Favorite Rims for wide tires? (700x35c and beyond)
 

Right now my bike has a touring wheelset on it... XT hubs with Mavic A719 rims. These are pretty heavy and slow.

Is there a lighter rim meant to take 35mm-40mm tires?

Velocity Dyad or Synergy, Salsa Delgado, Sun CR-18 are a few you could look at.

I have to think those hubs/rims can take a good pounding though? You may save some weight in getting new wheels, but is it worth the money...also, how many grams will you save and will they be as durable. I had to work this out late as I've convinced myself of this very thing as I was also exploring lighter wheels.

Popular options are Velocity A23, HED Belgium 2 and H Plus Son Archetype. All of these are around 150 grams lighter than the A719.

I've got wheels with the A23's and the Belgium 2's. I like them both a lot, the Belgiums are definitely my favorite, but they cost a lot more. I also have a couple of sets of wheels with Salsa Delgado Cross rims, which weigh around the same as the A719. Honestly, I'm not sure I feel a difference between them. I'm not particularly sensitive to things like that I guess, but I can definitely say that changing tires makes a much, much bigger difference than changing wheels.

When you see really light wheelsets it's generally the hubs that are lighter and this is typically because they use aluminum freehub bodies, which aren't as durable. Also notice that the typical arguments for why wheel weight is important fade away if the weight is at the hub.

I'm running Velocity A23 with tires up to 40mm wide with great results. I also have a HED Ardennes Wheelset and would run up to a 40mm wide tire on those also, but haven't. I'm running up to 50mm wide on a Velocity Dyad which is heavier and wider than an A23 but lighter than a Mavic A719.

Thanks everybody. I will look into an upgrade when I can afford it.

NoonievutThey are great rims, for sure, but overkill for this purpose. Almost an extra pound of rotational weight compared to some of these. That feels really slow