wheels

[tzvia]

One place online I would suggest is:
http://www.bicyclewheelwarehouse.com...iewCat&catId=9
Look at the first item, a good set of wheels, Mavic Open Pro, Dura ace, and on sale for $399 is a fair deal. It's a good quality solid set of wheels. They also have wheelsets with DTSWISS hubs but for over your limit.

I bought a Ruby about 7 months ago and the wheels were crappy; heavy and dead feeling. So I looked for something a bit lighter and higher quality and ended up at http://www.prowheelbuilder.com/. I got picky with the spokes I wanted, and went over my budget (which was also around $500). Built a wheelset with Velocity Aerohead rims, Sapim Race spokes, alu nipples, White Industries hubs, and USE TI Spinstick skewers. Ended up at about $780 and went that route. The wheelset weighs under 1500 grams for the pair including the skewers, which is about 550 grams less than the boat anchors that came with my Ruby.

And yea, I feel a BIG difference. It feels like a different bike.

[aicabsolut]

You can probably build up sub 1500g wheels for under $700, maybe closer to $500-600, but it will hard to get significant performance improvements over what you have for less than $500.

[smurfalicious]

Reynolds makes a set of semi-aero wheels called Solitudes that can be had I believe in that price range. I almost bought a set but then everyone convinced me my bike was too heavy. Boo.

[aicabsolut]

There are some affordable Easton wheels too that are pretty light. Those and the cheaper Reynolds wheels don't seem to have the best reputation for durability, but if you don't run over a lot of stuff and are pretty light, they are fine. I think chainlove used to have good deals on Eastons often. Maybe bonktown will now.