Ride Report!
Wheels that Jude at Sugar Wheel Works built me:
Velocity A23 rims laced to dt350 hubs (with 36t engagement ring upgrade)
Sapim Laser spokes laced 2x throughout on both wheels, 28 count both wheels
Same Continental GP4000s tires and same tubes that I had on my previous wheels
Ran with 85f/90r PSI for this ride
Let me preface this a bit. My wheel experience is very small, limited to Bontrager Selects and then Mavic Aksiums. Not exactly high-end wheels. So, I was looking for something lighter, stiffer, and more awesome for climbing. It is rather hilly around here, and I do not put out massive watts, so I need all the help I can get.
Ride today was 40.4 miles and ~1800 feet of climbing. Mostly rollers, with a few climbs that were no longer than a half-mile in length.
Holy jumping jehosephat these things are snappy! Accelerations are much quicker, and the wheels held speed very well, even better than my mavics. I assume that is because the better hubs have less drag. On climbs these wheels felt plenty stiff, and I felt no flex at the rear wheel, which is good. When muscling over a little rise, my mavics would just die and I would just keep slowing down no matter how much muscling I did. These wheels had none of that, and held the speed as long as I could, rather than giving in to slowness like the mavics.
There was only one descent of note, a very short and somewhat steep with 3 chicanes in it. Normally I can only hit about 32 mph because I have to brake around the corners. On the mavics it felt like I was riding into the side of the wheel, and then it would just start losing traction. Out of instinct I braked on two of the corners, but in hindsight I didn't need to. Hit 39 mph this time around, and probably would have broken 40 without braking. I need to do a longer technical descent to really get a feel for the descending ability.
The extra plushness and comfort of the lower pressure was nice, as the roads around here are not always the best. I felt like I wasn't getting bounced around as much.
I hardly even heard the sound of the hub while coasting. In fact the mavic is actually somewhat louder. Could be that the mavics need servicing.
About the only thing I didn't like was the fact that with 28 spokes all over the place, I was getting blown around a bit as it was windy (in generally every direction as is usual for this area). If anything the 28 2x in front is probably significantly overbuilt.
Overall, these are great wheels for climbing and really make the job a little easier. I am super super happy with them, and very pleased with the job Jude did in building them.