The Limited (builds, that is)

6-15 UPDATE - We've gotten several inquiries about these recently. Unfortunately, as the name implies, they were limited, and they are long gone. 

Yesterday we teased that we have a couple of special builds up our sleeves. Here they are. We've called them LTD1 and LTD2 (can you guess why?), and we think they hit a pretty sweet spot. 

We've talked before about how we have a sweet spot here at November, where the cost of our work is balanced with the cost of the products that go into the build. At this spot, you're usually paying just a bit more for a handbuilt, custom set of wheels than you could go out and buy the unbuilt parts for - and way less than you'd pay for an equivalent-ish "factory build." At the low end, the overall product becomes too loaded with labor cost. At the high end, well, we don't really sell wheels that go outside of the high end of that spot. 

In any case, here are the two builds:

LTD1 is based around H+ Son Archetype rims. Archetypes are a perfect choice for someone who wants an excellent, no nonsense, wide-ish but not crazy wide, non-tubeless, good aerodynamics at a sensible weight with strength to spare rim. The spokes used are black Sapim D-Lights, which we've come to love in the past two years. A tad thicker/stronger/stiffer/heavier than Lasers but still with outstanding characteristics, and a bit thinner and lighter than the ubiquitous Sapim Race spoke. Perfect for a never say die training, Strava-ing, century-ing, Gran Fondo-ing, and even racing wheel. Which these are, to a T. 20/24 or 24/28 lacing, your choice. For most people in the 170 to 180 range, either works fine. If you are a known wheel wrecker or weigh kind of north of 180, we'd steer you toward the 24/28 for better performance and a better lifespan. Just over 1500g in 20/24 (around 1540 in 24/28) with our favorite Wheelsmith black brass nipples. At $480, it's barely more than the cost of parts to have us hand build you a set. 

LTD2 is based around the HED Belgium+ rim. Since it came out, the Belgium+ has been the reference wide alloy rim. Tubeless or not, it loves both. Built perfectly, strong, stiff, easy to build near perfectly (if you're a good wheel builder, natch), there's no alloy rim that can call itself better. We pair these with black CX Rays, which are the ultimate spoke for maximum performance, and again our favorite black Wheelsmith brass nipples. The kicker on these has always been the cost, but at $625 for the pair that door just fell off the hinges. Around 1500g in 20/24, 40g more in 24/28. 

Both are laced radial front and 2 cross rear to Novatec A291/F482 11 speed (with 8/9/10 speed spacer included) road hubs. We've built a TON of these over the years, and they might not have the cache or overall lifespan of some of the pricier hubs, but they'll last you a heck of a long time and do a great job for you the whole way. The only rub is that getting them reliably has become a pain in the butt, so we didn't really have a great direction for our stock of these. Now we do. These have no logos, black is their new black, and we are limited to Shimano/SRAM drive. 

Builds include tubeless tape installed (it's the best tape for tubes, too), and if you need tubes, tires, tubeless valves, skewers, cassettes, or anything else in the accessory puzzle, what fits in the box ships installed (where possible) for free with the wheels. 

When they're gone, they're gone. 

UPDATE - They're gone