What are the brands of hoops (rims) you are riding?

[bowtie bob]

I decided on clinchers long ago.
ENVE 45s, Ambrosio Excellence, good ole CXP33s

[DOOFUS]

I'm not into exotic wheels

cosmic sl
fulcrum racing 3

alloy braking surface, durable, will take a lot of miles.

[Will Neide]

I9 ULCX - 24/24 CX Rays- Road/CX Disc
I9 hubs/ Derby 650b Carbon Hoops - Supercomp/CX rays - 32/32 - MTB
Ebay Circus Monkey Disc Hubs/38mm Carbon Tubies - 28/28 CX Rays - Beater Race wheels - Disc Brake and/or caliper brakes
Mavic Speed City's - Do anything, go anywhere - Disc
Shimano Deore Hubs - Velocity Deep Vs' - 32/32 DT Comps - Training wheels (tanks) - Disc
SRAM X9 hubs - 32/32 Wheelsmith DB - Crest and 355's - Disc

In the Queue - Velocity Aileron, I9 road disc hubs.

Pretty much all disc at this point for every use and all the wheels get used to some degree depending on season/terrain/mood.

[Powerfibers]

Pacenti SL23s with BHS hubs on my Madone
DT Swiss RR465 with Powertap rear hub and BHS front on my CAAD-10
Ambrosio tubulars with Campy hubs on the steel Colnago

...and the crappy OEM ones they replaced
Bontrager Race
Shimano RS 10

[rellis]

Hed Belgium's have been great rims. Built on Dura-Ace and Campy Record hubs with DT Revolution spokes and ally nipples. Both wheelsets are just under 1650 grams for the pair.

My non road bikes all use various DT rims.

[thomas]

Of the brands the OP asked about, can only speak for an Alex rimmed wheelset on my wife's Specialized Sirrus hybrid. Seems fine, nothing special, this one is a wider touring type rim.

Other alloy rims I have include DT Swiss 465 (actually the older RR1.1) and a few pairs of the newer 440. Can't say those have inspired me in any way. And have had some issues mounting tires on the 440 rim - sometimes the bead does not set in the rim and I end up with a hop. Seems to need lube on the tire bead to sit well in the rim when mounting.

Have to say I liked the Open Pro wheels I've had. And the HED C2 seems ok, too. Am going to try the Pacenti SL23 with a new set built by RT Wheelcraft.

Just not sure how far alloy handbuilts can really take you at this point. Not sure how to get any more marginal gains out of the setup. Maybe with rim choice, spoke type and number and lacing, but really, what are we talking about as far as being really better?

[newellbt]

700c Road bike has a Stan's Alpha 400 in the rear, Specialized something or nothing front.

650b Lockup Bike has VO Diagonale f/r.

700c Camping bike has Alex DA16s. Soon to build up a solid dyno wheel with a ShimanoDH-3N80 to 32h SunRingle Assault

[thomas]

New handbuilt questions:

Why should one go with 24/28 Pacenti SL23 rims instead of 28/32 Ambrosio Excellight rims. Are the Ambrosios like non-radial tires, or a turntable, now? Popular opinion sure seems to be in the SL23 camp.

Is it plain stupid to use bladed spokes on a 24 or 28 spoked front wheel (CX-rays vs DT Supercompetition)?

Or, chuck it all and go with Zondas and call it good?

[dgaddis]

New handbuilt questions:

Why should one go with 24/28 Pacenti SL23 rims instead of 28/32 Ambrosio Excellight rims. Are the Ambrosios like non-radial tires, or a turntable, now? Popular opinion sure seems to be in the SL23 camp.

Is it plain stupid to use bladed spokes on a 24 or 28 spoked front wheel (CX-rays vs DT Supercompetition)?

The Excellight is 18.mm wide on the outside, the SL23 is 18mm wide, inside (24mm external). The SL23 will give you a lot more volume to the tires. Lots more spoke count options. Tubeless ready.

Not plain stupid to go with bladed spokes, though in reality I don't know how much they really help with aero. Round spokes are certainly less expensive though.

[BSUdude]

Not plain stupid to go with bladed spokes, though in reality I don't know how much they really help with aero. Round spokes are certainly less expensive though.

If you're a beginning wheel builder bladed spokes make it easy to keep spoke wind-up in check when building...or at least that's what I've been told. So that would be an advantage in some instances.

[bigbill]

Anyone laced up one of the new DT Swiss 460 rims? The DT site is only showing MTB, some touring, and 440, 440 offset, 460 which looks wide, and 585's. With Texas Cyclesport's sale, I can get 460's laced DB to Record hubs for $460.

[dgaddis]

Anyone laced up one of the new DT Swiss 460 rims? The DT site is only showing MTB, some touring, and 440, 440 offset, 460 which looks wide, and 585's. With Texas Cyclesport's sale, I can get 460's laced DB to Record hubs for $460.

Haven't laced a set yet, but they look like a kicka$$ rim. 23mm external, 18m internal width, 460g, and tubeless ready. Not many in stock with my distributors.

SL23 competitor for sure, at a better price, and judging by other DT rims I've build, it's probably a better build quality. Not that there's anything particularly wrong with the SL23 (there's not, it's a great rim), but the DT rims I've built have all been the most round rims I've seen, no high or low spot at the seam. Built up a set of the RR440's this weekend and they were perfect.

EDIT: speaking of the RR440, I noticed it has a very tubeless ready looking rim profile, even has a small 'bead lock bump' not found in the SL23 or Velocity rims, and looking at this PDF from the DT website, sure enough it is tubeless ready. They don't do a good job advertising that, but it's good to know.

[thomas]

RE: DT R460 - curious that they don't rate it as a Mountain rim, (for climbing), like they do for the RR440. And what's the difference between a rim listed as R (460) versus a rim listed as RR (like the 440) on their website?

So no more RR 415 and RR 465, either?

[dgaddis]

RE: DT R460 - curious that they don't rate it as a Mountain rim, (for climbing), like they do for the RR440. And what's the difference between a rim listed as R (460) versus a rim listed as RR (like the 440) on their website?

So no more RR 415 and RR 465, either?

R = Road
RR = Road Racing
(I think)

Their naming scheme and "performance chart" doesn't make any sense. The R460 isn't any good for flat rides? Huh?

The naming system, letter representing the type of rim + weight, it especially breaks down when you get into the MTB rims where the weights obviously change for every wheelsize yet they all have the same name.

Ignore all that, pick the rim that makes sense.

[sonnybiker]

please don't call them hoops.

[thomas]

[QUOTE=thomas;650707]New handbuilt questions:

Why should one go with 24/28 Pacenti SL23 rims instead of 28/32 Ambrosio Excellight rims?


Still on the fence about this choice. May just leave it to my wheelbuilder and tell him, surprise me. I see great reviews for both rims and even though the Ambrosio rim is an older model, still a lot of love out there for it. For some reason, I'm attracted to them. I have one pair of Hed C2 rimmed wheels and they're OK, but just OK.

Definitely first world OCD problem!

[Cookietruck]

[QUOTE=thomas;652643]

New handbuilt questions:

Why should one go with 24/28 Pacenti SL23 rims instead of 28/32 Ambrosio Excellight rims?


Still on the fence about this choice. May just leave it to my wheelbuilder and tell him, surprise me. I see great reviews for both rims and even though the Ambrosio rim is an older model, still a lot of love out there for it. For some reason, I'm attracted to them. I have one pair of Hed C2 rimmed wheels and they're OK, but just OK.

Definitely first world OCD problem!

seen lots of talk about wide rims being much better (to an extent)
so if the pl23 is wider than the excellight...i guess do some reasearch because i'm not positive about it all

[72gmc]

I'm running 2 sets of Velocity rims now but looking at DT Swiss replacements in the near future. I really liked the DT Swiss rims I used to run. No nonsense.

[Shinomaster]

Anyone remember the Mavic open 4 CD? My friend has a pair.. might wantto get them. I know i had one a long time ago .Any different than the open pro other than the brake surfaces? I sorta like the retro look.

[David Tollefson]

Anyone remember the Mavic open 4 CD? My friend has a pair.. might wantto get them. I know i had one a long time ago .Any different than the open pro other than the brake surfaces? I sorta like the retro look.

I've got a 28 hole Open 4CD hanging in my garage just waiting for a build. I wish they still made them.