Seattle Forrest

What goes up must go down; great climbing wheels are good descending wheels too. If you're going to fly back down bad pavement, it might be worth the weight.

Edit to add: Compass makes a 700x26 that tips the scales at 183 grams! That's less than a GP 4000S in 23 mm. I haven't tried the Compass tires but they have a great reputation.

Doge

Well - no. These are for climbing. Not descending. And clinchers are not even a thought.
Tires and tubes will be 170g-220g.
900g max bare, 1600g max ready to ride - cassette, tires, skewers. I would think 700g lighter than what can be done clinchers and better ride. So a 22mm would be like a 25m clincher.
Down to Veloflex Records or some FMB special deal. Francois will build to order. I'd choose silk but rain ruins the day. So I don't know.


However - I apologize for the thread hijack. Lots of good carbon clinchers. We've had Zipp 404s, several Mercury, Easton, Zipp disc, HED.
It is less important where they are built and more important who is standing behind them. My experience is big companies lump you into the big group and are much harder to deal with. While the trying-to-build-a-business smaller to medium will listen.

spectastic

Doge likes to spoil his kid with fancy stuff

Doge

FACT.
And team.
And wife.
I'm a giver.
And sometimes, very rarely, me. Those clinchers a few posts above are mine.

But, also real hard to find a USA rider who can out climb him. So it is entertainment - for me. Costs a lot less than a boat or new car. I have 200K miles on my car - going for 300K. All just priorities.

Seattle Forrest

Are you gonna get a ride down from the top? I've wanted to do that a few times.

HTupolev

Doesn't matter how slowly you fall if the goal is to get to the top quickly!

spectastic

Are you tryin to get him to ride world tour or something? Is it appropriate to ask what his w/kg is? I'm always curious what the gap is between elite amateur, continental, and international pros

Doge

No - he is in the USAF Academy - a higher calling. He/we decided against World Tour a few years ago. W/kg is world class (<1hr), but that is not what makes someone a WT rider. It is, for many a rather suck'y job.

You will find pro USA W/kg as high as pro tour riders. You will find a dozen juniors higher W/Kg on single day. Sagan, Cav and others ride here in summer. The WT is more mind and professional lifestyle than W/Kg.

Doge

Up hill races. Start at bottom, finish at top. Most likely car from top. Start at 9,000ft, end at 14,000ft.

See Aug 12 https://www.usacycling.org/national-championships

spectastic

Sucky how? Better than a desk job? I imagine it's more about endurance and ability to endure multiple days to try to stay fresh.

There are guys here who can put out 1700w, but they can't finish a 90 mile road race

nycphotography

I was thinking the exact thing, buy last week in SC/NC I spent far too much time up in mountains with no cell service and no houses to be seen for miles. I very much retracted my prior thinking and decided carrying a tube and inflator is mandatory, at least on remote rides.

Doge

We agree on the power/endurance thing. Andy and Alberto (two TdF winners) both are on video claiming 900Wish max power.

Pro cycling is a job. You must ride, must train, must travel, must live in Europe, must eat a way etc.
More constraints than most desk jobs, harder and pays less for all but a very few. And other than a few - nobody cares, at least in the USA. So you have to decide if you want to switch cultures to do that. Many don't. USA juniors were the top in the world last year. This year 2nd, and won the world ITT. So it is not about ability. It is about options. And cycling is not a real good one for most, which is why they are not doing it.

But to clinchers. Zipps are over built. I think after getting my new carbons today clinchers best use is alloy box rims. If you want performance go tubular and stop pretending you can get it from clinchers*.


*Yes I know Tony Martin wins World ITTs on perfect roads on clinchers.

Bluebatmobile

Checked out their site. Best bang for the buck, and they've done quite well in wind tunnel tests. wt on a set of 58's 1689g, for $1200.00

B@t™

Doge

Spokes matter. When they break - they matter more.
Sapim cx-ray are top notch and I see that name misspelled/changed for some less expensive options. @~$4/each it is not surprising cost is cut in that area. Sapim and other spoke mfgs have several lines of spokes.

FWIW I have no relation with Sapim. Others may be as good. I know many others are not as good.

Doge

Here is a light build Carbon Clincher. Latex Tube, pretty light - measures 24mm tire.
vs a Tubular measures 25.5 280g difference.

790gTubulars.jpg

1070gClinchers.jpg

allen254

Boyds 44mm carbon clinchers,stiff aero light amazing wheels especially now that they have been updated to even better specs.

RNAV

Sorta. For $350 more, you can get a Boyd 60mm wheel set that is more aero against the Zipp 404, 105 grams lighter than the Williams, tubeless compatible (if you're into that), with a warranty that's twice as long & a disclosed crash replacement program.

Hiro11

My feelings exactly.

Bluebatmobile

hmm...

B@t™

Doge

Pretty good deal came up...Mercury Wheels M5 Clincher Wheelset | Competitive Cyclist

asiantrick

No offense, but Mercury is the crappiest wheelset I've ever ridden. The hub corroded on me after less than 500 miles. Customer service is top notch though, since they sent me a new hub at no cost. That hub also went to **** after a thousand miles. Ended up tossing that junk in the trash. The wheelset also are much heavier than they advertise.

Doge

I just got two pair of the M5C, but rear hubs are PTs.

Did you see my picture of my 1720g 50mm profile, 25mm wide tubulars with tires, skewers, cassette? I know of no lighter set anywhere in that profile.
They won a pile of races. They are my son's favs and he has choices of HEDs, Eastons.

They are not a current sponsor, but I liked that customer service so much, I have to admit, I did develope a bit of loyalty over it.

nycphotography

Tubulars. But the thread is about clinchers.

If those were 50mm clinchers RTR @1720 then hey! wow!

Doge

The Mercury clinchers are lighter than the Zipp 404s , HEDs Stinger 6.

I posted weights and pictures above #40... And I put latex tubes in my clinchers.

The posters experience is not my own, nor my son's, nor the current RAAM team champs, nor Cylance pro cycling team.

And those tubulars - ready to ride were 1720g - that deserves a "hey" until you can find anything as light.

As mentioned I have struck up a friendship with them. There is loyalty. My tubulars were made in Taiwan. The clinchers, I think Taiwan, maybe China, I didn't look.
Just like the S-Works bike they are on. do you know a country that makes better carbon fibre products, or violins for the price than China?

FWIW - THAT bike below has been DQ'd at nationals for being too light. So it is not like I don't pay attention to weight - just that teenagers don't listen.
A__0532.jpg

gsa103

It's an un-ending travel schedule. Long days, lots of training. Living out of a suitcase. Crashes....

Unless you're a top rider, the pay is pretty terrible. Pro continental salary is ~$30k/yr. Continental races have no minimum salary, and I'm sure most are making <$20k. I have no idea how training expenses are but I would imagine that riders wind up with considerable travel, medical and training expenses.

Unless you have someone else to support you until you get WT level, it's a pretty bleak existence. And high stress since your pay-check basically depends on being able to get results.

We laugh about desk job sucking, but the truth is they're really cushy. Even the most boring desk job, you go home at the end of the day and relax, while collecting a decent paycheck.