FInal Decision: I'm on the Clock
 

Hey guys. I have been eyeing and researching carbon wheels for a few months now. I have gotten a lot of good info from you guys thus far, and am down to two choices. I am a Greenville local, so Boyd cycling is only about 3 miles from my house. I have decided to either get the 50 mm boyds, or a set of zipp 303s. I am very faithful to my LBS and have bought several bikes from them, and they keep advising against Boyds and pushing Zipps. Honestly, is there any reason at all to purchase zipp over boyd besides the bling factor? They have essentially the same warranty, and I have only heard amazing things about Boyd. Anything I am overlooking before I pull the trigger here?

Well of course the shop is going to discourage you from buying Boyds - they don't sell them. They do sell Zipps.

Zipps are great wheels, but the Boyd's are the better value IMO. No brainer - go with the Boyd's and spend the extra cash you would've paid for the Zipps elsewhere.

Saving money is always good.

(Assuming you spend the saved money on other bike stuff)

That's all I've got.

http://www.novemberbicycles.com/rfsc-58s/

After much deliberation, this is what I went with.
I wanted to save money and don't care one bit about the bling factor.

(Disclaimer: I haven't received them yet. But will post a full review when I do and ride them.)

I suspect the November wheels and the Boyd wheels use very similar parts.

Yah just get the Boyds, when you get down to it, wheels are wheels and if there's an issue, Boyd is right down the street anyway. I doubt you'll miss the .002 mph advantage from the dimpled rims anyway.

If money is no object, Zipp. Otherwise, with Boyd in the neighborhood, that's the way to go. If you've got problems you can bug them directly until it's fixed right.

i've been riding the boyd clinchers for a couple of months now. they're a fantastic wheel. and the cx-ray spokes are a nice touch. big plus is that when coasting, they're super loud (extra pawls in the freehub). you'll want to keep pedalling.

I have to say, I dont get the point of paying $1000 for what appear to be open-sourced wheels. They arent tried/tested aero designs, like Zipps, HEDs or the new ENVEs. Nor are they a lot cheaper than stuff like Reynolds or Mavic mid-range wheels. Why not just buy Planet X or even Stefano wheels and save even more money?

i say go with the Boyds and save the extra cash.

the new zipp 303 tubulars are my favorite wheels though.

either way you go you will end up with a great set of wheels. dont over think it just go with your gut.

then why buy carbon wheels? there really only for bling.

as far as aerodynamic shapes are concerned, there's really very little that separates zipps from generic deep section rims. i picked boyd because 1. he stocks his wheelsets, no waiting around. 2. he builds with cx-rays. 3. he delivers on time. 4. he is a great communicator. 5. he's not building with cheap chinese, or gigantex rims.

Makes the decision pretty easy.

There's not that big of a difference between the two these days. Not enough to justify the extra grand anyway.