Hello,
I am about 8 weeks out from Ironman Texas and getting ready to buy wheels.
Anyone have experience with Enve 4.5 or Zipp 404 Firecrest on Speed Concepts? Mine is a 2015 7.5.
Any information you can provide, I would greatly appreciate!
Thanks,
Bryce
I recently switch from 404 FC (ridden the last 3 years almost exclusively) to ENVE 6.7 and am amazed at the difference after only one long ride. The 404s push a lot more in the wind and don’t stop as well (with both brands own proprietary pads in use). I like the fact that ENVE a brass nipples because the Zipp alloys break from fatigue after constant use or 16k miles in my occurrence. I looked at the 4.5s, but decided with the deeper profile of the 6.7 because the weight penalty is negligible when you factor in the aero gains. I live in central Massachusetts where the terrain is rolling to moderately flat, and might opt for a lighter wheel if I was doing a lot more climbing. If price is a big factor, the Zipps have come down in price this year, so you have that going for you.
The zipps would most likely be faster due to them having more depth (both 58mm vs Enve’s 48/56mm), the advantage of the enve’s is the stability factor however to make a reasonable comparison between the 404 and enve’s for stability you would be looking at a 6.7 wheelset (and therefore be getting more speed).
Buy whichever you think are prettier.
Why not rent a 808/Disc? Don’t they still rent wheels at IMs now days…
actually enve say the newer shape of the 4.5 makes it pretty much as aero as the 6.7 but with even more stability benefit than you’d expect from the shallower depth. so OP probably has the right/best options identified
404 might well still be faster though… hard to say for sure.
Love my 4.5s, and feel like i can use them in all sorts of situations, not just TTing.
brass nipples because the Zipp alloys break from fatigue after constant use or 16k miles in my occurrence
I doubt many Zipp wheels get remotely close to that mileage.