Originally Posted by brawlo

The way you are going about things is the right way IMO. The rims are pretty good, but some of the hubs that come on the cheap wheelsets are a bit questionable in quality and you could possibly be better served with aluminium rims on a better hub sometimes. I would go straight to the source in terms of acquiring the rims. My personal rims are Light Bicycle, while Farsports and Yishun are some other companies with a good online reputation.

I went for Light Bicycle 88mm tubs laced to DA 28/28 hubs with CXray spokes. The wheelset at the time (about 2.5 years ago now) with Vittoria Corsa CX tubs glued on and assembled by local builder came in at about $900. I have ridden those wheels indoor and outdoor without a hint of an issue. I haven't even had to tension a spoke on them. I'm tipping the scales at 120kg, so I'm no lightweight! If I was a lighter rider I'd be chasing down different hubs with a lower spoke count. The lowest count you can get DA track hubs in is 28 hole.

It is also worth noting that the guy who built them did some time as a wheelbuilder for Zipp. He was very concerned at the prospect of building onto a Chinese rim, but once he saw them and built them up, said they were every bit as good as a Zipp rim.

I went with Light Bicycle because even though I could find stuff all reviews on their road rims, there were many happy downhill MTB riders using their carbon MTB rims. Those cop a massive amount of abuse, so they must be able to build a decent rim! They also would do the rims without a brake track, so it's a cleaner look for track