Originally Posted by
canam73
I essentially agree with your assessment.
But there is still the question of what a buyer of new bike is to do when most $1000-2000 come spec'd with Mavic/Shimano/Fulcrum low spoke wheels. Is immediately spending an extra $200-500 for some higher spoke wheels worth it over just seeing how the Aksiums or whatever hold up?
My bike came with the AClass rims, 24/28. I think the rear survived 1500 miles or so. Now I have de-sexified my road bike in doing so, but I went with Velocity Deep V rims and 36 spokes, on 105 hubs. I don't race (at least not officially), like to ride to the remote places, and don't want to deal with things like spokes and wheels when I am out. If I were 25 years old, riding millions of fast miles, and maybe even racing, I might consider low spoke count super light wheels.
Next bike will have the wheels go pretty much right away - kinda hard to even give away a broken wheel. At least if I swap out I can give the OEM wheels to some lightweight rider that could use them as backup spares or whatever. And I save all the trips to the bike shop to find out what that noise is.