I would like to try some high quality good looking aluminum rims (hoops) on my next bomber, (26 x 2.125 tires). I know nothing of the BMX / Mountain bike era. Does anyone have recommendations to make?
Araya 7X's are the rim of choice for high end BMX and mountain bike of that era, standard fitment for all the big names of the time, I have a pair on my 26" DYNO BMX and they look great and seem very tough...
For old school rims, Araya 7X rims are hard to beat. Lower priced versions of the same design are available from Sumo (also old school) and brand new ones from Weinmann.
New school (read double wall) rims will be stronger. Tons of good rims in 1.75" width. Alex DM24 gets spec'd on a lot of SE Racing's 24 and 26 in. retro BMX bikes. My 2008 OM Flyer has them. They've held up pretty well.
I bought some of the weinmann 7x copies, look the same as araya but no spoke dimples. They're just single wall (like the Arayas), solid wheels but I'm not abusing them exactly.