Thanks for all the feedback.

I'm about 165lb's and ride far which means I end up in the country quite often on roads that are sometimes in poor shape. I also have a lot of my rides starting or ending in the dark so have been known to hit the surprise pothole on occasion.

I fear I made a poor choice and should probably stick with cheaper, AL rims. I may be returning these...

The thing that got me on these was my current wheelset. I have Chris King hubs and they are terrible with 10 speed Shimano cassettes. I had to buy a $40 lockring from Chris King to enable the cassette to even fit - the king lockring has more threads. I've had them for only 6 months and they are so chewed up I can barely get the cogs on and off now. They spin horribly compared to other brands I've used - I cant' say this impacts actually riding, but on the work stand they spin only a few times around vs something like the AC micro hub which spins and spins till it settles in to a nice rocking motion back and forth. Very disappointing to say the least.

So I either risk the carbon or get a new custom build although those Hed Ardennes look might sweet just seem way too much $ for what they are.