Bladed spokes feel slower to me too, meaning the old fashioned really wide ones. I liked the Wheelsmith AE (aero) spokes back in the day but felt that the wheels got a bit twitchy. With the various aero spoked wheels I've had (Sapim spokes) I feel like the front end of the bike doesn't track like I expect it to. It's more me than the wheel, but if I have an excuse, i.e. broken spoke, I'll relace the wheel with round spokes. I have NOT felt this way with the Stinger6s but I haven't really been doing all out flat sprints.

As far as wheels and such... after a later-in-the-Series race at Bethel (where I did much better than the earlier races) I compared notes on the finish with a friendly rival competitor. He and I both like the sprint there, we both raced head-to-head there many times, and I rarely beat him. He's a very, very strong rider, uses "practical" equipment (CAAD8 plus carbon aero tubulars). He's a pragmatic racer.

Anyway, on that particular week I improved dramatically in the finish, winning the sprint rather than placing 5th or 8th or whatever. I commented to him that I just got some significantly lighter wheels (DV46 tubulars, versus Eurus clinchers). I made an off-hand comment along the lines of, "I think they made a 20 foot difference in the sprint". He turned to me and said, "I think that's about right. It's the difference between placing and winning this sprint. A lot of guys think we're idiots when we talk like this but we both know this sprint and we know how wheels can affect it." I started noting his wheel choices and started seeing that he's very conscious of what wheelset he runs at races.

Having done that sprint, oh, about 110 times in races, I can vouch for the fact that wheels help me there, given the same bike. The lightest aero wheels are best, seconded by aero wheels (based on speed approaching sprint), followed by light wheels.

cdr