Also, for those of us who are new to the game or only buy wheels once a decade or so, is there a general perceived ranking of wheel manufacturers as far as quality and trustworthiness go?
For example, how would one compare the quality of Enve vs 3T vs LightBicycle?
I have two LB wheelsets but haven’t used them long enough or extreme enough to really say they’re better than others, but I have never heard anyone say anything negative about LB quality, even for people who have used their rims for 10 years.
You are comparing two name brands with warranties vs direct from China.
That said, LB is well regarded. I bought Farsports (also well regarded) wheels direct from China 5 years ago and they have been perfect.
The downside risk is having a problem and not having shop support and warranty support from China. I think in most cases you’ll get a replacement rim from China and have it built locally. Shipping wheels back to China is probably cost prohibitive.
When I bought my wheelset, comparable US wheels were 3-4-5x the price so it was well worth any risk. Now with budget Zipps, Enves, Bontragers, and Rovals the differential is lower. Name brand Chinese wheels have also gone up in price by quite a bit since the Covid supply chain issues.
This is all true, but I like to think of it more as factoring in the odds of not needing to do warranty support in the first place, because that’s a huge hassle (time, communications effort) regardless of one’s location.
One thing to note is that LB has regional warehouses (North America, Europe, et al) and I don’t know if they will sometimes service warranty issues through there, like sending replacements.
Which is why I’m asking the question… in this case, I’m fully aware that I don’t have a clue what I’m talking about. 
Also look for a June launch of Vittoria Airliner Light for Gravel. same material as the XC version, but for 40-50mm tires. Protect those precious rims while running lower pressures.
Well I laid it out for you:
Enve - top shelf brand name, warranty and support, crash protection, $$$$$
direct from China - good brand name, can order with better hubs, PITA to collect on warranty, $$$
3T - somewhere in the middle. (Support from a bike shop if you buy it locally.)
To me the decision is based on saving money and warranty convenience which depends on one’s personally tolerance for dealing with glitches.
With Enve they no hassle exchanged 3 rims (road rash, rough finish cutting into tire sidewall, small crack near valve stem). I saved my boxes, they paid for shipping both ways. Received the new rims quickly.
For the same reason I went with Roval/Specialized. Because sh*t happens.
Also, in my mind, there is something to be said with supporting companies that do real engineering & testing. For stuff like this, in general my wife and I have a philosophy of quality vs lowest price.
Just going to say that I built up some light bicycle wheels and then had the sidewall fail. After a couple warentee emails they sent out a new wheel. Just keep track of the serial number of the rims before you tape them up.
–Erik
That’s a horrible track record for your Enve wheels!
Not really.
Road rash was from having a blowout at 25mph. They didn’t need to replace it, but “in the name of caution” went ahead and replaced the rear wheel. I used that rear wheel for 21 months before using some higher pressure tubeless tires, and noticed that one little section of the rim had a rough finish and it was leaving a mark in the tire. Not that there was any immediate danger - I had ridden those tires for 1000+ miles, but I reported it with a picture of the tire & rim, and no questions asked they replaced the rear wheel again.
After 4 years of service, the front wheel developed a crack near the valve stem. This was right around the time they introduced the pressure release valve stem nut. I suspect this was related to the use of the original nut, and a blow out of the front tire about 4 months before I noticed the crack. This was 2019 when tire manufacturers were still figuring out tubeless. And about the time Enve introduced pressure release nuts.
Remember the story about Roval and Peter Sagan? When the Rapide CLX was introduced looking like it supported tubeless but Specialized explicitly stated it was not. Well I weigh more than Sagan, am always riding crappy roads, and frequently enough riding at speed and hitting potholes and broken pavement (hit one hard last night at 27mph). Let’s not stop there, I’m frequently jumping curbs, take my road bike off tarmac, and generally just ride my bike.
So no, I don’t think those Enve’s had a horrible track record. One part me, one part sh*t happens, one part early adopter (purchased December 2015, went tubeless August 2017).
I’ve been riding road, mountain, and gravel bikes for 40+ years now and have never needed to warranty a rim so based on my track record paying the Enve premium doesn’t seem worth it. I looked at their Foundation wheels a few months ago but decided against hookless.
I’m with you on this one. I buy quality and support good companies. I do care about value, and don’t willingly overpay… but to me “value” is delivered in many ways, not just in the lowest price and a viable product.
To me Enve is like the Mercedes of wheels and I’m more like a Toyota/Honda person with regards to cost/value when choosing bike parts.
Light Bicycle is well regarded and, I assume, builds many oem wheels for name brands. Farsports is similar, in this middle ground of quality Chinese manufacturer/oem wheel makers.
Super cheap would be like Superteam wheels or no-name wheels off Aliexpress.
Toyota/Honda types just roll with what came on the bike 
Like the kid showing up first time for a group ride, on his dad’s 1980s bike, rusty chain and all, and then proceeding to destroy everyone.
I broke a DT Swiss XMC1200 wheel on my MTB. I sent them the hub and they laced up a new wheel for $300. That’s another benefit of choosing a bigger, established brand.
In general I agree with you, or at least agree that this is generally considered to be the case. I’d love to hear from others talking about lower (non-premium) brands doing well by their support.
One thing I’d consider is that purchasing a LB or Farsport set or another established direct to consumer Chienese brand is that you can try something different or new before going to Enve, Roval etc, saving money, resell it and then buy another set from your manufacturer of choice.
Besides, those ‘Chinese’ brands let you customize your future rims in a way bigger brands cannot or haven’t yet offered , from spokes count to carbon or steel spokes, to rim holes or not etc.
I have a set of Roval Rapide CLX I, but after ~4 years I’d like to try tubeless, carbon spokes and shallower rims while still keeping a hooked design, before committing to an expensive set. I looked around and very few brands offer a wheelset with those characteristics. After a lot of though and scrolling/readings of online forum on feedbacks and reviews of ‘Chinese’ brands I ordered a set from Farsport, first time going ‘Chinese’ direct.
I haven’t received them yet, as they have just been shipped, so fingers crossed, but I have high expectations
That depends (doesn’t it always? ;-)).
And it also shifts along a time (and product based) axis as well as a target audience.
Some brands hubs maybe really bad compared to a previous model generation (Zipp was a prime example a few years ago, I recall). Some brands may have more reputation as a mtb then a road wheel manufacturer and vice versa.
Then it’s also a question whether a brand makes products which interests you (or meet your criteria) in the first place. If Enve simply doesn’t have a hooked rim in the dimensions you look for there’s no use it’s a domestic brand for you.
It’s also no use if you hear many accolades about no-questions-asked fail-replacement if this replacement has to be used constantly. As a matter of fact is the point about Enve rims which filters down to me most… so that’s a direct answer to the question of “perceived ranking”.
I would say, if you have a somewhat local(ish) reputable wheelbuilder (or a known entity like LightBicycle) trust their choices on what rims and/or hubs to use for the wheel spec you are after. If they suggest, say a Duke rim (french brand) or maybe a Nextie rim (asian brand) they will have experience building solid wheels you can trust with those components.
Yes, it always does depend! I’m newish to cycling, though, so no idea where to even look for a reputable wheelbuilder in the New York area. Trying to learn more about things as I go along.
For my road/gravel bike, I just moved my René Herse 700x44 (Snoqualmie Pass) tires to a new set of Enve 4.5AR wheels which I got as payment for something else. I have not yet ridden on this setup.
I love wide tires, low pressure. As I lose weight, I might move from 44mm to 38mm, but no narrower. So maybe now, when my Enve wheels are still “new-ish”, I might be better advised to sell them and move to a set of wider wheels (~40mm) like the 3T Discus 45-40, LightBicycle WG44, or Nextie NXT45AGX.
If I have owned 13 Hondas, 3 BMW’s, and 5 Teslas in my life, what kind of car guy am I? 
I focus on high quality, high reliability, strong capability, and I’m willing to pay for better tech and some “sparks joy” factor because I can afford it, but I don’t like throwing money away.
I’m trying to intelligently make this one choice of where and which brand to buy these new wheels of mine… but I have a lot to learn.