The discussion here is what wheels are customers looking to purchase if they were looking for UCI approved wheels to race or join an event, not why tubulars or clinchers are better wheels to race with, I think that debate can be easily done on another thread. My preference for tubulars is just that; my preference. We sell carbon clinchers just as well as we sell carbon tubulars. BUT we do not have UCI approved wheels at the moment and I want to understand whether the consumer's choice of type of wheels is related to the type of event.

The North American market does not require UCI approval, hence people generally raced whatever wheels they had, they do not generally go out to purchase a wheelset just for a particular event and the decision rarely surfaces. Most races in NA do not require a huge amount of climbing/ decending. Having tubulars in this situation may appear to be troublesome. However, in other markets, there are alot of races where tubulars become almost essential. Flatting on a clincher while descending is dangerous, neither does it do any good to the carbon clincher rim itself. There are also many multiple stage races that do not have race support, and flatting, then damaging a carbon clincher leaves the participant without a wheel for the remainder of the stages, thus rendering the participant unable to continue. Last year I was able to finish two races with a flatting tubular just by rolling in on it. I wouldn't have been able to do that on carbon clinchers. The other benefits of clinchers vs tubulars as I said should just be left to another thread, perhaps you could start one and I will chime in there on my views on the subject and I am sure there are other more knowledgeable people on that subject as well.

The UCI is very active in Asia, Australia and Europe. Most national championships are also now heavily scrutinised by the UCI. I have come to accept the fact that if you want to play the game, you have to play by the rules. As archaic as the UCI appear, I am sure there is some logical (although most of the time I am doubful) reason why certain things are the way they are. The only thing that I feel is lacking is any form of explanation from the UCI regarding their rules which always appear exceptionally arbitrary.

So, from what I can understand, since UCI sanctioning is rarely enforced in NA, clincher wheel approval isn't actually important to most people on this board.