Road Wheels & Road Wheel Recommendations?

Facts^ shove that in your pipe and smoke it amey :-)

Are Continental 4000s 25mm a good choice of tyre for commuting?
I do not want to destroy my new wheels so want a bigger set of tyres with more give

Thanks

Yes. Excellent choice. Went 2 years without puncturing once on 23s.

Good tyres, good puncture protection, good size.

I'm told GP4000S' 'feel horrible' but I don't listen to those kind of people.

They don't feel horrible, that's a load of tosh.

Cheers.
I imagine they feel a damn site better then running wheels with - x (8 before I had to give up on this one) spokes and having to fork out several hundred pounds a year on new wheels

They're fast - they don't feel horrible and I only ever punctured once on them. They just don't feel as nice as Open Pave's or a tyre as supple as OP's.

Has anyone tried kinlin xc-279s, how do they compare to other current crop of wide clinchers?

No idea but talbot wheelworks built one recently: https://www.facebook.com/talbot.wheelworks/posts/823430444347247

I have the HED Belgium rims, I did not think that they were tubeless compatible though?

They aren't. Ludwig is misinformed.

Yes but I have the Plus and I blame you both for everything that went wrong today.

The plus just means they are extra wide and you are extra wrong ;-)

I am not against wide rims; I am just saying its hard to mount road tyres because of rim width ..

If that's the case, then the A319 should've been a bitch to install.

Technique and decent tyres lever is all that needed.

HED are not tubeless ready, HED + are tubeless ready... hope this clears the air

Ardennes and Belgium rims are not the same thing.

Ardennes+ and Belgiums are not the same thing either.

I hope that also helps clear things up.

Also didn't Ludwig just say that he runs his with tubes?

It takes a bit of skill to get a tight tyre over the rim but there are some tricks;

Do the final seating at the valve, this goes agains convention but gives more slack.
Make sure the tyre edge is in the centre of the rim, at the narrowest point.
Use your fingers, thumbs as lever to push it over. Tyre levers are just not going to work.

Or resort to this excellent tool;

It made installing tyres on my Pacenti a piece of piss now.

The plus just means they are extra wide and you are extra wrong ;-)

Who cares. They were hit by a car sideways the other day and I am told they can be trued. And they ride wider als well.

I have the HED Belgium rims, I did not think that they were tubeless compatible though?

I not only have them but ride them as well.

Or resort to this excellent tool;

It made installing tyres on my Pacenti a piece of piss now.

Not bothersome in a jersey pocket? I'll grab one.
What tyres are you running on the Pacentis?

Ardennes and Belgium rims are not the same thing.

This I did not know. What's the difference?

That is based on an argument I had with Fox where he said the possible cold over 2500m in the summer is different to the cold in the winter on the flat and hence he will not take a merino hat and mitts for our travels.

This I did not know. What's the difference?

From Joseph at HED UK

The Standard (used in the rear wheel of our FR and SL Ardennes as well as the rest of the Ardennes wheel range) and the "Belgium" which is a lower grade rim for aftermarket sale only (this rim doesn't feature in any of our Ardennes wheel builds)
Please find a price breakdown for each of the three grades of rim below:

ARDENNES Rims Hole Count Weight RRP
Ardennes Scandium Rim 700c clincher 18 & 20 425g £199.00
Ardennes Standard Rim 700c clincher 18, 20, 24 & 28 450g £149.00
Ardennes "Belgium" Rim 700c clincher 18, 20, 24 & 28 460g £109.00

Not bothersome in a jersey pocket? I'll grab one.
What tyres are you running on the Pacentis?

Contis on the 700c, and Grand Bois on the 650b.

Ardennes Standard Rim 700c clincher 18, 20, 24 & 28 450g £149.00
Ardennes "Belgium" Rim 700c clincher 18, 20, 24 & 28 460g £109.00

Fails the weight weenie £1/g test by a large margin.

Do they say what the actual difference is? Is it as simple as splitting the output of the rim forming machine with a set of scales, with the go/no-go set at 455g? :-)

Fails the weight weenie £1/g test by a large margin.

Do they say what the actual difference is? Is it as simple as splitting the output of the rim forming machine with a set of scales, with the go/no-go set at 455g? :-)

I would assume they use a different alloy e.g. one with higher modulus and tensile strength or a harder one for the more expensive rim. AFAIK the expensive HED rims are made in the US, while the Belgium series is a Chinese job. Having had a close look at Archetype and HED Belgium, the only difference is the drilling angle and the position of the wear indicator with respect to the valve, everything else is absolutely identical... I wouldn't be surprised if they were overpriced archetype.
At least the Belgium plus don't seem to have a half price equivalent as yet

Today I bombed so many roots on RS501c30 mounted with 23c tires, rider weight 85 kg. Can't fuckin believe they still are true as Göring to Hitler.

Anybody got an idea where I can get Hed Belgium Plus clincher rim 32h machined in the US? Arts and Glory are out and Fairwheel and Wheelbuilder seem not to stock them anymore.