one can argue that deeper wheels like 404's can accelerate faster than 303's, especially at high speeds, due to its aerodynamic advantage, despite the higher weight in the rims. when choosing between aero and weight, aero wins every single time. in climbing weight doesn't actually matter that much - they tested this. in all other situations, aero wins, by a mile.
so long as you can handle the cross winds, always go deeper
also, since rim width was brought up, you want to go wider. zipps are notoriously successful because they've optimized the wheel cross section to include the tire that you'll be using, such that their combined cross section is in a tear drop shape, where the middle of the rim is actually wider than the tire. for example, if you're using 25 tires on a narrow rim, you're loosing a lot of the aero benefits due to the non-smooth junction between the tire and the rim, such that a wider 40mm wheel would actually be more aero than a narrow 60mm wheel.
I can go on.. but I'd be a hypocrite, because I ride and race on shallow aluminum clinchers.. none of this **** matters. it's all mental.
Last edited by spectastic; 11-30-16 at 05:44 PM.