khalid

I am 6ft tall and about 190lbs, and have a muscular upper body. I am trying to look for a lightweight aero carbon clincher wheelset that is under $2500. Most of my ride is riding in a circle and some uphill at 6%. I ride about 20mph to 26mph. I am looking at the Mavic Cosmic SLR for my Madone, but today when i called Competitive Cyclist, they recommended a set of the Zipp 404. I have heard a lot of great review saying the Mavic SLR is bulletproof wheels. I wonder what you think of the two and how you would compare? and also, are there any that you think i should take a look into.

I have heard of the Lightweight standard clincher, and they are very good too. Too bad they are very expensive, and I don't think I am at that level yet. Please let me know if it's a good investment since I might upgrade in the future? Thanks

umd

I've heard good things about Edge's carbon clinchers

nitropowered

Reynolds are good too.

Zipp clinchers are really heavy since they have the aluminum rim. It can be a good and bad thing. Good, better braking, better durability, bad: wieght

DScott

Reynolds are the "go-to" pre-built wheels right now, though as umd said, these would be quite exciting as well: Model 9 – Edge Carbon Clincher 65mm (1500g) - $2325

Jynx

Prebuilt - Reynolds
Custom - Edge

/thread

pharding

I would order either Edge or Corima Wheels. You can order Corima wheels from the factory at a fine price. Just insist that they use FedEx, DHL, or UPS. Do not let them talk to you into shipping them on an airline using a freight forwarder.

Cateye

Get the Zipps. You can't go wrong. I have some 404's and I love them. I have ridden with the guys from competitive cyclist and they are great guys. They will not steer you wrong.

StanSeven

Weight has very little impact except on steep climbs. You might notice a couple hundred grams on 6% but it's very slight. The thing you want is durability. Zipps are very strong and many people use 404s as their everyday wheels for years without problems. The others are somewhat questionable.

Homebrew01

You mean there are some over $2500 ?

How will you know when you're there ?

jay0k

Another vote for the Zipp 404 clinchers. They're heavier than the tubular version but you get piece of mind with dependable breaking and tube replacement on road rides.

Zen Cyclery

I to am 190 and train on some Edge 68mm deep clinchers. They are ultra stiff as well as strong. They are the nicest wheel that I have ever ridden. Edge makes the best carbon rims available. I can say this with a high degree of certainty because I also sell Reynolds as well as Zipp. The Edge rims are stronger, lighter, and much higher quality than the other two. The set that I train on even weigh about 1490 grams which is slightly lighter than the actual weight of Ksyriums.

khalid

Which Edge clincher is the one you are referring to? are you talking about the Nirvana or the Lotus?

I don't hear a lot of people recommending the Mavic, how does Mavic compare to Zipp and Reynold?

If I am looking for air resistance or a wheel that is more durable and aerodynamic, is Edge better than any other pre-built wheel? Thanks

DCnoJ

+1. Beat me to it.

foresthill

I've been using my reynolds dv46c's as my everyday wheels for over a year now. Light, stiff, aero. They're great. Also, if you want to save some money at the expense of just a little weight and a lesser hub, the Assaults are around half the cost.

Zen Cyclery

I ride the Sid. If your looking for a lighter weight version then the Nirvana would be a great choice. The first thing to be considered when buying a nice set of wheels is their durability. A well built set of Edge wheels will offer this for 2 reasons. 1 the quality of construction on the Edge rims is better than the Zipp or Reynolds because they autoclave their carbon as apposed to glue it. 2 their rims accept higher spoke tensions than the other two which makes the wheels stiffer and more resistant to stress.

merlinextraligh

Reynolds carbon clinchers are an acceptable weight, but Zipp 404 clinchers are not?

Zipp 404 clinchers are only heavy in relation to Zipp 404 tubulars.


Reynolds SDV 66 carbon clinchers 66mm deep, 1675 grams.

Zipp 404 clinchers 58mm deep, 1615 grams

Reynolds DV3kc, 46mm deep 1500 grams.

Thus the Zipps are pretty comparable weight wise to the Reynolds.

And if these are everyday wheels, aluminum braking surfaces are nice for wet conditions.

Zen Cyclery

The carbon braking surface on Edge/Reynolds rim works just fine as long as you use nice break pads. As for weight...
Reynolds Sdv66 which has a 16/20 spoke count and is often semi-flexy because of it. 1675

Edge 68c, sapim spokes, Tune hubs, 20/24 spoke count are much stiffer than the 66s. I have had both sets. 1490 grams.

foresthill

Yeah, but the DV46CUL are 1410g, with no rider weight limit

DwayneS

Bontrager Aeoulus or Race XXX Lite (better for general riding and climbing and longer races with hills).

Aeoulus 6.5 Clincher
Race XXX Lite Clincher

The Aeoulus should beat the better majority of aero wheels and it is pretty reliable. Zipps are also pretty popular around here.

badfishgood

i have the carbones. i bunny hop all day. no worries. a fantastic wheel. *** zipp, i cant get over how ugly they look.

availpunk9

I just bought some aero wheels. I ended up with Reynolds Strikes. They seemed like very good value for the money, plus I found a killer deal that I couldn't pass up.

The wheels are plenty stiff for me (176lbs). I think I can feel the rear flex a bit in a full out sprint, but not to the point where it touches the pads/frame. Surprisingly I find them fairly manageable in cross winds, I guess this is due to my weight.

Here are my negative points so far. The rear wheel came with very low tension (~86kgf DS), I ended up re-tensioning the wheel. I replaced the stock pads with SwissStop yellows, the stock pads howled and squealed like crazy. I don't like the internal nipples. The tire needs to be dismounted in order to work with the spokes.

Here are my thoughts on other wheels:
-Bontrager, I always had problems truing paired spoke wheels. My mechanics seem to agree that paired spokes are harder to work with.
-Mavic Carbones, a bit heavy when compared to similar profile wheels but from other reviews seem bomb proof. The alu. brake surface is nice. I came very close to getting a set. I read somewhere (I think on WW) that these should be coming down in price.
-Zipps, I demoed 404 tubular and clincher. I found them too flexy. They were fast but I expected stiffer wheel for the $
-Williams, the 58s have a very appealing price point ($1k), hybrid ceramics, testrider.com raved about the braking surface. They are heavy, in Carbones range. Couldn't find enough feedback to get a set. I met a local racer that rides 58 clinchers. He seemed happy with the purchase.
-I also considered HED Jet 60s C2s. I really can't remember any negative points from the searching I did. I couldn't find a deal on them to suit my budget.

DwayneS

Zipp's just look out of place on many bikes. Especially with the decals removed. That's just my two cents worth though. Then again pretty much any aero wheel looks a bit funny but at the same time makes a bike look 100x more expensive.

khalid

Thanks for the replies. Right now, I am also interested in the Edge 68. what is the difference between the edge 68 and the 38? When i browse edge website, I wasn't able to find the clincher 68, but I was only able to find the rim. Do I have to buy other parts and put them together? Thanks

Zen Cyclery

They discontinued the 38. It has been replaced by the 45. I would suggest getting them custom built. You can specify your rims/hubs/spokes. Edge only offers a select few sets because their rims are made to be custom built.

Capgemini

Zen, any reviews on the Alchemy ELF/ORC hubs? except for WW, I haven't been able to find rider reviews on them.