I’ve always been told that if you are going to get only one wheel, make sure it is the front. I bought a Hed Jet a few years back and used it up front for two seasons before I got around to (ie. could afford) a race wheel for the rear. The Jet is still an economical option for a good front wheel and they seem to be available used pretty regularly.
What I’m saying, Justin, is that the raw drag #s posted on any site, say Hed for instance, regarding their disc, do not tell the whole story. You can’t take that # or even that # minus 25% for the seat tube and come up with the correct drag reduction for a disc. It is far less than that #. Any aero guru can tell you that. I’m not one, but I’ve read exerpts from someone who is that the on-bike drag reduction is somewhere on the order of 10-20% of the raw drag #s for the wheel. Now if I take even 20% of Hed’s posted reduction it is NOWHERE CLOSE even if you transform your figures into $/lbs of drag. Given an arbitrary list of aero front, aero fork, (true) aero frame, and disc, the disc comes in just about last in the order of the important things to upgrade. Maybe ahead of the frame if you already have a bike and are talking $/lbs drag reduction. If you’ve totally trashed the air you’re heading into, no disc in the world is going to do a whole lot on the back end to put it back together.
I’ll stay away from the numbers and let the real tech gurus handle that. I can say with out a doubt that the performance impact with a set of good race wheels is significant from two perspectives:
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The lighter weight and better aerodynamics will improve performance. Also, if the wheels are shorn with really great rubber( preferably tubular), the bike will feel and ride much better.
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The psychological boost of setting aside equipment just for racing is also very important. Get’s you in the right mindset
Note: The impact of #1 will be that much more dramatic if you train on heavy, non aero wheels/tires most of the time. This is what I did and my anectdotal findings were that under most conditions I could ride in at least a cog or two bigger gear when the race wheels were on the bike.
If you really want to save some money and don’t mind buying second hand watch ebay for a Specialized tri-spoke. It is my understanding that it is essentially the same wheel as the Hed version before Hed took over the manufacturing rights.