for some.Mind are 7years old excellent.

729s are strong but not that resistant to denting… And heavy like ox.

Mavic in general as people have said tend to be tough. Not neccesarily all that strong- most of mine have cracked at the eyelets instead- but dent resistant.

Out of curiosity have you tried straightening the dent? The nice thing about softer alloys is they’re softer 😉

I’ve had various standard fit Mavics on my bikes since 2007 and even though I’m heavy and clumsy I’m yet to smash one.

Worked great for me on my Iodines, dings barely noticeable now and working fine tubeless – http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Tech-Tuesday-Fixing-Rim-Dents-2012.html

Out of Mavic 821, 521, 721, 719, 729 and Flows always used with dual ply or EXO, the 521 (coincidentally a cheaper rim) was the only one that didn’t ding.

Recently had a set of 821’s built that looked brilliant and tough but one long rough Highland descent left the rear easily dented (EXO tyre/30psi).

If you ride anything long and rough hard enough there is hardly a rear wheel that will not dent but most well built wheels stay in one piece and last ages.