I have a set of Felt TTR3 wheel which is 38mm AL, blade strokes. Heavy but very strong wheels. Race is on flat course so weight isn’t a problem.
Since then I have found disc cover for the rear on ST, also got good race tires and latex tubes.
Now what should I do with the front wheel?
And I don’t want to spend more than $300 on the front :
Keep the 38mm front. $0
Get a new 60mm front carbon wheel from eBay Chinese vendor. That’s cheap, say $200
Wait for a nice used Zipp 404 front etc on ST or eBay. That’s maybe $400, over my limit now.
And how much time will I save from 38mm to 58mm on 40k.
Personally, I would go #2, and be done
I picked up a used HED 3 front wheel (and rear as well). I have loved it, and you can find them cheep on ebay or craigslist. The bright thing is that since they are so indestructible, i was far less worried about getting one used. I love having the aluminium break track as well. Not to mention that if you look at the recient pictures from the US TT Championship race, like 75% were running an HED3 front (granted some were the new gt3 but what are you gonna do). Than all you have to do is pick up a conti gp4000s 20 mm tire and you are good to go. I love mine.
Last year I bought a used FLO 60 on eBay for $290 shipped.
Time savings? Well somewhat depends on what size tire you were running on the TTR wheel to compare to a deeper (and wider?) wheel. I ride with GP4000s 23c tires on my TTR2 wheels and have the same tire on my FLO wheels. Aero wise it matches better with the wider FLO wheel but likely is only seconds saved and also depends on the wind direction.
Might as well consider adding View-Speed skewers to the mix if you’re after saving every aero watt.
I bought a used clincher H3 front in 1999 and have raced exclusively on it ever since. I do midweek club TTs and weekend open TTs throughout the season. Therefore, this wheel has been used for 16 years (plus the original owner’s usage) and twice a week for 6 months in each of those years (bar injury, illness etc.) and it’s still going strong.
Oh, I do sometimes train on it as well, if I want to test myself out on one of my regular race circuits.
I’ve changed the bearings twice, which is so easy to do, and it gets a wipe down after each race. That’s the extent of the maintenance it needs.
I recently picked up another one as a spare, simply because I don’t want to be without one if ever the brake surface wears out. But I’ve taken to using both as race day wheels: one has a faster but more fragile tyre on it than the other.
As much as I love my chinese wheels and have no problems you can find some good deals on stuff like heds on ebay if you look.
The shipping on a single front wheel from china would usually make it a bit over 200 and the shipping time can vary from 1 week to a month plus.
I got a used bontrager/hed front wheel that I run on my road bike that only had a small crack in the fairing for like 90 shipped on ebay about a year ago. Good ones are going for your price range I think.
Either H3 or Flo 60 as suggested above. If you’re keeping your rear wheel, I’d get the H3 so that you can have one spare tube for both. If you get the flo, you’ll have to have 2 spares or add/remove a valve extender, which I wouldn’t want to do during a race. Either of those wheels will get you within seconds or (or equal to) the fastest available.