Aero is more important than weight for going faster, but you are in luck. I brought this up in another thread here on the HED JET 6+ wheelset being sold for ~$800. You really can't beat the wheelset to begin with but for the price it is even more incredible. It is as light as other carbon similar depth aero wheels and much lighter than other aluminum wheels of the same depth.

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Thats a really good deal

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Thanks Thomas, I'll look into it, though it also means new brake pads right?

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No new brake pads needed as the HED JET 6+ are aluminum rims with a carbon fairing. That is one of the best parts, they are ALUMINUM for better braking, and no need to swap with other training wheels if you wanted to use them as race-only wheels, which isn't what you want to do but just mentioning for others.

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If your priority is going faster, I'd go for the HEDs per Thomas' suggestion.
If you're not racing I think the Fulcrum 7s are perfectly fine for most purposes. I used a set on the road bike for a couple of years without any problems.
However, if I was on a road bike, riding lots of hills, and wasn't too bothered about speed, I'd probably go for a set of wide rim alloy wheels and wouldn't worry about aerodynamics. If speed matters, and the budget is okay, go for the HEDs.
Carbon rims are hugely popular but they really don't make that much sense to me. Weight isn't that important on the flat and on hills a good braking surface is worth a very small weight penalty. So either way, carbon doesn't have much going for it. A wide rim will allow you use lower pressures for a more comfortable ride and probably lower rolling resistance and better grip, depending on the road surface, without poor aerodynamics or excessive "squish".
The HEDs have wide rims and there are others worth considering if aerodynamics aren't an issue.....but the HEDs are hard to pass over.

I will just pile on and say get the HEDs, they are a great wheel and will hold up as an everyday wheelset.

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So with these rims, or other wider ones; rather than buy 23mm tires you buy wider tires and you can run lower PSI without the flat risk?

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Flat risk is a hard one to really pin on rim width. That is more dependent on the tire you are riding and the surfaces you ride on.

x2 on the HED deal. I picked up a second set of HEDs yesterday because that price is awesome. For me there isn't a reason to consider anything else.

For me, it has to be a disc brake wheel, or I am not going to be old technology. :)

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It is new technology, it is aluminum. Brakes a ton better than carbon...

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No disc brakes on my bike. Not going to retrofit it.

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A wider rim provides additional volume on 23mm tyres too, but yes I'd probably go with 25mm.
Greater volume and a wider footprint mean you can run lower pressures without risking pinch punctures.

I ordered the tires, and am putting 25mm tires on. What pressure should they be run at?

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Pinch punctures are hugely influenced by pressure, tyre profile and how it deflects under load. So the combination of rim width/tyre shape/pressure is hugely relevant.

How often do you really pinch flat on a road bike???

Last time I did was about 5 years ago. But if you were to drop pressure significantly on narrow rims and small tyres you're likely to see some.

Opinions will vary but there are a few factors to consider. Most importantly:
- your weight
- road quality where you ride
- specific tyres use
- personal preference

I weight 80kg, ride on poor road surfaces quite often, use 25mm GP4000sII and like comfort without excessive squish when climbing oyt of the saddle or sprinting.
I also use Swiss Side Hadrons which are a little narrower than the HEDs I think.
I typically use 75psi front and 90psi rear. I could go a bit lower.
If you're significantly lighter, consider less pressure and vice versa. Since the HED rims are a couple of mm wider you could frop a couple more psi for a given weight compared to me.

I run the HED JET+ in training with 25mm Gatorskins at 75-77 front and 77-80 rear at about 155lbs.

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How heavy is the Fulcrum wheelset that you have?

I also live in Marin county- And I wouldn't want a heavy wheel like a Hed Jet- too heavy for all of the climbs.

My preference would be something like a Hed Ardennes FR. Good braking, fairly light, some aerodynamics for how shallow thy are.

I don't like carbon braking surface for Marin County- too many wet or foggey days where you might be descending in the wet.

Or at only slightly more weight and way less money, the well-liked Flo 30s, which combine a pretty bombproof wheel with a reasonable weight and aerodynamic chops that get you much of the benefit of a deeper wheel without the cost, weight, or handling tradeoffs. But I'm not sure the OP ever articulated what problem with their existing wheels they were trying to fix. I think the better advice might be to just stick with those for now.

I think you make a good point that I didn't articulate why I am thinking about new wheels.

1) The wheelset I have is definitely not aero, and while I'm not racing any time soon who doesn't want to go faster for the same power output?
2) This is very qualitative, but I don't feel very good on my current wheels, especially descending. I'm not a great descender to begin with, and I always feel like I'm on the edge a bit with these wheels. I like the idea of being able to run a wider tire at less PSI, which might help on the descending

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1) You can get a surprising amount of aero benefit from something like the Flo 30s (or other shallower but aerodynamically shaped wheels). Deeper wheels will provide some marginal additional aero benefit, but at the cost of $, weight, wind handling, and/or carbon braking.

2) I went from narrow conventional wheels to Flo 30s, running 23mm and 25mm Conti GP4000s (Flo recommends 25s these days because the rolling resistance improvement outweighs the aero penalty, despite the fact that the wheels were designed around 23mm tires). The wider contact patch does feel more stable, and also a tad less nimble, though I haven't noticed descending feeling significantly different. If I had to guess, it's probably improved a little. I upgraded because the alloy nipples on my older wheels were significantly corroded (I live by the ocean), and after one snapped due to corrosion, I decided it was only a matter of time before more went. The Flos have brass nipples, which basically eliminates that corrosion concern.

Thomas, thanks for the tip. I bought these from competitive cyclist and they were incredible. They answered a few questions on my part and I purchased them. They came within a couple days and I rode on them yesterday for the first time. They were fine climbing and on downhills and flats I was so much more secure and fast. Did my usual route and was over 1mph faster too!

Awesome wheels.

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