Weight Weenies

Have been searching for rims / (wheelset) to build that fall into following criteria:
1. Tubeless ready is most important (as I'm going to travel to the Alpes + Pyrenees this summer)
2. Alloy Rim Brake (^ = a lot of descents)
3. Stealthy Black ceramic coated brake track
4. Tight budget of £400

The Mavic Open Pro could have been a perfect choice if they had the exalith version already, though we have seen some pics of the exalith version on the internet but not in the market.
Then I came to the BOYD Altamont Lite Ceramic Coated Rim on the internet and reviews have been pretty good. going to build it with the bitex hub which I have been using and quite happy with it on my open mould carbon tubular wheels.

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Everything is tubeless ready nowadays, so that one is easy. Alloy and black braketrack.... Well as you mention, it's a coating. There's aluminum underneath, and obviously at some point the wear moves through the coating. Some may wear faster than others. But if black braketrack is important to you, then go carbon. I know you mention alps, pyrenees and descending, but most carbon rims with rimbrake brake very well. I've just done a couple of trips to spain, with Farsports carbon rims, and I literally tried to kill them with braking on all kinds of descendts for a couple of weeks. No issues at all. They got hot, the same as my friends alloy rims, but nothing more. And I'm 90 kg. I have three sets of Farsports rims, and I paid around 280 GBP for each set all incl. So the pricetag is not far from you budget.

BTW I'll assume 4000 GBP is a typo....

I've got HED Belgium Plus rims and I rate them highly .... costs approx £300 for a pair of rims ... does not have a black brake track though .... these are quality (I have mine laced to Chris King R45 ceramic hubs with Sapi Cx Ray spokes.) .... I'm currently using IRC tubeless tyres

The Hunt HUNT Aero Light Disc Rim is black and costs £89 per rim, and is tubeless ready:

https://www.huntbikewheels.com/collecti ... 24holes-89

Hunt have some complete wheelsets for your £400 budget:
https://www.huntbikewheels.com/collecti ... ake-wheels

on the 2nd hand market (ebay), there are many bargains, and £400 should get you something pretty decent .... American Classic Victory 30 Tubeless Wheels sell for under £400 with pretty decent hubs and they weigh approx 1547 g .... even better are the American Classic Sprint

The only alternative I know about is the Al33, though it is heavier and taller. I hesitated between the two and settled on the Altamont ceramic non lite.

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Al33 and Altamont are within the average weight of one another. We build enough with both to know there’s nothing in it weight wise. They’re actually both built in the same place. Both very nice rims.

To the OP, just buy the Boyd rims and some cost effective hubs and spokes and build them. At a £400 budget it’s hard to pay for good components AND a high quality hand build, so just take the build labor out of it. You’ll probably have to futz with them a bit for a time (maybe a long time) but it will be inconvenience and not catastrophe.

The OP mentions the Altamont LITE. The Al33 is definitely heavier than the Lite.

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Whoops, yeah, Altamont Lite is reliably 435 to 440. Rest of my thoughts still stand.

As an owner of Boyd Altamont Lite Ceramic hoops, I can assure you the performance is quite excellent when the coating is still there and when caught out in horrendous monsoon-like crosswinds, the shallow depth becomes very much appreciated. When the coating is gone, the performance is still as good as alloy gets, which IME is still noticeably better than carbon rims, especially in the wet.

Pro Tip: don't be too sold on coated alloy brake tracks--they will wear out eventually (and a hell of a lot sooner than you think if you take them out when it's wet). I made this mistake about 6 months ago and had I known they were going to wear out as quick as they did, I would've bought a much cheaper set or maybe the fully silver/chrome Industry Nine i25 TL rims to get rid of the poor "silver brake track + matte black body" aesthetic altogether

I have a set of Ceramic coated lites from Boyd as well built up on Chris Kings. Can say it's my favorite all around training wheelset I have owned in a long time. Built up incredibly true and well tensioned. Will say however I didn't really end up with them specifically for their braking prowess but I have definitely been surprised at how well they stop with ceramic specific pads.

Anybody knows who stocks boyd altamont lite ceramic rims in Europe and ships within the EU? Cracked my original non-ceramic one.


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itsacarr wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 30, 2018 2:35 pm

I have a set of Ceramic coated lites from Boyd as well built up on Chris Kings. Can say it's my favorite all around training wheelset I have owned in a long time. Built up incredibly true and well tensioned. Will say however I didn't really end up with them specifically for their braking prowess but I have definitely been surprised at how well they stop with ceramic specific pads.

Hi,
Going to build the same - Boyd Altamont lite PEO ceramic rims, 32 spokes x 3 cross & Chris King Road Classic (from existing wheelset). I'd like your oppinion good / bad experience about spokes:
Sapim Cx Ray / Dt Swiss Aero Comp or Aero Speed or Aero Lite, what did you used with those rims ?
The same for nipples: Sapim Polyax / Dt squorx ?
Did you use washers between the nipples and the rim bed ?
Many thanks all and happy riding