I think it is more interesting to look at the performance of a bike that is being ridden than how far you can throw a wheel.

Air flow across wheels on an actual bike with a rider interacts with the rest of the bike in complex ways. The down tube drafts the front wheel and the rear wheel drafts the seat tube. Meanwhile, the rider's legs are churning the air all around the wheels and frame, and the rider's body, compared to the wheels and frame, is basically a parachute.

MIT wind tunnel testing with a bike and rider shows that "... wearing gloves in a time trial will slow you down more than using a nonaero front wheel." "The drag difference between a vented road helmet and an aero-helmet is 2-4 times larger than the difference between a good aero-wheelset and a 32-spoked wheelset."

And those comments are based on the rider in a time-trial position. A rider on the drops of regular road bars, or worse yet, on the hoods, has such a big affect on aerodynamics that your choice of wheels (from an aerodynamic perspective) is even more trivial.

In addition, low-spoke-count wheels require heavy rims to distribute the stresses, so they accelerate more slowly.

For the 400-watt pro, a second or two in a time trial matters, but for the rest of us, aero wheels are jewelry.

Refences: http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/defaul...lstory&id=3574

http://www.bicycling.com/article/0,6...4995-1,00.html