Aluminium Road (disc) rim suggestions

I’ve got the hubs incoming for a 24H-F/28H-R road wheelset I’m going to build in the new year, but I need to choose some rims, my current thinking is DT either R500 or R470 the tradeoffs being weight vs internal width.

But are there any rims I’m overlooking?

Budget is £30-40 per rim, TR and 20mm internal minimum, oh and they need to be available in 24 and 28 hole flavours. Lightness favoured more than Aero-ness, but I’m open to interesting suggestions.

Tell me what I’ve missed in my googling.

At that price, nothing much comes close.

To get lighter you need lots more money.

At that price, nothing much comes close.

+1

One thing to mention; the cheaper DT alloy rims use a sleeved join rather than welded, if you’re planing on using tubeless make sure you get tape that’s wide enough, 2-3 mm wider than the internal width between the bead hooks is usually good.

Otherwise you may get sealant leakage through the rim join which isn’t generally an issue with the correct tape.

I agree that at that price you might not have many options, Kinlin springs to mind as they do shallower depths, you might achieve ~450g give or take per rim, but I think they are also sleeved and pinned rather than welded, I remember a noticeable lip on the brake track of my rim brake versions.

I think DCR have an excellent range and I choose to believe based on conversations with them and the general specs that the rims are higher quality than Kinlin (i.e. a harder alloy, better finished). Only catch is that my 24mm wide, 30mm deep DCR 24/30 rim (rim brake again) came in significantly heavier than the stated weight, which was tough to take as I’d invested in posh spokes and alloy nipples in the hope that I’d actually SAVE weight over the previous build. Can’t tell if it actually makes a difference as put the wheel on my winter bike which feels totally different from the summer bike anyway.

Pacenti are very nice but you’re now looking at (I think) £99/rim!