I'm pretty sure the wheelset has been a mainstay on the bike since it was first built up. He even has a Phil Wood sticker on the bike that's been there for some time. Like I said, he originally had friction shifters on it, so I imagine he decided to go with brifters and then just didn't think it through thoroughly. Honestly, though, it really works quite well to my surprise. I even threw on the new shifter cable last night and it worked great on the stand. It shifted well with the old cable under load when I test rode it as well, even uphill. The wheelset is actually pretty nice for what it is, it's just a little mismatched. The front wheel weighs right about the same as my year old Ultegra/Open Pro wheel (with an actual scale, not just holding one and then picking up the other). Due to budget reasons, I'll have to live with them as is, unless I could sell them and have about enough to get another wheelset, or unless someone might consider a trade.

The sticker actually says SLX, but I threw in the SLX/SPX comment because I was under the impression that they made only the main triangle with SLX on larger frame sizes. I could be way off.

EDIT: Forgot to mention: Yeah, those bars are 31.8, so I'll have to live with the clamp for the time being. I'll slowly start finding little deals here and there, but it will probably be a year before I can revisit the bike with any serious part changes. I originally sold my other bike to make money, and for now I'm ahead and would like to keep it that way.