Here is my dilemma: Duathlon coming up where the bike leg is essentially a hill climb. That’s great, the problem is I’m a lazy bastard and don’t want to swap out my race and training tires. Two sets of wheels- HED3’s with race rubber and Bontrager Aero’s with slime tubes and Gatorskins (commute during “winter”). Normally I’d ride the Bontrager’s with race rubber for climbing but as previously stated I’m rather lazy and don’t want to get my hands dirty (also its cold in the garage). All I need is a little reassurance my HED3’s actually climb very well…
Come to think of it, I now remember quite a few HED’s in use at the Mt.Washington hill climb, right? Yea that’s the ticket…
I don’t know which Bontrager Aero wheels you have, but perusing the Bontrager and Hed websets, it seems to me that the Hed 3s are lighter than anything with the word Bontrager and Aero in it.
I have a set of Bontrager Race Aero wheels I use for my training set, too. And I have a set of HED 3 wheels. I love the Bontragers for everyday riding. They’re great. But they’re not going to do anything the HED 3 wheels won’t do better even on a hill climb course.
Just my $.02
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Estimated weights as is (as measured on my Mettler Toledo 
HED3: 1180 g
Bontrager: 1260 g
edit:resized image
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Normally I’d ride the Bontrager’s with race rubber for climbing but as previously stated I’m rather lazy and don’t want to get my hands dirty (also its cold in the garage). All I need is a little reassurance my HED3’s actually climb very well…
Once the race starts you will forget about your wheels, either ones will work great.