IIRC, Assos actually made three distinct tubular rims, and maybe four - more on that later. All were the triangular profile later made common by Araya, Matrix, Saavedra, Ambrosio, etc. The earliest ones were a matte silver - darker than, say, a Gentlemen GTA, but lighter than Fiamme Hard Silvers. Much to Sam's chagrin, Shirley Braxton insisted on having a set on her pepto pink Braxton, because "they're pretty." Don't remember the width, but these were heavier than the later rims - 360g each or thereabouts, so still pretty light. The dark anodized rims, introduced a few years later, came in both 16mm TT width and 18mm road width. The 16s weighed as little as 260g each, and the 18s averaged around 320, though like many on topic rims, weights were all over the map. Sam liked them and sold more than a few pairs to local racers - I think most of them came from a distributor in Miami, but I may be misremembering. All three rims featured nylon internal washers and special alloy nipples, but I recall the washers as being just that - little round washers, and not the profiled alloy inserts as used on Araya Aero 1s. As others have mentioned, they were shockingly expensive (but almost always round) and could be ordered with spoke holes oriented for specific lacing patterns. We started using Wolber Profil A, Profil 18 and Profil 20 rims when they became readily available, as they were less than half the price and still nicely made.
The fourth rim: it was rumored that Assos had introduced a clincher rim, some time around '87 or so, thus making them off topic, but I'm playing the KOF card. I tried for two or three years to get a pair, but despite having heard of them, nobody I know had ever actually seen a pair. Somebody's catalog - don't remember who - did list them, at around $200/pr. Wish I could remember who that was. Anybody else know about these, and if they ever made it past prototype stage (or even to prototype stage?)
Cheers,
Derek Vandeberg
Bigfork, Montana