If you are competing against yourself, what's the point of buying speed? "wooho, I'm now .18 mph faster on the Thurman Lakes loop!" If you did that by training or riding harder, then it's worth something. It shows that your work paid off. If you got that speed by opening your wallet, it's pointless. Any fool can spend money.


All-carbon rims have some serious downsides. They don't brake very well in the wet, and they dont' handle the heat from prolonged braking like you'd get on a long twisty descent as well as all-aluminum rims, or carbon rims with aluminum brake tracks. I have blown the tire off my carbon rims descending the road I live on (which is admittedly very steep and tight and requires a lot of braking). I use plain old aluminum rims for training and save the carbon rims for some races.