Seven Axiom S

They're pretty decent. Brake pads wear down pretty fast but they stop me quickly enough and I'm pretty hefty. The only issue is that they're not quite as wide as I'd like by today's standard (they're 19.86mm wide internally), but I paid $500 for them or something and that feels like exceedingly good value. Not that I need hubs to engage quickly, but the Boyd hubs engage real quick which is nice too. Freehub is a bit louder than I'd like.

Pack it with some more grease, that’ll dampen it.

Congrats on the new rig, looks great.

Thank for that, helpful - I waited a bit to not derail the thread but given that seems quiet it seems ok for a brief tangent.

I always loved my 26” Mavic ceramics and, possibly due to being hench chap (but more likely shit descending technique), haven’t got on with carbon - sure, they are light, fast, look amazing but do they stop (even the Zipp milled rims)? Not so much for me and that’s in the dry (coming down to Hay-on-Wye from Gospel Pass on a glorious, bone dry day was absolutely terrifying - brake and don’t slow down and risk blowing off a tyre or don’t brake and hope for the best on the narrow road and blind corners? No idea how it actually went but do know that I was very pleasant to people for a number of days).

As well as the Boyd ceramics I’m also looking at DT Swiss Oxic and, to a lesser extent, Mavic Exalith? Any others to include in the mix?

Hed? Alu rim with carbon fairing.

I think if Hed then I’d look at Belgium/Ardennes but thinking more ceramic/ceramic adjacent options here

I'd honestly take Belgium's over these ANY day of the week. They're also not manufactured anymore. These are not appreciably better than a standard pair of high end alloy rims IMO from a stopping perspective. Spin up quickly, though, that's their only advantage so far.

Fast pad wear but no better braking than a regular alloy rim doesn’t sound like that great a combo

Yep. They're fine, but nothing to write home about, but they were cheap for a pair of really quite light wheels built with CX Rays. Building a pair of HED based wheels would've cost me a 2x as much and I'd have waited for a month, whereas these were the same price as a pair of Zonda's (which I do rate very highly).

A cost effective wheelset in the hand is definitively worth two in the bush.