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My wife picked up a Kona slot at IMLP riding her Merlin Aerial with 32 spoke Velocity clinchers. The one equipment upgrade that would seem to do the most good before Kona is a more aerodynamic front wheel.
What are her options for a reasonable aero front wheel upgrade? Clinchers options please as she is comfortable with theri limitations.
Thanks for any informed responses,
SciGuy
Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.
I would recommend the Hed Alps. The rim is aero but not too deep (50mm) to be bothered by the winds. Also the nice thing with the clincher Alps is you can use tubes with a 60mm valve and not have to bother with valve extenders.
18x Ironman, 3x Hawaii
US Army (Ret.), Vietnam Vet ('71-'72)
I would not recommend the Hed Alps. I would only recommend a shallow aero wheel if there is such a thing (Zip 303) or a really light weight wheel. I know what I am talking about. I have been to Kona 4x with this October my 5th. I have the Merlin Aerial with 650 wheels. Very nice lightweight bike. In 2001 with that bike, riding the Zip 404 on front and back I was literally blown all over the road. At about mile 20 on the way out inI was riding to the right of the white line one second and on the other side of the double yellow the next. With the bike's light weight and my weight (~ 133) & the Zip it was awful made for a very danergous bike. I had to pedal with one shoe unclipped ready to respond when the bike took off especially coming out of the slightly protected mounds of lava. I ws getting blown around like a rag doll. The guys weighing 50 more lbs than me didn't have nearly as much trouble.I decided I'd never go back to Kona with my 404 on the front. I am a strong cyclist and fairly agressive. I also prefer clinchers which most people don't.
Last year I was going to just take my Rolf Vector Comp which is use for training when I purchased a American Classic Sprint 350 front wheel just for IMH with Sapim xray spoke upgrade. They made it up for me & I got it with a week. It is sinfully light. I used that for IMH with my Zip 404 on the back and had absolutely no trouble on the bike course last yr. I had also put the Oval fork on it which is much lighter than carbonaero fork it the Aerial came with. It was the difference between night and day. I will use the same setup again. There is about 4000 ft elevation gain so the light weight wheel was useful for that.
Don't know if this is her 1st time but she will have her hands full with IMH course and the minmal time gained on the course with aero wheels can easily be negated by the windy conditions. Making sure one can keep the bike under control and get the hands off the bars and get their nutrition in regularly is a big factor in a successful over all effort and good run. I do recommend an upgrade of a lighter weight wheel from the velocity wheel she has now which she can use for training.
Good luck And have a great time in Kona.
Feel free to e-mail me with any further questions.