I would like to upgrade the stock wheels on my Cannondale Synapse, looking to keep the wheel set under $1000, preferably around $800.
I am a heavier rider, 208lbs
Rim brake bike, wheels must be aluminum or have metal braking surface
I don’t race, but wouldn’t mind deeper section wheels for a little aero boost
Prefer standard spokes so I can easily source replacements in a hurry if needed
With that budget I would recommend visit a wheel builder. Considering your weight I would also suggest to not care too much about “keeping the spoke count low”.
If you’re a strong rider then 28 spokes each wheel should be your minimum, 32 certainly wouldn’t hurt either.
Wheel builders will certainly be able to give good advice here.
I’d look for a rim with internal width of at least 18mm, preferrably around 20mm even. And then go for a nice 28mm tire. This should make your tire nice and wide as well as fast-rolling. The Synapse can easily clear 30mm tires, and thats where the 28s are most likely going to end up.
Have fun!
HED Belgium+, custom build with a nice hub like white industries, Chris king, etc
Several years old now but still great tech. Wider rims (prob not considered wide anymore, but more so than traditional rims) that do well with today’s trend of wider tires. I’ve had a set with WI T11 hubs for 4 years now and they are great training/everyday wheels
My mom just got a set of these with DT240 hubs and Spain CX-Ray spokes and I think they came in at ~$750-$800 or so. I think she got them from wheelbuilder.com. She only has a couple rides on them but she says they’re noticeably quicker than the stock wheels she had previously.
Lightbicycle wheels with DT Swiss 350 hubs would be in your price range, and they have a 10% off sale through this weekend. You can pick the number of spokes and the type as well, and if they don’t have what you want listed, email them and they probably can do it for you
Thanks for the reply’s; I will defiantly check out those HED wheels. My current wheel set are some Mavic Aksiums which are pretty low end. I have been running 28mm tires for a couple or seasons now and will never go back to 25s.
Kinlin XR 26 ®T rims are basically the same shape as the HED rims. There are also some sweet Easton EA90 SL rims which are quite unusual. Hope hubs are awesome for replacement parts, drifts, bearing compatibility, and you can get them in purple. They might appear to be 100g heavier than something like Tune or DT, but they are bomb proof and come with exceptional warranty from Hope.
However, I really rate factory built Easton wheelsets. Again, easy access to replacement parts like freehubs and bearing drifts. And the EA90 wheelsets are bonkers light for their strength.
Campagnolo Zonda or Shamal…bomb proof and light - not aero though - I ride the previous gen Eurus which are like the Shamal on my Ridley Helium summer bike with Conti 5000 clinchers and latex tubes and they seem incapable of going slower than 21mph! 
