Sun Helix TR25 & TR27 Rims

In the dark olden times, when a downhill bike had only 2 inches of travel, and Grafton still made cranks, when Sam Adams was considered craft beer, and before any one knew Garrison Keillor’s evil twin Newt Gingrich was going to set the tone for the next 25 years, Sun made the best rims for mountain biking. Not the best because they were the most high tech, or spendy, but because they were durable, came in a few fun colors, and they were cheap to replace if you taco’d one. Tacoing wheels was something that happened with alarming frequency in the 1990’s. More alarming is that we’d just smash the wheels back into round on a stump, and then keep riding on the same wheel. That was an accepted practice. Sun made two rims that still are good bargains if you are running tubes: the CR-18 and the Rhynolite. I’d ride either one on a cross country trip and not worry about it.

What’s the point of all this? Sun still makes relatively affordable rims these days, and this Helix 27 or Helix 25 is sorta like the Rhynolite or CR-18 of today. They’re disc specific (good, that makes the shape stronger, decently light, reasonably tough, and won’t break the bank. Need an affordable rim that’s tubeless ready? This is your jam.

Get the 25mm rims if riding a tire betwixt 30mm and 2.3. Get the 27mm rim if riding a tire between 2.2 and 2.6.