Originally Posted by
eofelis
I have an older carbon fiber Specialized Ruby road bike (2007). It came with nice Ultegra low spoke count wheels. I'm a petite rider and I'm sensitive to whether a bike has a smooth ride. The Ruby rode nice but I thought it was a bit buzzy. Eventually I changed the wheels out to a set of Mavic Open Pros (32 spokes). It made a big difference in the ride and the bike is now as smooth as my 853 steel road bike (also with Open Pro wheels).
Your Open Pro wheels are not comfortable because of the higher spoke count but in spite of it. Open Pros have a relatively flexible box shape which is less constrained against flexing than even a shallow profile V-shaped rim. I am not criticizing this; Open Pros are great rims. I am just clarifying the mechanism by which the comfort is realized. More spokes generally mean a stiffer wheel and a less comfortable ride, but the Open Pro rims make up for that. Enjoy them.
My relatively shallow, V-shaped Kinlin XR-200 rims are also quite comfortable when laced with 20/24 ultra-light gauge spokes. Different strokes for different folks.