Road Wheels & Road Wheel Recommendations?

I've only built track wheelsets with the rims.

Yes!

Which hubs/spokes/rims would be a good way to go to have a light (1300-1400g) pair of rim brake wheels built up?

Edit - alu clinchers.

I'm not desperate to go tubeless and nor am I bothered about going particularly wide, partly because the clearance between my stays isn't very generous - there's only about 3mm either side of a 23mm tyre on a Ksyrium as it is.

Budget is £500-600.

Which hubs/spokes/rims would be a good way to go to have a light (1300-1400g) pair of rim brake wheels built up?

Edit - alu clinchers

I'm not convinced that there is a good way to do that. DT RR440 rims + DT240 hubs + 20/24 Aerolites/CX-Rays add up to nearly 1500g, where are you going to lose 100g, still less 200g, without compromising the wheel structure? Even using Tune Mig70/Mag170 doesn't get you under 1400g and might go through the budget limit.

WH-9000 is within budget and claims to be sub-1400g, if you want skinny lightweight wheels you're unlikely to do better than that.

I've been pretty happy with the Ksyriums to be honest but the front rim is worn and I'd like to shed some weight from the wheels if I'm making the investment.

Somewhere between 1400g and 1500g does seem to be as low as you can go without breaking the bank. Tune do their own TSR 22s for 600 Euros, but not many options other than that.

Why won't someone just take my money and give me blingy light wheels?

Wiggle have got Campag Zondas at 1550g for £217 delivered to Hong Kong (where I live, no VAT). They seem to get good reviews (same wheel as Fulcrum 3s?) and I'd probably get more benefit from putting the remaining budget towards a Stages crank.

The answer to the question, crucially, depends on how much you weigh. Very light riders can get away with more lightweight builds then heavy riders.
There are some builds out there using Ryde Pulse Sprint or Ryde Pulse Comp rims, Bitex RAF10 & RAR9 hubs using Sapim CXRays that could get you down to that weight. The Ryde Pulse rims also come in offset for the rear so more equal spoke tensions for the DS & NDS can be achieved making a more stable, robust wheel.

But once again this comes down to rider weight.

No idea if they'd explode on the first ride but DRC KTC 380's plus some chinese hubs and cx rays, would come in at 1252g for the wheelset, be wide and alu, and only cost 250 before theyre built (I'm planning on building this wheelset for myself). Tune Mig/Mag's would get that down further to about 1200g, but would more than double the cost of the whole wheelset.

Thanks - I'll look at those parts.

Whittled myself down to 84kg with a target of 80kg. You could argue I'm not going to notice much difference at that weight, but a bit if extra zip and acceleration on climbs would be nice.

Good luck with the build. The DRC rims might be interesting if I can get them sent here.

The more I read this evening, the more it says that the rim is where you want to lose weight rather than the hub - which makes sense as it's rotating mass. Therefore Tune hubs seem like vanity/dick measuring to get wheels down to a stupidly low weight without huge additional benefits.

Hopefully disc wheels on road bikes will make a difference there - less material needed in rims.

A DT build or factory wheels are starting to look like the sensible option. I'm leaning towards handbuilt for the ease of sourcing parts etc.

What tyres and tubes are you going to use?

Therefore Tune hubs seem like vanity/dick measuring to get wheels down to a stupidly low weight without huge additional benefits.

For weight weenie hubs, they are very durable. That's worth a premium for.

Maximum rider weight as specified by Ryde for the Pulse Sprint is 85kg, so as long as you stay there you should be okay for such a build. I'd stick with a 24/28 with the asymmetric rim for the rear though, if it was me. Even with that spoke count you could still hit the target build weight you are looking for and at that budget.
To go even cheaper use Pillar PSRXtra spokes instead of CXRays.

The more I read this evening, the more it says that the rim is where you want to lose weight rather than the hub - which makes sense as it's rotating mass

Keep reading, you'll eventually stop believing that.

The important question you should answer, which will lead you to making the right choice, is do you want to weigh your bike, or do you want to ride it? If you want to ride it, and especially if you want to ride it further/faster/higher, then pick wheels which are reliable, have low aerodynamic drag and mount your chosen tyres in a way which enhances ride and handling while reducing rolling resistance. Once you've got all that sorted, you'll find out what your wheels weigh. Picking an arbitrary target weight and trying to hit it at the expense of other things gets you bragging rights on the weightweenie forum, but you end up with a slower bike which is less fun to ride.

rotating mass

http://www.biketechreview.com/index.php/reviews/wheels/63-wheel-performance

There's also a more current debunking by one of the Straylian Aerocoach chaps, but trying to find anything on TTF is hard work.

amen brother

Getting good value wheels like the Zondas and putting the rest towards a power meter is a great idea.

I'm Ultremo ZX at the moment which I think from memory are at the lighter end of the spectrum. I've never gone down the lightweight tube route. Are latex tubes worth it or do they tend to be a bit fragile?

I'm not really after bragging/weightweenie rights to be honest. Just keen to see what I can do with my budget and I'm a fan of nice components.

Hell - I bought your old Pro-Lite Inverno a few years back. There was some weight in that frame.

i tried latex tubes last year but they both exploded before I even got out the door. Apparently you're supposed to use talcum powder or some shit with them. Sorta soured on the idea since then :(

IIRC butyl tubes are generally lighter than latex anyway, right?

Which hubs/spokes/rims would be a good way to go to have a light (1300-1400g) pair of rim brake wheels built up?

The new DT Swiss RR 21 DICUT is 1415gr and those have 240's internals so you know it's reliable. The price point is less than the C24's which is a plus.

There's also the new Ritchey Superlogic Zeta wheelset at 1391grams with a cool exalith like treatment. The price is on par with the C24. Both of these wheels are tubeless ready and both 17+c internal.

IIRC butyl tubes are generally lighter than latex anyway, right?

The lightest butyl tubes are a few grams lighter than the lightest latex tubes, but that's hardly a recommendation. A 50g Conti Supersonic butyl tube is still slower than a 75g Michelin latex.

WH-9000 is within budget

@Cycliste has a pair of C24s, and likes them a lot. Although I finally managed to persuade her that she should buy a second-hand pair of 404 Firecrests going cheap locally to replace the C24s on her BMC. Totally gratuitous, but 404s look soooooo cool on the BMC.

A 50g Conti Supersonic butyl tube is still slower than a 75g Michelin latex.

And about as fragile too. They're a total PITA to fit, IME, and virtually unfixable if you do get a puncture so doubly expensive.

Was looking at a similar set to some mentioned above but I think I've settled on crabon rims now.

Previously I was thinking Ryde Pulse Comp (a bit more hardwearing and easier to mount tyres on according to DCR Wheels) laced to Aivee SR5 hubs with CX rays. Think it came in at about 1350/1400g for about £600.

Apparently SR5s are "summer only" so be aware of that. I found this really useful http://dcrwheels.co.uk/custom-wheelsets/which-rim/

I've been looking at this for sometime. I'm after super light clinchers that I can race hill climbs on but also take to Majorca etc and not melt on the descents, so no carbon clinchers.

Conclusion being: Ryde Pulse Spring, CX-Ray, Bitex. The very cheapest I've found them is built by a German wheel builder. They also ship internationally. Google does a good job of translating their site. They also do a set with CN424 spokes for even cheaper in the "special offers" section. If you're really not bothered about width then they do these too.