Recommendations on Carbon Clincher Wheelset
 

Looking at getting a set of Carbon Clinchers for my road bike. I will be using them for daily training rides. Looking for recommendations! Pics would be good too :).

B@t™

Can't go wrong with Zipps. I have 303 and use them everyday... 11,000 miles over the past 2 seasons and they are still straight and true.

http://glenn-ring.com/emonda/preserve.jpg

Get em while they're hot. Boyd Cycling

I have 404 NSWs and am extremely happy with them. I'm putting Boyd's on my next build. You probably won't go wrong with any of the name brand rims (Zipp, Enve, Boyd, etc). On the Boyd's website there are links to wheel builders who can build a number of different brand rims with the hub, spoke option of your choice.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0r...w3072-h4096-no

Wow, never heard of these guys. I'll take a look :).

B@t™

if you absolutely have to go aero on training rides, flo60 are nice. they're aero enough at much nicer cost

Reynolds Assault/Attack/Strike options are pretty solid, big name, options at reasonable prices.

Boyd and Alto wheels are also good options. And last I saw, Boyd was offering free White Ind. hub upgrades.

That was just a Black Friday deal, then got extended until Cyber Monday....but it's still active this morning. I suspect it will be ending very soon.

Checked out their website and the line up looks impressive. Although the wind tunnel testing they did was at 30mph and then claimed time savings on an iron man bike leg. I want to see some one pull 30 mph for iron man distance. I believe the record split for an iron man bike legs is around 26mph and still way over anything I could pull off on even shorter distances. It would be nice if they also tested and showed data for 20 mph where mortals like me could actually obtain.

love my boyds with WI hubs.
http://i.imgur.com/yN0E2xRl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/puyZjjel.jpg

Very happy with my Williams 58s.

Thanks! Will check then out :).


B@t™

Worst thing I ever did was sell my Williams carbon clinchers. Great wheels and a good price.

i remember you from scionlife! nice to see you here :)

If I was going to buy a set of Zipps, it would be 303s. Really great balance between aerodynamics, weight, and cross-breeze handling. Nice all around wheels. Well, better than "nice." But I think the 303 is their most balanced wheelset, the best one if you don't have a pigeonhole.

I have/had the 404FC/303FC, and really didn't find that much of a difference in terms of handling, but the 404s are definitely more aero. In fact, the 404s were lighter than the 303s for whatever reason. I ended up selling the 303s. So for me, I think the 404s are actually the all-rounder.

Wait, what? 404s lighter than 303s?

Caveat:

2012 404 FC tubulars with Conti Competitions 22mm

2014 303 FC tubulars with Conti GP4000s II 22/23mm

Same skewers, both 11-speed 11-28 cassettes.

All in:

404 - 2200 grams

303 - 2240 grams

Good luck with the new wheels!

After you've had them for a few months, here's the link to the regrets thread so you can post about them-

http://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycli...tted-most.html

;)

:foo:

I had a little bit of sealant in the 303, but it's not that much.

I think the later model 303s are just a smidge wider, not on the brake track, but the widest point on of the rim about 1cm below the brake track.

one can argue that deeper wheels like 404's can accelerate faster than 303's, especially at high speeds, due to its aerodynamic advantage, despite the higher weight in the rims. when choosing between aero and weight, aero wins every single time. in climbing weight doesn't actually matter that much - they tested this. in all other situations, aero wins, by a mile.

so long as you can handle the cross winds, always go deeper


also, since rim width was brought up, you want to go wider. zipps are notoriously successful because they've optimized the wheel cross section to include the tire that you'll be using, such that their combined cross section is in a tear drop shape, where the middle of the rim is actually wider than the tire. for example, if you're using 25 tires on a narrow rim, you're loosing a lot of the aero benefits due to the non-smooth junction between the tire and the rim, such that a wider 40mm wheel would actually be more aero than a narrow 60mm wheel.

I can go on.. but I'd be a hypocrite, because I ride and race on shallow aluminum clinchers.. none of this **** matters. it's all mental.

That's what she said.

These came tonight - they had some great Black Friday deals (These were different).
We have their Tubulars, Clinchers. Also likely getting a hill climbing set too - not sure. I'm struggling with the extra weight of the wider width - rims and tires. But that is off topic.
Attachment 544639

As above, just got those new clinchers. Bare - no skewers, no tires, no cassette (with rim tape) they weigh the same as the same profile tubulars, with larger tires ready to ride (1790g).

I understand the clincher attraction - I had my first flat in the last two years this AM and it only cost me a tube. But for performance they are not even close. I'm really close to being willing to pay $110/flat/year and use the cell phone and just have a better ride.