List Price: $78.00
Sale Price: $69.36
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What originally interested me in the A23 was the 23mm-wide rim bed, which is said to improve the tire contact patch when used with a 23mm wide road tire. Since all of my other road bike wheels were the usual 19mm-wide variety, I kept that in my back pocket for later.
Fast-forward several months, I decided to build a travel bike. Since it would be unlikely that I would be swapping wheels with my race bike, and with the rigors of being packed in a travel case, I decided to give the A23 a shot; a 23mm rim is going to be able to withstand a lot more abuse than a 19mm rim.
I laced these up to a set of 32-hole Dura Ace 7700 hubs and the wheels turned out solid! Not the lightest wheel build in the world (~1850g for the set), but that's largely due to the high spoke count -durability was the overriding factor here, rather than saving weight. The wheels handle exceptionally, and have terrific road feel. The wider rim bed does make a difference -the bike corners like it's on rails.
With the right hub / spoke count selection, one could easily build a ~1500g wheel set with the A23 that would easily hold up to the rigors of racing, even for riders approaching 200lbs.
The only downside is that, if the rest of your wheels aren't 23mm wide, you're going to be fiddling with your brakes whenever you swap wheels. But that's not a ding against the A23; it's just an equipment selection issue.
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These are good quality, light but strong rims that are made in the US. I built both a front and rear wheel and used the offset version for the rear. I am not rating them 5 stars because the inner spoke hole drillings are not deburred. On the non offset rim a deburring tool or large drill bit can be used. The offset wheel is such that a normal deburring tool won't work. Normal rim strips don't work well, again, particularly for the offset. I used Stan's no tubes rim tape (21mm) and have not had any issues since. I am building another set of wheels and will probably use these rims again. I was very happy except for the minor issue with the spoke drillings.
