marqueemoon

Yeah. I think cross is a good application for Chinese carbon. Why spend $2500 on a set of wheels that's going to be crashed on a regular basis and ridden in sand?

27mm wide seems like overkill to me. I would think at a certain point it would start to effect brake setup and feel. I don't see any point in going wider than typical basetape.

I'd also be wary of no-name hubs and spokes and super-low spoke counts. Seems worth it to spend a little more and get something you can get replacement freehub bodies and other small parts for without a huge hassle. Many of these companies use Novatec hubs. That's what I would look for if in the market for complete wheels.

Deep rims do look pretty cool, but once you get past 50mm or so you lose the advantage of a lighter rim. You can get a 23mm wide 400ish gram alloy tubular rim from Bikehubstore for $60. Typical cross race speeds are not in an area where an aero advantage is going to come into play, and bone-jarring stiffness is not really what you want for cross racing. According to some deeper rims shed mud better, but if you are still trying to ride in mud that's much deeper than a 33mm tire + a 50mm rim you're doing it wrong.