kinda would like to know what you have now... and maybe the combo of road vs off and how rough the offload stuff is.

I just got a gravel bike. I only have a couple rides on it but I'm really digging it and really enjoying the more relaxed geometry. The wheels that came on the bike are Hed tomcats. Running 42 at the moment.not entirely sure what all we're going to get into our first ride was really just packed gravel and our second ride got rough enough that I was actually wishing I had bigger tires. So I'm basically just looking for a set of wheels to be able to swap out and do road rides and shed a little weight.

Those Tomcats are pretty decent rims. Not sure what the hub and spoke situation is (they tend to overbuild them for OEM to capture a wider range of rider weights). If it's not your go-fast bike, I would use those as your 'road' wheelset since the rims are rated for much higher pressure. Very important if you wind up with 25/28 mm tire for nice pavement duties.

If you are willing to go out to a much bigger tire, the Specialized Roubaix 32 is a fantastic mid-range (price) option.

If you are willing to look at ebay/classifieds type stuff for a gravel/cx/all-road type wheelset the Stans Crest 29" wheels are pretty fantastic gravel wheels for the money. You can usually find the brand new MK3 version for under $400 with little to no use. The ZTR versions well under $300 in good shape. That 21-23 mm inner is great for gravel tires. They can be harder to mount some tires on, but then that returns a rock solid tubeless connection for low pressures. I have 4 sets for my cx bikes. My 21 mm set with 42 mm tires is run 29/30 up front and 32/33 rear. Much lower pressure than that and I'll start getting the occasional rim strike on chunky stuff.

Everybody has their ideas of budget performance, so that's just the sweet spot for me and a tire addiction.

Thanks. I like the tomcats just think there heavy for road work.

do you want carbon ? or stick with Al...

I had HED ardennes SL and they where pretty nice, not super light, but not heavy like made for OEM Tomcats. I went with Enve 4.5AR for the road stuff and 650B for offload.

Thinking AL.

Just want to point out that the crests aren't rated for road pressures. Stains grails will work but are a little heavier. They are sturdier and require much less frequent truing. Crests are great but require a little maintenance every couple of month.

The pros closet had some grail wheels on sale recently for excellent prices.

^ they have some SL for 500 bucks...

Budget? If you are looking for aluminum, some Hed Belgium Plus laced to White Industry hubs would make for a great wheelset. 25 external and 21 internal width. I previously had a rim brake version of this and they were great wheels. If you want to save some cash you could opt for DT Swiss 350 hubs which are also good quality.

I’ve seen a number of positive reviews of the Boyd Altamont. They will be pretty light - 1600 vs 1661 grams depending on which version you go with. 24mm external and 20mm internal width.

Shimano RS 770 is 1639 grams. A bit more narrow though at 23mm (not sure on the interns width). It looks like a decent wheel and Shimano hubs are always good. Haven’t read too many reviews on yet.

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Matt

Hunt Wheels. Excellent quality, light, affordable, and versatile. Extremely happy with them on my gravel bike.

You're correct. I was trying to suggest using the HEDs for road and get Crests for the gravel. Maybe I wasn't very clear.

The Crests do need some attention every few months for for heavier use, but I have had fantastic luck with them for gravel and cx. The pair I used for mountain biking needed constant attention.

I hear they are always more porky then they claim

No worries. I beat the snot out of crests and iron cross for cx and MTb and love them. Vey light rims. But they need minor truing every couple of months. Will build up a set of grails soon for road and gravel riding. Plan on running 32 mm secteurs. Very solid rims.