Road Cycling - Carbon Ribs: What Do You Think?

After seeing this year's Tour de France last month, I was impressed with how many riders were using carbon wheels. The Bontrager XXX carbon wheelsets apparently were used by Lance on the Alp d' Huez time trial. If you have ridden on carbon wheels, what has been your experience? Problems with braking? Durability? Useful but expensive for weekly riding (not racing)?

I must be hungry! CARBON RIMS not ribs

I have a set of AC 420s that I love dearly. They're SOOO light and aero. Going from those to my Cane Creeks felt awful, but at least I had the comfort of knowing I was on clinchers now!
I'm now on some Kyserium SSCs, and they rule, too, but not like those ACs. I almost boughta set of ACs that were clinchers (I just get so nervous riding on tubulars daily), but looked at my ever-thinning wallet and decided not to. So they're my race tires. And boy do they.

Cole

I have a set of AC 420s that I love dearly. They're SOOO light and aero. Going from those to my Cane Creeks felt awful, but at least I had the comfort of knowing I was on clinchers now!
I'm now on some Kyserium SSCs, and they rule, too, but not like those ACs. I almost boughta set of ACs that were clinchers (I just get so nervous riding on tubulars daily), but looked at my ever-thinning wallet and decided not to. So they're my race tires. And boy do they.

Cole

I am a little confused by your statement because the AC 420's are clinchers and are not carbon. Were you talking about the 38mm Carbon Tubular Wheelset?

Anyone have any experience or feedback on the Bontrager XXX carbon wheels?

> Carbon Ribs

I don't like to use condoms, even if they're made out of carbon.

D'oh! Yep, them's the ones. I got 'em off eBay, and didn't know what they were. I did some looking around and thought for sure that they were 420s, but... Oh well. They're the ones made with the ZIPP 404 rim, whatever their name.

Cole

while i havent ridden carbon rims people who i know that have seem to love them....when they race. none too many of them really like riding them when they train because they are afraid of ruining them.

and ps i thought maybe you broke some ribs and were hoping to replace them with lighter carbon fibre ribs to save some body weight.:D

Have a pair of Zipp 303. They are crazy and mad light. If you are already fast, with a pair of those you will ride a lot more faster. With a pair of those, in a race, I can hit 30 mph on the flat comparing to my training wheels, Chris King Hub with Mavic Reflex rims. They go up hill faster as well. Most importantly, they spin up a lot faster and you feel like you can pedal as hard as you can. They are not holding you back. For brake pads, you should use the ones designed for carbon rims. For carbon wheels, go for tubular over the clincher version.

They are expensive. I only use them for major races and some very light pre-race training ride around the park. :D There is no point of using them for your daily ride because you will not get anything out of them that you couldn't get on a cheaper wheelset.