Gold! We struck a vein of gold we thought long gone, deep in a warehouse mine. But before we can tell you more, we need to talk about rims and brakes.
All brakes make the same contribution: friction. Some do it at the rim, while others do it at the hub.
Rim brakes are the most common type found on city bikes, and to be effective they need a braking surface. On a Mission Bicycle, that surface is called a machined sidewall, and its presence or absence has an effect on the function and appearance of the wheel.
Machined Sidewall (MSW)
A machined sidewall rim is created by planing a thin layer of metal off just below the tire, leaving a perfectly true strip of silver aluminum. That strip is what the brake pads will grab.
Depending on the rim color, the machined strip can be easy or hard to notice.
Non-Machined Sidewall (NMSW)
A Non-machined sidewall rim is unaltered. After the aluminum is anodized, it's ready for the road (but not a rim brake).
Why do you need to know the difference between the two? Because our vein of gold is pure. There are no silver machined braking surfaces.
Our build manager Dan found a stash of champagne gold, one of our favorite Velocity colors, and one that was discontinued long ago.
He also found a reserve of powder coat orange, another discontinued customer favorite.
We thought both colors were long gone. Now, we've got limited supplies of each and are ready to build.
All rims are non-machined sidewall, so only available as a rear wheel on a single brake bike. Both colors are online and in-store now.