Road Wheels & Road Wheel Recommendations?

attaque84 - How'd you write of the A23?

Only asking as they are my only wheelset at the moment. Use for commuting and weekend riding. So far no problems but not sure whether I should invest in a cheap pair of wheels just for riding to work.

I hit an astrobleme of a pothole while riding Hell of the Ashdown. Pulled the dent out and trued the wheel, but flat spot on rim can only ever mean new rim.

So the man tells me.

I wouldn't worry, nothing short of tractor wheels would have survived that impact.

lifes short, the time spent riding even shorter, get the lighter ones.

But if you get the heavy ones, the time spent riding will be longer :-)

I have an urge to build a disc brake CX wheelset based on carbon tubs rims with no braking surface. There are a few XC 29er race rims out there that fall into this category. As I dont race CX/XC I have no excuse though. Just curious.

May splash out on carbon 29er rims from Farsport et al, when I've finished all my other projects properly.

I suggest that before Chinese you should consider Corima rims. Not that much more expensive and potentially many headaches saved... I wish I had the sense...
I'm currently building something and I'm super happy with Corimas. At the moment I use Schwalbe Sammy Slick tubulars (33mm) for commuting and so far no punctures...

Corima rims. Not that much more expensive

~$300/pr for Chinese vs. Corima have-no-interest-in-doing-business. I'd take anything over Corima just because they are French in the worst way, and I'm about as Francophile as proper Englishmen get.

Well, after I decided what I want my local dealer had them in three days. 28 and 32 spoke counts. The price you mention doesn't include customs and if (when more likely) a rim fails you are alone. Happened to me.

What's the skinny on Corima, tester, in terms of business practices?

Edit. I quite fancy some of their carbon tubs at some point

Corima are so ugly, and badly made. Gigantex built up by a wheelbuilder any day over them

I hit an astrobleme of a pothole while riding Hell of the Ashdown. Pulled the dent out and trued the wheel, but flat spot on rim can only ever mean new rim.

So the man tells me.

I wouldn't worry, nothing short of tractor wheels would have survived that impact.

Good stuff - they seem like a solid wheelset. Rode all year around last year with the occasional wipe of muck off.

Once the Rims go I'll just replace them - which will hopefully be a few years off yet!

What's the skinny on Corima, tester, in terms of business practices?

Nobody knows, since they make it so hard to actually buy their stuff that most people give up long before they have a chance to find out.

I suggest that before Chinese you should consider Corima rims. Not that much more expensive and potentially many headaches saved... I wish I had the sense...
I'm currently building something and I'm super happy with Corimas. At the moment I use Schwalbe Sammy Slick tubulars (33mm) for commuting and so far no punctures...

Nice dale!

My thinking is a autumm/spring road/gravel path bike.

I spend 80% of the year waiting for the weather to clear enough for me to take the road bike out.

Its just a thought though..........

They used to list prices on their website but now you have to request a quote, and then they won't sell direct to the UK anyway.

Yellow distribute them here but they are expensive and not really interested in custom orders for all the drillings Corima actually do IIRC.

I think Roues Artisanales are the go-to if you actually want to buy Corima stuff painlessly.

Emailed CRC and profoundly apologised for what was clearly my mistake. Bending a spoke.
Asked how I can refund them the £20 they gave me.

Said to keep it as a sign of good will. Feel like an arse, but good company. Always had brilliant service from them.

CRC are great - went through a dodgy spot a couple of years ago, but have always found them to be excellent apart from that.

Totally agree about CRC - I've had two components (chainset and front caliper) suffer problems within warranty and they provided a hassle-free refund on both. They didn't even want the chainset back.

By contrast my LBS recently offered to replace my badly grinding 2-ride-old BB (which they supplied and installed) at cost, as a goodwill gesture. I know it's technically a wear and tear part but I had probably ridden 60 miles on it.

As much as it is nice to support the LBS, that sort of customer service makes CRC hard to overlook.

CRC can afford to absorb that cost I guess, lbs can't

LBSs can't afford not to, if online retailers are now killing them on price and service.

I've finally ridden some 23mm wide rims - a bit late to the party. Initial thoughts:

• Fuck me, the tyre was hard to get on by hand (700x23 Michelin Pro 3 Race). I'm guessing this was more a side-effect of it being a tubeless compatible rim, so shallower bed. Unless it's a very warm day, I expect to be judiciously using a plastic lever next time. I've sprained my wrists, FFS.

• Dropping pressure by 10psi was perfect (so for me @ 64kg, 80f / 85r). Sort of matches up with the formula Zipp give on their website, not that I'm using Zipps.

• Felt very sure-footed, and cornering is more like 'banking' the bike into the turn than 'dropping / throwing / pushing' it.

• Front wheel feels 'quieter' - I think the profile definitely smooths out the airflow compared to both box and medium profile rims in narrower widths.

Shove my anecdotes up your bottom if you don't like them.

Right up.. you dirty limp wrister.

So what were the mystery rims?

The only tyre with which I've experienced similar mounting difficulties was a 26" Schwalbe Marathon winter, because the sidewalls were made of cement, and there were loads of pokey metal bits anywhere you tried to get a decent purchase. Except it was my thumb that got sprained with those.

I can still ride, but holding a full kettle is fucking painful.

^^SL23s. I'm not meant to ride them till my 40th :/

with 15% off voucher code from wiggle, i have ordered Hope Pro 2 hubs for the sscx build; next step Velocity A23 rims, talking to hub jub atm

Why P3R tyres?

Because I had a spare pair bought on the cheap, and I quite like them for the summer bike (though have ridden them down bridleways and in shit conditions too).

Is that satisfactory?

I like my Pro3's. Just a shame about the colour (red/grey/black).

Looking forward to trying out the Pro4's come the fairer whether.