A bunch of the new bikes (B2, IM5000) are coming off the line with 404’s as the stock wheelset. I had thought that these wheels are not durable enough for everyday use. Is this incorrect, or do folks buy the bike and then swap out something else for “training” wheels?
Thanks.
I would say that if you have the Clincher 404’s there is really no reason to not ride them…but there is no real reason to ride them…and if you taco a wheel on a training ride I would rather it not be one of my 404’s. If you have the sew up (carbon brake surface) like I do, I would not want to train on them every day…but I would be lieing if I said that I dont like to take out the 909’s when I know that I am going to be riding in a place where there are allot of people to stare at the bike…chicks dig disk wheels.
As I’ve said before on this website, I’ve been using 404 clinchers full time for two years now without a problem. This time inclucded one crash where I schredded the tire with no damage to the wheel. I have no clue where this idea started that you can’t ride these wheels every day. They are well made and tough. Also light and fast! Who wants to have this great wheelset hanging in the garage waiting for the 4 or 5 race days you have a year. By the way, what’s a B2?
Felt’s new toy. www.feltracing.com .
What would be amazing is for these companies to offer the 404s in TUBULAR. most of the buyers for a IM500 and B2 are already going to have a bike, and at least one set of wheels. They may not have a tri/tt bike or a set of race wheels, and to have the option of getting the “race only” 404s in tubular would be a great option, they wouldn’t even need to change the tire spec. heck with all the opinions on which tubular to buy we read about here, they’d be better off just supplying some decent training clinchers for the new owner to throw on their old wheels.
if you have a good bike shop they should be willing to swap the clinchers for tubs for little to no charge
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