I'm hoping the new wheels match up close enough to my tubulars that I won't have to adjust the pad holder position, especially now that I use just a smidgeon of toe-in with the carbon tubulars so they don't groan and are less grabby. I stick a doubled up business card under the front of the pad as I set it. We'll see how they match tonight when I swap them. If they do match up pads-wise, I'm sure Karma will dictate that my RD indexing be wildly different. There is a reason a lot of folks stick to one set for both training and racing.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a match! No pad holder adjustment needed when switching from the Zipp tubulares to the Bont carbon clinchers, nor any shifter indexing adjustment. Woohoo... all I need to adjust is the barrel adjuster on the brakes, as the clinchers are narrower than the tubulars. The wheels ride great, too. I'm a happy camper. In case it's helpful to the OP, my wheel experiences thus far:

Torelli Bormio alloy clinchers: They've been solid, provide a smooth ride, and I rode them as I went from 225# to 193#.
Bontrager "Race" alloy clinchers: catastrophic failures.
Zipp 404 Firecrest tubulars: Fast, handle well, and you feel every irregularity in the road, especially if you pump them up to 130psi for minimal resistance.
Bontrager Race XXX Lites (the pornstar wheels): So far, so good. Very light, with a ride in between the Zipps and the Torellis.

^^ Great news Az, hoped it would work out for you.

Stap, I agree on Sheldon's site and time slipping away. However as you noted the Basics are in there and so much information we still use like the torque value tables and such. I just got an old edition of Eugene Sloan's " Complete book of Bicycling" it is dated but it brings back so many good memories of the 70's and learning the basics of bicycle mechanics.

My experience is the two best bang for the bucks upgrades you can make are new, high end tires and replacing the wheel set. Now this isn't for everyone, but I upgraded with used wheels. I picked up Mavic Ksyrium SSC, SL wheelset with scalloped rims for $200 for my main rider and picked up an older set of Ksyrium SSCs with the older design rim for $140 for my backup rider. It's not uncommon to find yesterday's $1000 wheelset selling for way less than 1/3 their MSRP and still in good condition.

What about the Ritchey wheels? I saw some decent prices, on ebay, for sets of these wheelsets and I am tempted to look into them. Anybody tried them for either clincher or tubular?

Bill