I’ve got the IMC next week and I just got my new set of 808 clinchers. The shop told me I could take their zipp disc tubular to
ride in IMC with my 808 in the front. I’m not real familiar with changing a tubular tire, but am mechanically inclined. I will have to
carry extra tubulars as well as tubes, so I’m torn with the chioce of disc or 808 on the rear.
Any opinions? Is there that much of a benefit in disc over 808?
I remember monthes ago Kona and straight mountains were the only 2 reasons not to ride a disc; that seemed to be the opinion
to someone’s question.
I would stick with what you’ve got and ride the 808 clinchers. Just having to carry the extra tubular spare, learning how to glue/tape, etc. It’s not worth the hassle. Especially with IMC just around the corner, you have enough on your plate, no need to complicate things further.
IMHO you’ll get enough of an aero gain on the 808’s. I have 404’s and I bought a wheelcover from wheelbuilder.com. I’ve only used it for 1 HIM but I’ve been very happy with it, so that might be an option if you really want the effect of the full disc.
I recently switched from tubular 909s to clincher 808s, and i am happy with the choice. I am much more comfortable cornering with the 808 rear wheel, as I always felt awkward cornering with the disc. Ensure you have some good clincher tires on there, and the benefit of having clinchers will outweigh any possible benefit of the disc due to it being tubular.
i have the 808 clincher like you and just got a disc cover for the rear 808… it s amazing!!! some says even better than the actual tubular zipp or clincher zipp…
look into this… it s easy to instal and work awsome… i will be riding mine at canada next week.
it s so hard and expensive to have a tubular as performante(fast) as a clincher… you need to glue it months in advance, with the right glue, it needs to be a dugast or veloflex$$$$ and you need to put it right and straigh… if you flat… the race is over… because it needs to be glue so hard to be fast… you wont get it out of the rim on the side of the road.
with clincher, just get something good like michelin or zipp tangente or vittoria and put a latex tube and you have the fastest possible set of wheels…
that is my opinion (i do not consider weight in the equation… i dont beleive weight is a important factor at all)
these test needs to be taken lightly… if you are on the ironman canada course with the often side win from north west… you actually ride in a cross wind… so the difference between the 808 and disc (808cover) is more in the range of 30sec…to minutes depending of the wind force… you can read josh from zipp about this…
in the case of ironman hawaii, with hard strong cross wind… if the disc was legal… it could save from 4-10 minutes or even more over the 808 for the ironman bike segement…but of course… it isnt legal…
but yeah… if it isnt a windy day… the 808 will come very close to the disc…
but i do know canada is a windy course and the advantage is a lot more than 4 secondes…
i have the 808 clincher like you and just got a disc cover for the rear 808… it s amazing!!! some says even better than the actual tubular zipp or clincher zipp…
look into this… it s easy to instal and work awsome… i will be riding mine at canada next week.
I live in Phoenix area where flats happen somewhat frequently due to wind blowing thorns from desert plants onto the shoulder of roads. On my budget, it’s cheaper to fix clinchers, and easier to store tubes. I am also a clydsdale and know my limits on corners using clinchers. Just a couple of reasons.
