Aero Wheels - What's the consensus Opinion?
I ride a Cervelo P2 and am gearing up for IMAZ in 10 weeks. Curious as to what everyone's opinion is of Aero Wheels. A friend who just missed qualifying for Kona at IMWI says it is a must. My bike shop has me convinced (through appropriate articles) and i am debating the Zipp 404 vs the 606, any thoughts?
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Between those two options, I'd do the 606 and spend another $60 or so to get a wheel cover for the 808 on the back.
If you already have a PM or just frankly aren't interested in buying one, then you really owe it to yourself to consider that there are other brands besides Zipps. I think Zipp is a great company and they make great products, but the most impressive thing about Zipps to me is the perception they have managed to cultivate that simply nothing else compares to Zipps. Zipp's 'revolutionary' new Firecrest wheel shape is nothing more than a move to the same wider rim shape that HED went to 3? years ago on the C2 Stinger's.
Forgetting about even the HED Stinger or JETs, for your money I don't think there is any better aero per dollar investment then getting one of the many available HED 3 (trispoke) front's and pairing with a disc or a disc-cover (could be the PT wheel + cover mentioned above). You could get a HED 3 and a disc cover and be smoking fast for under $500.
I'd love a pair of Zipps if I could get my hands on them at an affordable price, but I can think of a whole lot of other things I'd do with 2-3,000 dollars then buy a new set retail.
No doubt, you will lose time relative to your competitors if you are competing for a Kona slot if you do not have race wheels. For very round numbers, the time saved by generic race wheels is about a minute for a 40 K time trial!
There's some good info on the wiki on this for the long run, however. I think I can summarize the simplest version in three bullett points:
• Power meter before races wheels. (Depending on how you do it, power meter is something like $1200 for power tap. Exact price depends on configuration. You can get a discounted set through EN.) I have mine on a bomb-proof Open Pro wheel, but you can configure what you want. Other people prefer the crank or BB based meters.
• Assuming you have a PT, then get a disc cover for the PT wheel. It'll be more than 90% as good as a "real" disk and have your power meter in it. Price for the disc cover is under $100. If you already have a PT and just didn't say so, go ahead and buy the disc cover now, and then only worry about your front wheel for the race. (wheelbuilder.com There may still be an EN discount. Check the wiki.)
• There are small differences among aero front wheels, but the big difference is between having one and not having one. If you want a general, all-round wheel that you can use under the widest range of conditions, the 404 and its equivalents are a great starting point. The HED wheels, flashpoint, SRAM, equivalents etc etc etc are all good. If you're bigger/stronger (and we know you're faster!) you can consider the 808, which is deeper, but more subject to being buffetted around in the wind.
In either case, consider used if you have time when you purchase. Can save many $$$ that way.
i honestly havent gotten far on the PM thought yet. Clearly to fit in with this community, i will need to make that jump and from what everyone has to say, it will change the way i train and me for the better.
The issue i am grappling with is how to do the power, i have 2 bikes, a road bike & a tri bike. then i will have 3 sets of wheels, the standard wheels on the tri & road bikes, plus the aero "race" wheels.
So, do i do a hub for power, crank, or wait for the new speedplay pedals that will be coming out? Looks like if the speedplay solution works, that will be the most cost effectvie way to do PM on 2 bikes. more thoughts??
Considering the other options, cranks are pretty much stuck on the one bike, but do let you switch out whatever wheel you want. Some people like them for that reason. Some people like them for other technical reasons. See if you can ping mancona to get his input. Rich also uses non-PT. (You can still get a disc cover for your training wheel, rather than buying a geeked out aero rear wheel if you want to save some bucks, though here it's strictly for economizing.)
The speedplay pedal solution SOUNDS good - portable and not wheel-dependent. However, they are vapor ware and the consensus is not to wait for them. They've already been promised for more than a year.
The deal w/Power here vs the race wheels is just that the argument goes that if you have X dollars to spend and you have to choose one or the other, the power meter is more valuable in the long run. Your case is a little different in that you're looking for the last couple of minutes for a race that yyou're nearly trained for already (and don't have a lot of time to learn how to train/race witho power), which is why I suggested the rental solution. ~8 weeks is long enough to get going with power, but it'll be better for you the next time around than it would be for this time.
Option 1 - Get a bomb proof PowerTap wheel to train an race on, and slap a wheel cover on it for races. This wheel can be switched easily between bikes (assuming they're both 700c or both 650c... I assume you ride 700c). Get two mounts for your PT computer or Joule or Garmin and you're good to go. You might also have enough to get a deep front race wheel as well.
Option 2 - Keep your current wheels, but get a Quarq and a Garmin or Joule head unit. You'll need compatible drive trains (especially, you'll need compatible bottom brackets) for both bikes, but Quarqs are very easy to swap between bikes with similar compoonent setups.
I have a Quarq CinQo on a set of SRAM S900 cranks, and all three of my bikes use SRAM drivetrains (GXP/Red bottom brackets). For me, it's a matter of loosening the crank bolt, sliding off the crankset, sliding it onto another bike, and tightening the bolt. Takes all of 2 minutes.
@steve:
so, my P2 has FSA bottom bracket & cranks & my Sepcialized Tarmac has a Specialized pro crank & BB, i would need to make one match the other and then just get one Quarq to use on both? i have the Garmin 310XT, so i am in good shape up front...
(1) a bombproof wheel built on a PT hub;
(2) a wheelcover;
(3) WKO.
If you have 2 bikes, just switch the rear PT wheel between the two. When you race, just slap on the cover.
For the advanced class, buy a front aero wheel. I like the hed3, but this is where I bow out to the aero gurus.
(give wheelbuilder, wheelbuilder.com, or Sawiris a search on this forum, and you'll see this is as sure a bet as you can make.)
If you are comfortable on your tri bike, go big or go home. Disc in back with 808 on front, 1080's, 808/1080, or 808's. If you are concerned about bike handling, even a set of 404's is better than nothing. I use race day wheels myself but it's pretty close to race time so pickings may be slim.
After IMAZ, do the homework on the PM and get it all set up in time to start the OS.
My $0.02
I'm not sure what type of BBs are FSA-compatible. How old are the bikes? I think Specialized uses BB30 in its newest bikes. What are the model years of the bikes? Maybe we can do a little research to figure out your options.
@ steve
i think i am holding on the PM for the outseason, which gives us time to do the research. THANKS FOR THE HELP!!
i have a 2010 Specialized Tarmac Pro SL SRAM
http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp?spid=45881&eid=4350&menuItemId=9256
a 2009 Cervelo P2 with Ultegra
and of course not in the equation, but a 1995 Jamis Diablo hardtail!
I looked through the Specialized website, and it LOOKS like most of the Tarmac frames use threaded bottom brackets, not BB30. That's good, because I'm pretty sure your P2 is threaded as well. Now... I ASSUME that your FSA BB is a MegaExo. If so, all you need is to make sure your Specialized BB is either compatible with MegaExo OR you can buy a new MegaExo BB to put in the Tarmac. That should make switching the Quarq between bikes pretty easy.
FYI, I don't have experience with the MegaExo or the FSA cranks, so I don't know for sure how easy it is. I read on Slowtwitch that it's pretty simple.
Missed your post. Looks like your link confirms that Option 1 is your best bet. The Tarmac you have has an oversized BB (i.e., BB30). Unless the P2 has BB30, I think you're SOL on swapping the Quarq.
Now long term, you will get the most bang for your dollar with power. That is definitely something you will want to pursue IMO. Think of it this way, the aero wheel is gonna save you 1 minute on a 40k TT. Train with power and come out of the OS with just a 1mph gain in speed and you save around 3.5 minutes. Really a no brainer on bang for your buck and I also think you would see more gains in speed.
But hey, if you have tons of cash, buy some aero wheels. We all love our toys.
This is the first time I've had power, and what you learn is truly a revalation. It provided value the very first time I put that wheel on my bike. I think if you got a PM now, you'd still have time to get a great deal of insight before the race. I got mine a couple of months before my A race, and had my best bike on that course in several years, and came off the bike feeling better because I knew how hard to ride every minute of the bike (and was able to follow it most of the time). Good luck in AZ - I'm going to try to do that next year.
I agree with Dave and others, if you do not have race wheels yet, the cheapest and most proven route is to get the bombproof PT wheel and wheel cover. This works perfect for 95% of people.
FWIW, if you are one of the other 5% that want/need a crank based setup, you CAN use the same quarq in a standard frame and BB30 frame. You buy a standard BB crank and then get a BB30 to threaded adapter for the BB30 frame. It costs about $40 and allows you to swap it back and forth just like two standard threaded frames.
thoughts? I have read the recent velonews article that gave highest marks to the Zipp...
Rear hoop doesn't need to be areo - just a good solid training wheel. Lots of opinions out there, but I landed on Mavic Open Pro clinchers after I did my research.
This is also where advice from wheelbuilder.com will be very useful - definitely drop them a note.
Also, I failed to direct you to the earlier post to the sticky in Power and Pace forum titled 'purchase your powermeter through endurance nation.' That thread is where the money is.