Reading through all of the Felt posts and I can not really find a definitive answer on the wheel performance of the TTR Wheels. Seems to be a lot of dancing around the subject with " They are good, but not zipps. or Better then others aero of the same price point" , what price point???
I’m considering buying the following:
B12, B2 or a Cervelo P2C: Are the Felt TTR wheels a deal breaker, I do not have the budget this year to get race wheels and want the most bang for my buck.
Bottom line, can someone tell me the value or “actual” function of these wheels, the differences between the TTR2 and TTR3 wheel sets? I can assume that these are not as aero as zipps, but how do they compare to the Shimano 500 that come with the P2C or a step further the DuraAce 7800 wheels I currently have.
I do not actually know much about the “Felt Wheels”. Honestly, there are very few very good aero wheels out there. Zipp, HED, Shimano DA to name probably the top three for TT or triathlon specifically.
The wheels that come with the bike are going to be perfectly suitable for training. If you want to affordably get on some great wheels from HED, Echappe Equipment has a complete line up.
With regard to bikes, though, the P2C is a great bike. If its in your price range, I would get it. Get the best grouppo you can afford because wheels can be 1) rented and 2) wheel technology changes every year. If you’re not racing more than 10 races per season, it doesn’t make sense to purchase a wheelset that costs more than your bike.
If you have more questions about specific products, let me know.
I ride a P2C and the wheelsets didnt really enter into the purchasing equation for me. Id say neither set from Felt or Shimano are “race” wheels. The TTRs are deeper sections than the R-500 and R-550 that come on the P2C, but not by a lot. Therefore, the TTRs should be more aero than the Shimano wheels…but I REALLY doubt you would notice. My guess is, there would be no noticeable difference in performance between the two sets.
My suggestion is get the bike you like better, fits better, and then rent race wheels if you cant afford them this year. Always the rear disc cover option too.
Reading through all of the Felt posts and I can not really find a definitive answer on the wheel performance of the TTR Wheels. Seems to be a lot of dancing around the subject with " They are good, but not zipps. or Better then others aero of the same price point" , what price point???
I’m considering buying the following:
B12, B2 or a Cervelo P2C: Are the Felt TTR wheels a deal breaker, I do not have the budget this year to get race wheels and want the most bang for my buck.
Bottom line, can someone tell me the value or “actual” function of these wheels, the differences between the TTR2 and TTR3 wheel sets? I can assume that these are not as aero as zipps, but how do they compare to the Shimano 500 that come with the P2C or a step further the DuraAce 7800 wheels I currently have.
Please help stop my confusion!
Thanks in advance…
I went throught the same exact scenario about 1 month ago though the B12 was not in the equation. I was deciding on the P2C DA and the B2. After going back and forth for quite awhile, I decided on the B2. The salesperson who helped me basically told me the same thing you are hearing. The wheels on the Felt are better than the R550s on the P2DA though the difference is extremely small. I got the advice of not buying one over the other based on the wheels because they are both good training wheels and that is it. I chose the B2 because the fit was great and honestly I love how it looks. Also, it seems everyone has a Cervelo and I wanted to be different. Both bikes are fantastic. Like others have said, choose the one that fits the best.
Reading through all of the Felt posts and I can not really find a definitive answer on the wheel performance of the TTR Wheels. Seems to be a lot of dancing around the subject with " They are good, but not zipps. or Better then others aero of the same price point" , what price point???
I’m considering buying the following:
B12, B2 or a Cervelo P2C: Are the Felt TTR wheels a deal breaker, I do not have the budget this year to get race wheels and want the most bang for my buck.
Bottom line, can someone tell me the value or “actual” function of these wheels, the differences between the TTR2 and TTR3 wheel sets? I can assume that these are not as aero as zipps, but how do they compare to the Shimano 500 that come with the P2C or a step further the DuraAce 7800 wheels I currently have.
Please help stop my confusion!
Thanks in advance…
We just spent a great deal of time in the wind tunnel testing the TTR wheels against just about every other wheel (and tire combo) we could get our hands on. You assumption was correct, they aren’t as fast as a Zipp 808. However, they are faster than every French and Japanese (Malaysian) wheel we brought with us. They are also faster than teh alloy clinchers from Zipp.
I’m confident that they are the fastest alloy clinchers currently on the market from anyone, including your current 7800 wheels.
They looked good in the store when I saw them. You boys going to be releasing any numbers on them or are you going to just avoid the inevitable flame fest that would start about what kind of bolt you used to ecure the wheel in the tunnel and did you use ionized air, etc. ala the Zipp thread?
I have a follow up question for you. What are the differences between the TTR2 and the TTR3? Someone from my LBS told me that the TTR2 were lighter and stronger, buy I can not find any additional data to back that up.
I have the budget to go to the B2 and the website is great at pointing out the upgrades from the B12 to the B2 except there is no data on wheel specs…
So a question to SD then, since you are promoting how great your product is…
If these are the greatest wheels (sub $1000) since sliced bread, how can I get a set for my
bike without having to by a felt and selling off the rest of the bike on Ebay.
That is very seldom our marketing stradegy. The wheels were shocking at how low the drag was if optimized (21mm tire, <5 degree yaw) to suit the marketing claims. We could set up the test to say they are indeed faster than many carbon wheelsets currently on the market. However, as we plotted the graph with a variety of tire options (including the Vittoria’s we spec with them) the nature of the aero data too shape and indeed deeper offerings picked less drag as the yaw angle increased.
As soon as I release numbers that say we’ve got 687 grams of drag, it opens the door to have the next guy claim he’s only 686.
I’m happy to answer questions about the wheels, and hope my responses are taken seriously.
What tire was on the Zipp? I’m pretty sure I could repeatably get the TTR wheels to test better than a 404 if you allow me to select the conditions.
The OPTIMAL 404 set up was faster than the fastest TTR set up in our tests. Woudln’t it be great if I could honestly report otherwise?
Well, they said all of the “aluminum clincher” wheels had the tire I mentioned above and that the tubular wheels all had “a Continental GP 4000 700 x 22c tire but measured slightly under 22mm”. So, I’m thinking the 404 had that. Then again, it’s not exactly clear.
I think it would be great if someone could test all the “top” wheels with the “optimal” tire (from a “total drag” perspective, i.e. aero PLUS Crr) and then report THAT.
I do think it would be great too if you could honestly report that an aluminum clincher wheel was faster than some “benchmark” deep carbon wheels…but, I won’t hold my breath
FWIW, I am the proud owner of a B12. I’m a complete newbie at triathlons, and shun almost anything technical, so I have absolutely no authority to say what’s better than anything else, except when it comes to bang for the buck.
I’m posting just to say thanks for my Felt. I feel it’s the best value on the market, and most of all a lot of fun.
Bought my B2 yesteday and tires didn’t really make a difference in the choice as it shouldn’t have. Taking it out tonight for the first long ride tonight. I will be able to tell you all, if the TTR2 wheels are better then a standard wheel sometime soon. From a newbie stand point.
