TX83 wrote:
Sub optimal? Possibly. And costing me what? Maybe 60sec over 112mi, if that? Fair enough. How do you explain the 25mm rear tire on the 858NSW with a 23.7mm width? For comfort since there is more shielding and less affecting aero?
And similar aero for half the price? Are you talking in a straight line with no crosswinds? I can say the 858 feels so much more stable than my 808 in crosswinds so the confidence in aero with crosswinds is much better when using the 858.
FYI....I will definitely do more personal testing on the 23v25 front to really dial in what I am going to want for a race. I'm not drinking the kool-aid for a specific tire size and will actually test and capture metrics as well as the trade off for comfort before making a final choice.
I believe the marketing.... the more you pay for your wheels, the faster they are, they are more stable, the better they look ... and they could even talk to you when you go into a dark places.
But aerodynamic came a long way over the last few years and the difference between all of them is not that big... using SwissSide Data, going from 625 to 800 save you 2 watts (at 350w)
https://www.swissside.com/...riant=13017166053475 Changing the tire / wheel pairing change way the wheel behave... which could also cost you few watts. (something to do with the air detaching, please refer to the Marginal Gain podcast for details)
Now the question is how many watts.... more or less that having a shallower wheel with optimized tires ?!?
(actually really hard to get good info on that)
Don't get me wrong, tires width is a very important choice... you just need make that choice before you grab the most expensive thing on the shells, because it look cool.