I have a pair of 700 Bontrager Select A’s that I use as race wheels. I plan on taking them in to get trued before this season, is it worth the cost of upgrading to bladed spokes. I’m a fat bastard (I’ll race around 190# this year) and plan on doing 3 sprint tri’s, 1 Oly tri, 1 du, and 4 TT’s (at least one as both a TT and TTT).
A full set of good bladed spokes is going to cost about $125-150 plus building (DT Aerospeed or Sapim), those two are the best as far as I know.
For a little more you can buy a new set of aero wheels like the Velocity Sparticus
Will you feel a difference between the two spokes? probably not. The Bontrager’s are great training wheels, I’d leave them as they are and invest in some real racing wheels. there are a lot of good deals to be found in the used wheels market for under $400
jaretj
Wheelsmith AE15 bladed spokes (15/16 spokes smushed at the 16 gauge bit) are relatively cheap (under a buck a spoke from www.oddsandendos.com). Wheelsmith also makes a 14/16 bladed spoke which costs a bit more. AE15s are excellent spokes for the money - I have them on 3 wheelsets. I would say that they’re the wrong spokes if you’re a large rider doing cyclocross on those wheels (I am a very small rider doing cyclocross, so the spoke choice is acceptable).
With those wheels you would be better off saving your money and buying new race wheels then paying someone $100 to 150+ to re-build your wheels with slightly more aero spokes.
Those Bontrager Selects are great for training but are pretty heavy wheels for racing. I don’t think you would see much (if any difference) by getting new spokes.
Now if you wanted a fun weekend project - then buy the spokes and rebuild the wheel yourself. that’s a challenge and could be fun…