Originally Posted by BCRider

Loonydude, to some extent you did get sucked in by the fashion tastes of your buddy. You wanted a stronger front wheel. Fine, nothing wrong with that. But the wheels that come with the Messanger are fine other than being machine built. As such they would benefit from some knowledgeable hand tuning by a good wheel builder. With that done to both ends the wheels would be as strong as you could wish for and BOTH ends would be done instead of just one. As it is I'm seeing Ksyrium Elite wheelsets on sale at Jenson's for $279. So if you get both you'll have spent as much or more on the wheels as on the bike in the first place. If that makes sense to you then fine. It sort of makes my own grey cell sit up and look puzzled though.