Bianchi10, always swimming against the tide, I would just like to comment that one of the "safest" places to save money on the wheels you are planning is the hubs. Short of a spoke hole tearing out, there is not much that can happen to a hub that could cause catastrophic harm, and that is not a serious risk on today's Asian-produced goods. An aluminum, oversized axle is just that, really doesn't matter much who makes it. And very high quality Japanese bearing cartridges are widely available in the low priced hubs. If bearings should go bad, no big deal really. They are easy and inexpensive to replace. The only appearance issues have to do with the graphics which you seem to like on the DT 350s. No, you will get a very plain hub from Bike Hub Store or its competitors, but you could save hundreds of dollars, and the selection of colors is pretty nice. You learned in your testing that you can't have it all, but that doesn't mean you can't have a reasonable amount of everything. The way to stay in the cheap or at least reasonably priced zone and still have fine rims and the best spokes is to save on the hubs. Also the Asian hubs can be very light for not much money. Sure lightening the hub is not the same as lightening the rim, but up to a point it can't hurt either. Just my opinion, but buying big name hubs is throwing money out the window. Hubs are likely the one wheel component for which name branding means the least. As long as the design is right, and the materials are good quality, you will never know the difference. You don't feel the hubs in any way like you do the rims and spokes.