Velocity P35: Bling it on

I've been running Velocity Blunts on my Rawland for just over 2 years now. Last summer, I had a good spill that resulted in a potato-chipification of the front wheel. We banged it out on the trail and then I trued it up a bit when I got home. So I wasn't too surprised to see some of spoke holes bulging on the front rim a few months ago.

This is a two-year-old, well-abused Blunt rim. The eyelet is bulging, which is a difficult failure to capture on camera.

What did surprise me is that I found a bunch of cracked eyelets on the rear Blunt rim. That sucks. So, I'm going to go ahead and go on record and say I'm not a Velocity Blunt fan.

One of many cracked eyelets on the rear, and only moderately-abused Blunt rims. Easy to capture on camera.

The P35 is a Velocity rim that was designed by Kirk Pacenti. I'm pretty much becoming a company man as far as Pacenti goes. He designed the initial Rawland Sogn. And he designed and sells the Quasi-, Pari-, and Neo- moto tires. My favorite tires for the Rawland is the Quasi-moto.
So, as I pondered my next set of 650b disc-compatible rims, it only made sense that I go after the Pacenti-designed Velocity rims. And they come in red, yo. Check that shite out!


For those who are curious. The P35 rim is much wider than the Blunt. Weird thing is, is that one Quasi-moto slapped right on the rim while the other one required a pinched flat and a ripped thumb to mount.

The P35, like nearly all Velocity rims were easy to build up round and stiff. I used double-butted DT Champion spokes. I guess we'll check back in a couple years and see how they hold up.