I am an age grouper. I am not a pro, but I am training to go fast (at least fast for me) I do mostly olympic distance but I will throw in a half once a season.
I am primarily interested in being fast on the olympics. time wise I am looking to go sub 2:20 this year and Sub 2:00 within the next year or two.
What wheels are best for me? The courses that I do are mostly flat, probably mid middle of the pack elevation range. I train and race in a middle of the pack windy place, not overly windy but not super still. I try to pace the bike to around 22-24mph.
Would a 404/808 combo be best, or what about a H3/disc? I don’t really know what to do. There are a couple sweet deals on ebay/slowtwitch but I don’t really konw where to start?
I would say a 808/1080 combo would be better choice. Now the HED mafia might think differently, but Zipps have always been faster.
If you want to be fast, only 2009 models would be the choice then. Both Zipp and HED are constantly redoing their wheels to be faster than the other. In 2009, Zipp redid their wheels and HED has a couple of new models.
For race wheels, go with a disc in back (fastest, even on a hilly half like Wildflower). Back discs aren’t that hard to control since the rear wheel doesn’t steer. How deep you can go with the front wheel depends on how well you can control the bike. If you are only going to have one racing front wheel, I’d go with a 60MM like the 404. I think Flashpoint has a rental/trial program so you can see how deep works for you. I built a 100MM deep front wheel (fairing over a base wheel, kinda like the HED Jets) for myself about 10years ago, and could barely stay on the road…no problems at 60MM though. Trained with a back disk cover for years with no problems.
As for training stick with the cheap training wheels and save the carbons for race day. Discs aren’t very comfortable, and you’d hate to torch the 404 on a local pothole.
Full disclosure: I run a Renn disc in back (H3 for Kona), and a Cosmic Carbone in front (all bought used on eBay). Daily training wheels are some bombproof, semi-areo 28MM Mavic Ksyriums (also from eBay).
You can use them for road racing, triathlon, and windy races.
Normann had a 4:18 day on a Zipp 606 setup.
Disc wheels are good for personal moral, they scare the crap out of other riders when passing and shifting. However the reverse is true when a standard wheel set blows by you.
what kind of asshole does anything other than pedal as hard as they can during a race?
do any of you people here actually pedal different when a disc wheel or non disc wheel passes you ?
seriously
quit thinking about sports in terms of ESPN analyst terms, those guys are jock idiots.
a disc wheel, is at any wind speed and angle, the fastest option
put a disc on a your rear wheel unless the rules don’t allow it.
they cost like $75 (for a cover)
this is a no brainer
move along!
Disc wheels are good for personal moral, they scare the crap out of other riders when passing and shifting. However the reverse is true when a standard wheel set blows by you.
Do you use a PowerMeter? in racing/training or both?
How tall are you?
I will not ask more than one religious question…do you believe in clinchers or sew-ups? and what of Tufo Tires?
How much do you weigh?
Are you a fearless descender? or are you somewhat moved by self-preservation when the conditions feel"sketchy"?
What are the most important races for 2009? and how often do you race?
Look at Hedcycling.com and their wheel picker/wind angle chart.
What is your bike? and are you getting a new one? and what will it be?
The Nikkei Futures Commodity Market has a Green Tea sub market tracker…Q: what will the price in 4Q in 2009? Oh, Fiddlesticks! That was from the “what does this have to do with the price of tea in China” thread…oops!
I struggled with this question myself about nine months ago. I spoke with people at every wheel manufacturer, got advice from people on this site and others, and asked everyone on a bike for their opinion. There are so many opinions and it can get confusing, but I realized after narrowing down my options I was comparing different set-ups that would have very small differences in time/aerodynamics. Keep that in mind and don’t stress too much over the stats or it’ll drive you nuts.
In the end, I decided to purchase HED 60’s for both front and back, with a disc cover for back. This was one of the more cost effective options for a new wheelset and as a bonus it is pretty versatile with the disc cover option. This was my first wheel set other than the stock wheels that came with my P2 and I’m really happy with my choice.
