New Wheels

[honesty]

At the moment I have an old set of touring wheels on my Audax bike (deore hubs and WTB dual duty rims). They're actually a bit to wide for the tyre size I have on them (according to Sheldon Brown) and a bit heavy, so I'm looking to upgrade to something a bit lighter, but that will still be able to do a bit of light touring.

I'm currently thinking of getting XT hubs (black ones preferably!) with one of 3 rims, and I would be interested in your thoughts.
Options:
1. Mavic Open Pros
2. DT Swiss RR415 front/RR465 rear
3. Ambrosio Excellight

For info, I'll probably use 25mm Ultra Gators on them.

Thanks!

[davefife]

Hi Honesty,

Excellight every time
I am a pro mechanic running my own show, I also wheelbuild and have done about 120 this year so far.  My default hub/spoke/rim choice for anyone running narrow road rubber and wanting the lightest/strongest possible set up gets zenith hubs 28 (32 if you want total peace of mind are a heavier rider) front, these have 2 cartridge bearings, 32 rear, these have 4 cartridge bearings shim or campy compatible, laced with ACI double butted stainless steel onto Ambrossio Excellight.  Doesnt matter if your audax, training, fast road these hoops fit the bill.  If I go down in the spec hierarchy its not the rims but hubs, shim 105, that i change.  If you go up the hierarchy you are going into more esoteric flat blade straight pull spokes that few of my kind want to build, speed, weight, acceleration gains are very marginal and somewhat elusive anyway.  For example, Schwalbe rim tape is about 5g lighter than velox, that counts to some!
Ambrossio rims are also still made in Italy, thats got to count for something in cycling heritage terms.
Open Pro still a good choice and it gets you Mavic stickers.
Your consumer preferences and experience with past kit choice will play a part here!
Happy to advise further
Dave
www.davesbikeshed.co.uk

[Swislon]

I have used Mavic Open pros for last 6 years (105 hubs) on my audax bike with 28mm Ultra Gators.
No problems at all but have nothing to compare them with.

When I asked Harry Rowland for a set for another bike (renown wheel builder) he recommended Ambrosio and Zenith hubs.
I didn't build up that bike so have no personal experience.

Dave's the expert !