TT wheel questions
 

Which would be the better rear wheel for me?

-new Zipp tubular disc
-new 808 tubular disc with PT hub

At first I didn't like to TT with my PT, but now I realize that I really use it or I have these lapses of concentration where I let my power fall.

Also my current front wheel would be a Carbone...would I really have significant time savings going to an 808?

You might browse over to the BikeTechReview.com forum. There are tons of hard core TT weenies over there including the guy who runs the wind tunnel in San Diego. The overwhelming majority of them would recommend a clincher wheel, btw.

--Steve

I had a similar question: I have a set of hed tri spokes, but I was thinking of switching to the zipp 404's as they are over 500g lighter and my most important tt race is a little hilly (steep rollers, nothing out of the saddle, maybe 1-2 miles at 2-3% grade for the finish). Is it worth it?

If you let the power drop more than say 5% of a TT, then having a steady power output will be more important than the disc wattage savings. Plus, you can (I think...maybe the rims are to deep) put a wheel cover on the 808? If you are tlking about significant time savings going from a rear carbone to an 808 I would say, "probably not." However a front 808 will be seconds faster over a long TT (>10 miles) than a carbone.

Zipp 404's are the best all round race wheels, period. If a person were to only have one wheelset, the 404's should be it. The problem arises with aero qualities versus weight savings. Cervelo has a nice tech article on their site explaining for the average 250watt power output, anything at 5% or higher is better to save weight. At 400 watts, anything at 8% or higher is better to save weight. Of course that is with regards to their frames, but I have spent a lot of time with analytic cycling and it seems that weight savings start becoming more important than aerodynamics at about 14 mph or less.

If you r hill is short rollers, I would stick with the trispokes.

Another option is just putting a wheel cover over my PT with open pro...anybody have any links to some good wheel covers?

+1, i'm also interested in this

Wheelbuilder.com
$60-80 depending on the wheel.
I used mine over the weekend to cover a Ksyrium. I don't have a baseline or PT to measure if it helped or not but the folks over at Slowtwitch.com have a ton of info on wheelcovers.

holy cow that looks perfect...I guess I should call to see if they can make one to go around a 2.4 PT hub. Saddlebags you're a godsend!

I'll give that a go first, if it works, it will save me about $1140.

http://wheelbuilder.com/closeup.asp?...d=185&offset=0

Wheelcover for Open Pro w/ PT. You have to specify which hub, though.

pretty sweet. are these legal in uscf and collegiate races tho? i know they're not legal in uci races but...

Why not a Blackburn Disc-o or whatever its called, the 180mm rim or something-wheelbuilder will probably hate it but otherwise cool beans...

It seems (from what I can tell) that you'd be fine so long as you weren't participating in an NRC event or taking it to Elite or Masters Nationals. Anyone else with a clearer understanding of the rulebook want to comment?