First time wheelbuilder - how about this spec?

[alcatraz]

Here is a hysterical idea, that after consideration makes sense.

If you've ever been curious about running carbon wheels it might be a smart choice to run carbon in the rear only. You get the stiffness that a rear wheel needs while preserving the braking safety aspects of the front wheel (which provides most of the brake force).

It allows you to one day be able to transition to carbon wheels and know what brake pad/brake surface you need for your road conditions.

Also, unrelated, I'd like to add to the previous subject that... If you never run out of gears climbing, and rarely sprint, and rarely do attacks where you torque the wheels like crazy. If you are a cadence man 90+ and don't put out 300+w averages, or go out of the saddle at 25% grade climbs at 50 cadence, then you can do perfectly fine with a flexier wheelset without issues.

/a

[Svetty]

Cheers Svetty - much appreciated. I think you are right about the lack of offsetting in the Easton rim. How much of an advantage does this offer in your experience? My understanding is that it helps reduce the differential between DS and NDS tension. Is that right?

I can get hold of the tune hub for about the same price as the DT hub, so suggested that as it works out well in terms of g/£. I'm very much prepared to choose something slightly heavier if it makes a significant difference in terms of durability and ease of servicing.

Yes, the benefit of offset with respect to dished wheels is to enable more even NDS:DS spoke tensions and hence reduce spoke fatigue and extend wheel durability.
If you can get the Tune hub for the same price as the DT then it might be worthwhile although the durability is probably a little less.

As you're UK based have you considered Hope? They are marginally heavier but well made and the bearings are well-sealed aand thus resist our UK weather.

[bm0p700f]

The original spec is fine. 2x rear looks better though to me.