I am almost done with building my dream bike (ok, one of many dream bikes) - Cervelo Soloist carbon w/ full DA. Only thing I need is a wheelset. I live in Utah so I do a lot of climbing and love descending. I don't race, just love to ride & I do a few century rides each year. Weight is 160, and hope to drop a few more lbs this year. Other bike in the stable is a 2001 USPS Trek oclv, full DA, Mavic Ksyrium SSL-SCs.

I want a wheel set that is reasonably light for climbs, fairly reliable/durable & decent looking to match the hawtness of the Cervelo. I'd like to stay under $1,000, clincher only.

Wheelsets I have been considering:
American Classic Magnesium
American Classic Sprint 350
Easton Ascent II
Rolf Prima Elan Aero
Dura Ace 7850-SL

Here's what my research has told me:
AC mag
PROS - crazy light
CONS - braking issues (I love to descend), probably not very durable, boring looks

AC Sprint 350
PROS - very light, decent price
CONS - reliability, again looks are "meh" at best

Easton Ascent II
PROS - reasonable weight, decent price $600 on sale
CONS - not great reveiws for repairs if necessary

Rolf Prima Elan Aero:
PROS - very light, decent looks. Seem to get great reviews and my LBS highly recomended them.
CONS - I had some older Rolf vector comps back in 200 & hated them. Are the new Rolf's better?

Dura Ace 7850-SL
PROS - tubeless! I've been tubeless on my mtn bike since 2001 & love it & intrigued by it for road use. Great looks. Maybe I am a sucker for red nipples. :D
CONS - Weight 1520g isn't horrible, but not great.

Any other recommendations or should I go custom.... what to do?! :confused: TIA for any input.

I'd vote for the Eastons. PM me and I can tell you where to get them for $425. I rode a pair for five years (I weigh 175#) on a good day. I sold them to a buddy for his skinny wife and she still uses them.

GVH has Easton Ascent II for $400. No need to PM.
And look at Easton EA90 SLX, which is the next generation of Ascent, and can be had for a bit more than $500.

Had a pair of Velomax Circuit Comps, now Easton. In year 1 broke a spoke off at the hub flange on the rear wheel. No way to repair it without sending it to Easton as the remaining part of the spoke was lodged inside the hub flange. The spoke broke under normal road riding conditions nothing crazy was hit, and the wheel had under 2k miles on it at the time. Easton charged me $150 plus shipping for the fix which I thought was pretty outrageous given that the wheel wasn't even 3 months old, all they did was replace a single spoke and retrue and the total wheelset new cost only a shade over $300. Sold em right after the repair, and won't ride their products ever again. If you break a spoke with the Ascents, and it can definitely happen despite the straight pull spoke BS that they won't break, expect to have to send the wheel in to them for repair and expect to be charged a large chunk of change to fix it. I'd take a well built custom built set using something like an Aerohead rim or a Niobium 27from guys like Ron Ruff or Eric Gottesman any day of the week over an Easton or Rolf or Mavic, AC, D/A or Campy or any other factory wheel. Much easier to repair when needed, and typically built with more exacting standards when using a good custom builder than many factory wheels are in my experience. But your mileage may vary. :-)

I also have a set of Velomax circuits. A rear spoke broke at the hub. Took a LBS quite a while to get the remainder of the spoke out. They are now on my wife's bike...she does not ride as much as me, so they are holding up OK. Personally, I don't trust them anymore.

Also had a set of FSA RD400s that gave me nothing but grief.

I now ride Velocity Aeroheads, wheelsmith spokes, Record rear/American classic front hub. Boring, but they weigh under 1600 grams, are reliable and I can fix them.

Contact one of the wheel builders here and have them build you a nice custom set...well worth it in the long run.

+3 for Easton, if you are worried about durability check out the Easton Orion 2

Go local - get a set of reynolds attack's.

GVH has Easton Ascent II for $400. No need to PM.
And look at Easton EA90 SLX, which is the next generation of Ascent, and can be had for a bit more than $500.

GVH ???

GVH ???http://www.gvhbikes.com/

I have the Rolf Prima Elan's. Nice wheel set. I had a set of Race X Lite Aeros and I like the Rolf's better. 400 grams lighter and stiffer. I don't think you can even compare them to the old Vector Comps. They are a different class of wheel. Oh, I weigh 200# and have had no issues in the 2,500 miles I've put on them.

if i were you i'd go with ligero, he sells some good high end stuff, and for less than $1,000 you could get a killer wheel set that would embarrass any that you mentioned.

After doing more reasearch, I think I'm going with white mountain wheels & have them build me a set of 30mm Nios, WI hubs & CX-rays spokes. Sounds like a great set up, maybe a bit heavier than some sets but reliable & more aero and a decent price for a custom built set.