Well can I make a suggestion?

They are durable, BUT.

For about $200 you can get a set of Ultegra/Open pro wheels from any of the major online shops. That way, if you are riding along and smash into a curb - whatever - you will smash the $200 Mavics, not the $1300+ zipps.

Peace of mind ... you will worry less about the wheels and concentrate more on training.

What I do: TT bike - I race on a [tubulars] Corima disc (800) and HED3 front (415) but train on comfy [clinchers] Spinergy Xaero Lites (700) which sometimes double as my road race wheels for the road bike.

Yeah ok. I guess I'm not asking SHOULD you. I'm asking COULD you. Let's say I'm willing to risk trashing a wheel.

I see guys training on thier $5000 frames.... they don't seem worried that they could crash on a training ride and destroy the frame. I suppose wheels are more susceptible to punishment. But really, what are the chances of destroying the wheel in training? I don't know a single person (besides MTB'ers) who have blown a wheel in training.

zipp 303 clinchers tip the scale in the low to mid 1400grams, are in the $1000 price range, and use straight pull spokes. rim depth is 38mm.

american classic aluminum 420's tip the scales in the low to mid 1400's, are in the sub $700 price range, and use standard DT or revolution spokes. rim depth is 34mm

 Greg, I'm with you. I rode 404 clinchers full time, all the time last year with no bad effects. I even had a crash when someone opened their car door into me, sending me up the curb and into the flower beds. I schredded the front tire but the wheel was perfect. I have aluminum braking surfaces for better stopping and through away tubes rather than $70 tires. I know you can repair tubulars, or send them away to some guy in Fla, but who needs it. I don't need to have these great wheels hanging in the garage to be used a few times a year. I want to ride them now. If 404 tubulars are the best race wheels, 404 clinchers are the second best and not by much!

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

I presume you're talking Zipp clinchers. I prefer tubulars for racing, which pretty much seals the deal for not riding them day in and day out.

I train on Rolfs, with Slime liners (130 g or so, 4 flats in the last 15000 miles) and on race day, when I put on my lighter wheels, I feel like I'm flying.

I also like training on the Rolfs, because they're definitely bomb proof. I don't think the Zipps are fragile, but I like the idea of knowing my race setup is race ready, so I have a seperate bike, wheels and all. Imagine how bummed you'd be if you doinked a pothole and popped a spoke or de-trued your Zipp wheel too close to race day to get it fixed...

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Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

This isn't a question about Zipp's, it's a question about training on your race wheels. Regardless of what your race wheels are, if you are fortunate enough to own a 2nd set of wheels, then it makes no sense to train on your race wheels. Keep them safe, keep them ready to race. The same could be said of bikes. Although geometry makes this more difficult. If you are fortunate enough to have two bikes, don't ride your race bike in training (assuming fit/geometry are identical, not likely, which is why most people don't do this).

Chances are nothing will happen to the Zipp's in training, but chances are you won't get in a car accident, so why wear a seatbelt. You can drive 90 and probably won't get stopped, you can smoke and probably won't get cancer. Should you? Is it worth the risk? Only you can decide.

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Justin in Austin, get it? :)

Cool races:
- Redman
- Desoto American Triple T

You could conceivably train on your race wheels, but why?

Could you paint your house in an Armani suit? Sure, if you're really careful, you won't get paint on it, but why take the risk?

Race wheels should give you an advantage on race day. You should train on the heaviest, ugliest wheels that money can buy. This ensures that you will not cry if something happens to your Zipps. Also, you will add weight and resistance to your training. Think of your training wheels as your jeans and your race wheels as your suit. I don't think twice about mowing the lawn in a pair of jeans, but the suit is saved for weddings, bar mitzpahs, and funerals. The jeans can be bought anywhere for as much or as little as I wish to spend if I ruin them, whereas the suit took a lot of planning, cost bunches of money, and needed some alterations to get it looking just right.

It is not the fact that they will disintegrate at 5000k. They can be ridden for many years. You could concevably replace hubs on a good set of carbon race rims when drivetrains change. I have a front race wheel that is over ten years old, and it is just as good as the day it was built. It is now just a small part of the arsenal that comprises my sets of race wheels.

As fas as your bike to train on, there are some that are not meant for training on. Not that many are like that these days (as the super bike is kind of gone), as many of the superbikes are kind of unusable as daily riders. You will probably not damage your frame on a pothole, but a wheel can easily be destroyed by one measly pothole. This logic can be applied to a race situation, for certain; but most races will be held on decent roads, otherwise the RD will have no racers the next year. In my many years of riding, I have only damaged one frame beyond repair in a crash. I have damaged a lot more wheels.

One more way to put it: If you train on a cheap, heavy, ugly wheel and damage it, it is a lot easier and less painful to replace it than if your damage your $900 set of race wheels. If you want to justify your purchase, race more.

A few stories.

I got to do a very small group ride with Mike Pigg a few years ago. It was a 70 mile ride with one mountain. He was riding what looked like 700x28s with about 80 pounds of pressure on some very crappy looking wheels. Just imagine how much easier it was for him to accelrate and hold a fast speed when he put race wheels on.

There used to be a guy who was training at a local tri training hot spot in Atlanta. We watched him train for a while on his tubular zips. I told my buddies, "that is going to be an expensive flat." Sure enough, the next time we saw him, he flatted. He was back on training rims right after that.

Are they durable enough? There is some debate. There is nothing to be gained by training on them. There is a lot to lose. If you want a nice training wheel, get a nice pair. Get some Mavics or Shimanos if you want nice training wheels. I currently train on the Shimano Dura-Ace wheelset that looks like Rolf wheels. They are great wheels, I got a deal on them, and they are repairable.

It sounds like you have already formed a strong opinion, however. So go ahead and do it!

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"Remember: a bicycle is an elegant and efficient tool designed for seeking out and defeating people who aren't as good as you."

--BikeSnobNYC