Wheelset advice
 

I have three choices I'm considering, and need more input before spending the money.
1. Ksyrium Equipe's on the mavic hubs $349.
2. Mavic CXP-33's on Ultegra hubs $219.
3. Open Pro's on Ultegra Hubs. $199

Are the Ksyriums that much better/lighter? Hard to guage when they're strapped to a display rack. Would it be worth it to save for the Elites?
I like the semi-aero look of the Cxp's, but again don't see a big difference in the overall design. I'm only considering the OP's because everyone raves about their durability and all-purpose-ness.

Thanks for your advice..

the equips are not that much better then your open pro/ultegra build, or your cxp33 build. I think that for the same price as the equips, you could get the cxp33 rims built w/ dura ace hubs that would be lighter then the ksyrium equips. IMHO, I think that the equips are a bad idea. the only ksyruims i think are worth buying are the SLs...thats just me though.

Hi,
how much do you weigh? How hard are you on your gear? Makes a difference.

I would advise checking out www.bicyclebuys.com. They have Bontrager Race Lites for $310 and Cane Creek AreoHeads for $215.00. Both are good wheels. I have the Bontragers and I couldn't be happier. A friend of mine has the AreoHeads and he loves them. He races on them every weekend and they have not failed him yet.

Performance used to have Mavic Cosmic Elites on Clearance for 280 a pair. They are sweet, I love em.

Very Durable, and nice black bladed spokes with a semi aero rim.

Here they are installed.

I just checked. Performance is out of them (they just have the front)

But nashbar has em still.........

I would get Dura-Ace/DT/Open Pros.Those are nice wheels and easily repaired.

I agree with Limba. The Open Pros are very reliable amoung the other things. You could lighten up the Open Pros by going with DT Revolution on both wheels-depending on your weight. If your over 180 then you could use DT Revolution on the front and DT Competition on the rear. You might also want to look in Torelli Master Series rims instead of the Open Pro and save yourself about $20 per rim; their just as good as the Open Pro and weigh the same; a lot of European Pros train on the Torelli's. I have used them now for over 35,000 miles with no problems whatsoever. Don't forget to use alloy nipples and 3 cross the spokes for strength.

Right now I weigh about 180-185, and I guess i'm fairly nice to my gear. I'm still pretty new (>1yr) but want to have good gear when I start riding in more competitive environments.

If you're going competitive and want to buy at that level, get the OP with ultegra. They'll be great training wheels to have if you get serious about racing but will stand up on their own for most everything

I like the Open Pros. They look really good in black-all-black (I think it's called Open Pro CD)

The silver ones look like regular old wheels. The black gives it just enough bling to make it look nice-go with black spokes. That would look tight.

Black Open Pros with DA hubs. Double butted spokes (black if you can afford them.)

The Bontrager Race Lites came stock on my 5200. Great wheel and even though I am a clydesdale I never managed to break a spoke or knock them out of true. I ended up buying Mavic Open Pros with Ultegra hubs when my son finally busted my balls enough to give him the Race Lites. In my opinion the OP's are at least the equal of the Race Lites if not better and stronger.
For the money I would go with the OP's unless you are looking for some kind of wow factor.
PS Definitely in black.

Why get those if you need to repair them? I dont want something easily repaired. I want something that doesnt need to be repaired like Mavic K Elites.

No,I'm saying if anything does go wrong with your wheels you can go to any shop anywhere in the world and fix them.If you buy something like the ksyriums you could be screwed waiting for a replacement spoke/rim/hub.
The ksyriums are great wheels and pretty much bulletproof but if you do have a problem you might not have any wheels for awhile.