Cyclocross - Road rim or touring rim?

I'm building a new set of wheels which will be general purpose for my cross, commuting, light touring, nasty weather road riding bike. Do I go with a regular width road rim like the mavic CXP22, or should I go with a wider and heaver rim like the A719? I want to be able to run 32mm wide tires. I already have a road bike with light wheels/narrow tires for the good pavement / fast rides. It there a benefit to the wider rims or is it just extra weight with no benefit? Your thoughts and advice are much appreciated.

Shane

A set like these will be all you need... (I have a set just like these on my cross bike)
http://serotta.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57612

^He meant these (http://www.coloradocyclist.com/product/kit/SSFCCU32).^ I actually thought about getting them too. For touring/bikepacking, I'm going with Mavic A719's.

Velocity Synergy is lighter and wider than the CXP22, and even better comes in an off-center extrusion for a practically dishless rear wheel. Retrogrouch-approved by both Grant Petersen and Peter White. You can find them in wheelsets if you do a bit of looking, maybe not quite as inexpensive as the typical Open Pro/Shimano deal, but significantly better for your purposes atmho.
http://www.airfreetires.com/Shopping/images/PRODUCT/medium/835.jpg

There is much truth in the above post. Also, most people equate wheel strength to a wider or deeper rim. Most of the strength of a wheel comes from the spokes. On a standard geared hub there is a significant amount of dish to compensate for the cassette. This places most of the tension and load on spokes on the drive side. An off-center rim equalizes the tension between the drive side and non-drive side, thus a stronger wheel.

Velocity Synergy is lighter and wider than the CXP22, and even better comes in an off-center extrusion for a practically dishless rear wheel. Retrogrouch-approved by both Grant Petersen and Peter White. You can find them in wheelsets if you do a bit of looking, maybe not quite as inexpensive as the typical Open Pro/Shimano deal, but significantly better for your purposes atmho.
http://www.airfreetires.com/Shopping/images/PRODUCT/medium/835.jpg


There is much truth in the above post. Also, most people equate wheel strength to a wider or deeper rim. Most of the strength of a wheel comes from the spokes. On a standard geared hub there is a significant amount of dish to compensate for the cassette. This places most of the tension and load on spokes on the drive side. An off-center rim equalizes the tension between the drive side and non-drive side, thus a stronger wheel.

Thanks for the information guys. I'm gonna look into getting some of those built. :thumb:

^He meant these (http://www.coloradocyclist.com/product/kit/SSFCCU32).^ I actually thought about getting them too. For touring/bikepacking, I'm going with Mavic A719's.

no, I actually meant the ones I linked.... great deal with strips/tubes/tires. No relation to seller, just thought the OP might appreciate a good deal.

Thanks for the information guys. I'm gonna look into getting some of those built. :thumb:

I have a set of 650b Synergys that were built by Rich at Rivendell and I have no complaints at all...
http://handsonwheels.com/

Thanks for the response all. I'm pretty sure it's Ultegra hubs - just need to decide if it's A719s or the Velocity rims now - i'll do some more reading.

Velocity Synergy is lighter and wider than the CXP22, and even better comes in an off-center extrusion for a practically dishless rear wheel. Retrogrouch-approved by both Grant Petersen and Peter White. You can find them in wheelsets if you do a bit of looking, maybe not quite as inexpensive as the typical Open Pro/Shimano deal, but significantly better for your purposes atmho.

+2 (I have them on two bikes)

I have a set on my road bike with O/C in the rear, and 28mm Gatorskins.
With a Campy 10s hub the NDS spoke tension would have been at 44% (compared to DS), but with the O/C rim they are at 66% tension.

I have a set on my cyclo/tour bike with O/C in the rear, and 32mm Marathon Supremes. The rear hub is a Shimano-compatible Phil Wood 9s with larger NDS flange. Thanks to the O/C rim, the spokes are all the SAME length, and the NDS tension is ~80% of DS!