-
If you are going to go spendy
Aye, and there's the rub. What are you actually gaining by spending £700 on Belgium/Royce over £150 DT R24s?
gbj_tester-
Marginal performance gains, if any, mostly related to weight saving. You might save between 125-150g (if my sums are right) based on a 28/24 Royce Venus/Hed Belgium 25+ build using Sapim CXRays or a similar type spoke.
Many claims are made that Royce hubs are the best constructed in the world and bearing life is amazing but these are claims I can't verify personally.
I agree that a spend of an extra £550 would not be justified for such marginal gains unless you have money to burn. In the end you're buying a luxury item mostly justified only by that criteria: luxury.
If I had money to burn I would snap up a Royce Venus/HED Belgim 25+ build in an instant.
But I don't, so...Considering recommending a pre-built factory wheelset in a wheelbuilding help thread I would not point towards a R24 here (in a seperate pre-built factory wheelset thread I might). If you want to go budget and build yourself - as regards @Bonj0ur - then I would recommend a Novatec F172/A291 combo with a DT Swiss R460 using Pillar PSRXtra spokes. The satisfaction of having built your own wheelset outweighs the cost benefit of any pre-built one, for me. :-)
t_w
This.
If you are going to go spendy with Royce hubs for Sunday best then I would definitely recommend Hed Belgiums. If you don't want to go spendy then the DT Swiss R460 can be a good alternative. But in all respects of weight, finish, and bling factor the Hed Belgium has it over the Archetype, R460, and the SL23. Also, I have huge bother fitting tyres to SL23s, much more difficult than the other rims I mentioned.