tell me about em.
Price no object : Zipp 909 tubulars 700c (probably around $2k for the pair now)
Value: Renn disc clincher/Spinergy Stealth front 16 spoke 45mm rim, 700c clincher ($750 for the pair)
.
hed alps. bombproof all purpose aero wheel that you can ride all the time if you want. you should be able to pick up a used pair for $500 or so.
tell me about em.
In my opinion the best “value” in race wheels would be the HED3. Can’t get much more aero and pretty bullet proof.
For flat courses get a second hand Renn or old HED or Zipp disk and on the front a 12 spoke Campy Shamal (a wheel that isn’t all carbon and pretty but I would bet pretty stiff and fast)
.
A better “value” would be the original Specialized trispoke, which was essentially the same wheel before Hed took it over. They are on ebay quite often.
For the rear the best value is a CH Aero disc cover for sxty bucks. Works as well as any other disc, which is faster than a tri spoke.
Another good wheel is a Hed Jet 90 for the rear. Go on the Hed website and you can see by their aero data that it’s almost as fast as a tri spoke.
Other good cheap ebay wheels for the front - Hed Cx, Jet 60 or Campy Shamal.
HED3/Specialized tri-spokes! Totally bomb proof. It really doesn’t matter how old they are as long as they were taken care of and will take a casette not a freewheel. A 10-12 year old Specialized is exactly the same as a brand new HED3. Thats how good they are. Nothing has changed in 10 years!
AND they are VERY aero!!! I use mine for BOTH training and racing!
Ditto on the Specialized. I have a set of like new tubulars and they rock, particularly on flat courses. They are a tad heavy, so they aren’t for Wildflower unless you have lots of leg.
I paid $850 for mine last year (too much, but I had to have them) but they were NOS. They look sweet, too.
-Robert
How 'bout H3 out of true front $310-360. Renn closeout rear $310.
Those are great deals on the HED3 closeouts. Trust me…you’ll never notice the difference. You are talking fractions of a millimeter!
point me in the right direction…
Hedcycling.com (I think)
All3sports.com
.
Depending on your budget, another choice to consider for a front wheel is the Hed Stinger. all3sports.com has them for $420, which sounds high but that includes a Vittoria CX, a very nice tire, and shipping, so the equivalent price of the wheel itself is really more like $330-340.
The stinger is slightly less aero in crosswinds than the H3, but it will also handle better in crosswinds than the H3 too, IMHO this tradeoff makes it a wash. I found a borrowed H3 to be a handful in windy conditions, and held back a bit on the downhills as a result in the one race I used it.
The pricing on the closeout H3s is only attractive on the more out of true wheels, .040" may not sound like much but that is about a millimeter, which is potentially enough to start compromising your braking on a front wheel.
I’ve been looking for race wheels on ebay, but generally feel that the going price for anything good seems too high to justify buying used items sight unseen.
if you are looking for used wheels the roadbikereview.com classifieds are a good place. lots of knowledgable riders selling/swapping products for a good price. i would trust anyone on there more than i would an ebay seller, despite the feedback mechanism.
If you buy them new down under you will get your pants pulled down, I got a pair of Cane Creek carbons off ebay for US$600 (retail for $3500 Australian), then a Corima Disc for US $500, after the disc I didn;t use the back Cane Creek much so I gave to my girlfriend (the subject of the riding date) and bought her a Lew front wheel for $200US. Then I bought a power tap for $600 and a titanuim Merlin frame for $800. I love buying the Amercian’s junk, they can’t help themselves from trading up to the next years model. Just be careful with the freight as it is all over the place in the USA, exchange rate is good however. High quality tubular wheels are good buying second hand, not many people are keen to use them as they get scared about the glue and you know they won;t have any training milage on them.
Hedcycling.com (I think)
All3sports.com
Try all3sports…good bunch of guys…lots of knowledge.