jyl

Suppose you go from a A719 rim (565 g), 28 mm tire (320 g if Gatorskin), standard tube (120 g), straight gauge spokes (call it 280 g for 36) to an Open Pro (435 g), 23 mm performance tire (220 g), light tube (70 g), butted spokes (call it 180 g for 32). Assuming the same hub and brass nipples all around, those changes will save about 380 g (0.83 lb), mostly on the outer circumference of the wheel. You will notice the lighter wheels accelerate faster and feel quicker. The 1.7 lb weight reduction will make a small difference on climbs. Going from a Gatorskin to a performance, racy tire will also give lower rolling resistance. The narrower tire is a bit more aerodynamic, another small difference at higher speeds.

These are each small - maybe very small - differences, but they add up to something that should be noticeable to most riders. Won't matter when you are fresh and/or just riding around. When you are tired and/or pushing hard, it will matter some.

Of course, getting stronger and lighter yourself will make far, far more difference. But that's not what you asked.

Open Pros are a good rim. Strong, reasonably durable, reasonably light, not too expensive, not very aero, available in various drillings (28, 32, 36). I have them on three bikes including my daily commuter. I've built those wheels and the Open Pros always build easily and true. I haven't experienced any quality problems.

That brings up something else. As long as you are doing this, consider having the wheels handbuilt. Find the local bike shop that does a good job with wheelbuilding. Handbuilt wheels are really nice - that is a whole other topic.

The one negative is, the Gatorskins are quite flat resistant and you'll give up some of that with a racy tire. Well, they make Gatorskins in 23 mm and 25 mm too and the folding bead versions are reasonably light.

Oh (edit), I guess you might find the ride harsher with 23 mm tires. Depends on what you like and what sort of roads you ride. I don't mind it myself. You will have to inflate them to higher pressure than what is necessary for 28 mm tires.

tarwheel 

I think you would notice an improvement in speed. Nothing dramatic but noticeable. Mavic A719s are heavy although durable rims, and wheel weight is more noticeable than weight on other parts of a bicycle. Two of my bikes have wheels with Mavic Open Pro rims, Ultegra hubs. My touring bike has Velocity Dyad rims, LX hubs and 32 mm tires, and it is noticeably slower.

Barrettscv 

If you can hold a 20 mph pace, a lighter and narrower wheel and tire will provide a small speed increase. The bike will feel faster, but the real speed increase will be small.

If you are riding at a slower pace of 17mph or less, you will not develop much of a real speed increase.

At 20 mph, small changes in aerodynamics can result in a real change in speed. At lower speeds, aerodynamics have less of an impact.

StanSeven

There are lots of things posted by experts. There's no magic speed where aero magically kicks in. That's an old misperception.

Oldguyonoldbike

Of course the motor is the most important thing. I can ride much faster and farther after losing 30 lbs. than I could before.
As for personal experience, though, and this is really comparing apples to oranges, I have a CX bike that is currently wearing 28c Gatorskins on 32h wheels, and a road bike (with much better hubs) with 23c GP 4000s on 32h Mavic rims. Make that one Mavic Open 4 CD rim; the Open Pro I had on the rear wheel tacoed last summer on a mammoth pothole. I average about 2 mph faster on the road bike with the 23c tires. Sure, a lot of that is due to the quality of the bike and Campagnolo hubs versus Joytech hubs, but 2 mph is quite a difference. By the way, the bikes weigh about the same.

jlstrat

Thanks much for the info. I think better training and some weight loss are the keys rather than new wheels. After reading the posts, I think I'd only see modest gains from other wheels.

Road Fan

Gee, boss, I don' get it!

Carbonfiberboy 

OTOH, every bike should have two wheelsets anyway. A good thing about Open Pros is that they mount tires pretty easily. You might find a different wheelset fun for some rides, whether it makes you noticeably faster or not. I'm a fan of Open Pros with 23mm Vredestein race tires and Michelin ultra light tubes on them. Feel fast, might even be fast.

revchuck 

This is true, and another thing to recommend them. I only have one 32h wheelset left, made with DT Swiss RR465 rims, Ultegra 6700 front hub and Powertap rear. It's an excellent wheelset, but it's much more difficult to mount tires on them.

I miss the salty look of the hard anodized Open Pro CDs with the brake tracks worn through to silver...

surfjimc

I ride both rims regularly. I ride the A719s with 35s and the Open Pros with 25s. The Open Pro wheels are lighter rims, as are the tires and tubes; all rotating weight on the outside of the wheel. The biggest difference is that the Open Pros accelerate faster and feel a little more nimble. At speed, I can't really tell the difference, except that the A719s run at 75 psi and are more comfortable on bad roads. Interestingly, I have commuted on both bikes and noticed that I hit top speed faster with the Open Pros, and that top speed is higher than with the A719s. However, over the long haul commute (23 miles, 12 miles of mup), I take about the same time on either bike. On the shorter rides (2.5 or 3.5 miles), the Open Pros are faster because there are a lot more signals and more acel/deceleration opportunities.

GravelMN

On flat ground, you won't likely notice much difference in speed. On sprints and hills, the lighter wheel/tire combination will likely be noticeable but minimal. As someone said above, what you will notice from the smaller tire volume and higher pressures is more road buzz. I also find 23s sketchier on less than perfect surfaces, like when there is a thin layer of sand washed up from the shoulder.

I went from 23mm Conti Ultra Sports to 25mm Bontrager AW3 Hard Case Lites and my overall speed didn't change a bit, but I'm more comfortable and confident when the road surface is sub-optimal and therefore don't feel like I have to hold back or risk that squirrely feeling if I hit a patch of gravel. I've also ridden on 28mm Specialized All Condition Armadillo Elites. The difference in speed was minimal but they felt more harsh than the AW3s. The Spec Armadillos are great bomb-proof tires for training or touring, but not my first choice for general road riding.

bikemig 

+ 1.