Road Cycling - Much Adou About Zipps

I'm in the process of putting together a new wheel set and am wondering if there is a significant difference between the Zipp 303 and the 404's. I race about two road and two crits a year with the rest of the time spent riding on mildly windy afternoons. Any thoughts?
Thanks.

I have put several customers on Zipp wheelsets this year and in that experience I have tested both wheelsets in a variety of conditions. I would probably be inclined to suggest the 303s for your application rather than the 404s because of their lower profile rim section. The 404s are cool and very aero but they tend to catch some serious side wind (read: blow me off the road into the ditch). The 303s are lighter and more useful in windy situations because they are less affected. They are still an aero style rim and so therefore still catch more crosswind than a conventional rim. I would lean to the 303s for road and crit racing and the 404s for triathlon or time trials.

-Ryan

Yes, the 303s are lighter, but not as aero as the 404s. Although IIRC the weight difference is only 100g for the pair.

Check out roadbikereview.com too for different ideas too.

303s use the shorter rim while the 404s use the deeper rim.

I reccomend the 303s as they are more 'all terrain'

I would lean to the 303s for road and crit racing and the 404s for triathlon or time trials.

I couldn't agree more. Our shop specializes in the upper end road bikes, and we send out a lot of tri riders on 404's, and 303's for the crit guys!

L8R

404's work great for everything.