Dude, you may be myopic, but you appreciate good bike stuff. You'd ride Di2 for two hours and come back with a glazed look of revelation in your eyes. If you like Zipps, you'd love Di2. Don't be completely blinded by weight weenism. That's a slippery slope.

Here's my approach: I had Zero G brakes. Light. Handsome. Functional. Except every May they get full of tree pollen road gunk that makes them go into vapor lock. You literally have to dis-assemble this component, clean it, lube it and re-install it. My LBS did if for me in 2010. When this condition repeated itself in 2011, I had them remove the brakes, clean them, assemble them, and list them on eBay for sale. The Ultegra brakes (which always offered far superior brake performance anyway) are back on the bike.

Hence my real hesitation on Red. I may not like the look and feel of it (cheaper and cheesy compared to Shimano to me), but that would be fine if the function came back with universal four star reviews. It does not. There are as many people who tell me it blows as people who rave about it. The sources telling me it's not so good are people I know, respect and trust for many years. But like I said, that doesn't mean I wouldn't try it some time. But it doesn't make me rush in either.
I will sacrifice weight in favor of superior function any time. That's one reason I'm not real big on tubulars, but I sort of understand those; in some ways they are superior to clinchers functionally, they actually puncture half as much.

Two reasons for this: I ride too much to eff around with components when there is stuff that works better. And lightness is very nice, but it's really rather meaningless from a performance standpoint. The more you race, the more this may dawn on you. I've raced and been in competitive riding situations for 20 years, I know what matters and what doesn't. Zipps/tubulars can certainly help and matter. Components that work well, those matter. A pound or two on your bike is ultimately rather irrelevant. That's 41 blather and weight weenie obsession. I share some of the latter of course (we all do) but the former is white noise. Filter it out, even as you add to it.

See Velomenati, rules # 5, 42, 74. Follow these, you have no need for a tri-bike, a power meter, or high dollar wheels. Buy your wife a nice 2k present.

Bling? Are you serious? They are friggen' hoops of carbon fiber. What the hell is so bling about them? Just buy some Spinergys, you won't be disappointed. I took mine down a brick road the other day for like 2 miles, just because I could. The PBO spokes aren't the most aero things out there, but they do ride nice, and you can get them in colors for your bling preference. The Zipps are a good bit stiffer, and I would never ride them down a brick road. Well I would if I had to, but I would prefer to be on my Spinergys. I've seen the roads of NYC, if I lived in that hell hole, I would be a Spinergy fan for sure. As for looks I think the Zipps are possibly more blingy, mostly because they still have their stickers, but I think the Spineys look pretty good too. If money was no object, and you didn't live in NYC, I would say Extralite Ultraspeed68's at 1090g for 68mm deep. But since you live in NYC, get some Spineys, you won't regret it. At any price they are a great everyday carbon wheel. Here you go Spineys on the right, and Zipps on the left, obviously.

http://crxbart.com/cycling/lateaprilbikes1.jpg
You can copy image location for a much larger view btw.

Ahem, Speedway Indiana my friend. A lot of them are made in France too. Corima makes the rims for Spinergy, which Corima is a French brand. Mavic is French as well. BTW, I don't like the French, but I do like my Spinergys.

S.A., you completely miss the point, but that's why you rock.

Is that a serious question? I mean, you "do" know that personal taste is subjective, right?

See what I mean?


Very nice. :)


Doesn't Mavic make their wheels in Asia?

I got you. Sorry I was replying while you posted your last post. I'll get to it here:
I had Shimano stuff almost kill me from dropping a chain on no less than 3 bikes in my life, all of which resulted in mild injury. This happened on two MTBs, and once on a roadbike. While I appreciate their efforts to rectify this, by going to the extreme measures they have, adding electronics, complexity, and weight. The only reason they have done this, is because Sram stuff works very well, costs less, and is stealing their market share rapidly. I first switched out my MTBs to SRAM, then once my Ultegra started acting like junk, I had already figured out what to do. The people telling you not to get Sram are either imbeciles, or they just don't want you to enjoy the great performance of the SRAM stuff. It is easy to setup, and works perfect every time. I love my Sram groups. I would really like to try Campy one day, but I am really happy with this SRAM junk, and the price is great.

As for Zero G brakes. I have read reviews of people complaining about those quite a lot. That is why I did research, and bought the new KCNC brakes. They are lighter than almost anything, and stop every bit as good as Ultegra with good pads. They do need to be kept clean to work properly, but I clean my race bike almost every time I ride it. So it is a non issue in that case. I agree with what you are saying about light parts being a liability. My KCNC cranks I have are kind of that way. They creaked a lot, and the spider came loose often. Both ISIS, and External. The Lightning however is a great piece, it is light, and perfect in every way. Light as hell, stiff as anything, and silent no creaks.

I agree with tubies being a PITA, but they are fast, and light. I love them, but the glue is starting to peel in spots, and that is going to be a PITA to re-glue them, but it must be done. I pretty much only use them for racing, so it's not too big of a deal for me. I am still not racing again yet due to the healing collar bone, which can also corresponds with my more apparent presence on BF. I did do nice hard high intensity ride yesterday, and it felt pretty good so I may be posting less here in the near future.



My point is, I wouldn't buy them just for bling. I think that the performance is more of a benefit personally.

Thank you.


IDK, I know they are a French brand, but to be honest I never had any appeal to their products. So I don't know much about them. Would not surprise me though.

FRED ALERT !

I almost bought a pair of Zipps after I heard the hub noise when coasting.

So why were you posting that to me when I wrote the same?
Were you agreeing with me?

Sorry, I reread your post. It appears you were being sarcastic. If ultimate aero is the goal the Zipps will be more aero than almost any other wheel of the same depth. They spend a lot of money in making sure of that. There are so many choices out there. They are all going to be good. If you aren't racing them however, I would go more for a comfortable wheel. My Zipps are great, but they are awful stiff, and can be rough on bumpy/crappy roads.