The HED Ardennes are aluminum rimmed wheels, but I think you know that.

The HED "carbon" clinchers (really alum rims with fairings) are relatively heavy. I have a Jet6 front Jet9 rear and I don't ride them that much - maybe 15-20 times since I bought them. I find them pretty heavy after the Reynolds I used to ride. I ride my Bastognes (similar to Ardennes - the cheaper low spoke count wheelset from HED) most of the time, and the Stinger6 tubulars in races. The whole reason I went to HED wheels is I wanted to race the wider Stinger6s.

I used Reynolds DV46 clinchers for training for a solid year plus, and now a teammate is on them. I flew with them at least once that I remember (I use a soft case and the wheels end up the "cushion" for one side of the bike). I think the Assaults? are similar to the DV46s. You can pick up Reynolds wheels on the cheap (well, okay, $1000 or so) if you keep an eye out. I weighed 180-200 when I rode the DV46s. I managed to break one spoke in the tubulars (front wheel, 30 min into a 80? minute race) and one spoke in the clinchers (rear wheel, on a group ride). I finished both rides - even managed to place in the race (and it has a regular 45 mph descent). I did the 2+ hour group ride after breaking the spoke on roll out. With the wheels I had that meant I did the race on a 15 spoke front wheel and the group ride on a 19 spoke rear wheel. The wheels were fine once I fixed them (I relaced them using round spokes, rounds spokes are my preference on wheels, and if I break a spoke in a wheel I relace the whole thing because I figure the others aren't far behind).

When I used the DV46s (clinchers in training, tubulars in races) I used yellow Swiss Stop pads after a ride or two in the rain with regular pads. The yellows were fine. I wasn't keen on riding in the rain but I'm not keen on it in general, even on alum rimmed wheels.

cdr