After a mere 6 miles on tubulars, I'm switching back to clincher and would like your input on these rims. I want something dark/black anodized, boxy, and not terribly expensive. I can pick up the Open Pros locally, but I found the Ambrosios online for $12 a throw. Any pros/cons? I know the OP is a well regarded rim, but if I can cut some costs with the Evolution, I'd love to.

I have evolutions on my bike, they are black and I like the look better than OPs.

el twe,

what was the problem with tubulars? did you ever get those gatorskins? did they suck or was it just too much of a hassle doing the glue thing?

Yes, I did get the Gatorskin Sprinters. The gluing was a *****, the ride was fantastic, but the flat was a real buzzkill. The Casati will probably be the bike I take with me to college, and I can't afford to have the bike out for a week or more waiting for a flat fix.

Also, anyone have any experience with bikebuster.com?

I like the Mavics after the labels are removed.

And I just changed a tubular last week, I wore it out, don't know the mileage, 7,000?

I was considering removing the labels. I do like that I wouldn't have to wait on shipping (from Denmark?) on the Mavics.

I commute in NYC on my Carlton, which is equipped with vintage campy hubs laced to Ambrosio Evolutions. I have about 500 miles on them. They look great, feel great, seem durable so far - bear in mind this is daily commuting on the streets of Brooklyn and Manhattan - and in my mind having Ambrosio clinchers seems to mitigate the fact that they're not tubulars. I haven't had them go out of true in the slightest.

Then again, they were built by a top-notch wheelbuilder who's probably built thousands of wheels. When I brought them in he said, "these are really nice rims." That was enough for me.

Once again, we see strongly polar partisanship regarding tubulars. I bought Capo #2 with one flat tubular. Whilst walking it a mile home from the commuter rail station, I took a goathead in the remaining tire and quickly remembered why I gave up tubulars soon after moving from Los Angeles to San Diego in the early 1980s.

Ha. Yeah, as nice as the feel was, I just can't deal with it right now.

I have ridden Open Pros and the older version Open 4CDs for a long time. They are bullet proof and really quite light for a clincher wheelset. I highly recommend them. However, the price on the Evolution sounds pretty darn good. I know Ambrosio makes some excellent rims so I don't think you can go wrong at that price.

I built up a set of Evolutions a couple of years ago and have been using them on my road bike. They look very similar to the OP's in profile. They're fine rims and at $12 a pop, you can go wrong. I would buy another pair if I was looking to build another wheelset.

My main concern now about the Ambrosios is the reportedly high shipping and other charges due to the shop being in Denmark. We'll see.

el twe,

sorry the tubular thing didn't work out for you. I'd suggest you keep the rims and
when the time is right build them up and give them another go.
Ambrosio make excellent rims, another good rim to look for is FIR,
not hugely known but nice.

Yeah, I'm gonna keep the rear, the front is on its way out.

The Ambrosios rims are top notch rims and are at least as good as the Mavic's if not better! Save your money and get the Ambrosios. I have a set of Torelli Master Series rims that were made by Ambrosio, and they have over 40,000 miles on them and still going strong.

Well......I'm not so sure I'd like to buy another pair after this morning's ride. With a loud bang and a flat, about 18 inches of part of the braking surface blew off the rim. Worn braking surface, too high a pressure??

That rim looks still useable, just get some duct tape-the industrial strength one, and go at it! Are you sure that's not an old rim you took a jig saw to? It does though look well worn, any ideas as to how many miles were on the rim? and how high of a pressure did you go to?

Fixer, wow, that's one heck of a blow out. You manage to stay upright during that? I had a tube blow out on my open pro wheels with a grand total of about 5miles on them. After that I learned the finer points of tube and tire installation.

****e. How's the rest of you/the bike after that, Fixer?

And I already decided on the Open Pro, build should start early next week.