Has anyone decided to go with a race wheel with an aluminum braking surface purely based on braking performance? I currently ride a triathlon bike with a disguised rear brake and the braking performance is already pretty bad compared to my road bike (and the tri bike has upgraded TRP brakes). I have not ridden the bike with full carbon clinchers but I don’t think I could deal with braking performance that is much worse than what I already have. I am pretty heavy (210 lbs), which may be another reason that I cannot stop as well.
I am worried that with full carbon clinchers the braking performance will be a bit scary. Is it about sucking it up and learning to ride with carbon clinchers, or do some of you use older zipps, Zipp 60’s, or possibly HED Jets series wheels purely because of the braking performance?
I use HED Jets in part because of the better braking performance, no need to use special brake pads, or change the pads, and in part because they are cheaper.
The difference between a good rim of this type (Mavic CXR 60 clincher, HED Jets, Flo) and a full carbon clincher is pretty small. Usually just a few grams of weight is the difference.
I’m getting HED Jets for the same reason. I’m a competitive guy and want to do as well as possible, but I’m not winning Kona anytime soon or probably even podium’ing in AG. There’s a point where performance and comfort/safety split away from each other. Performance and idiocy seem to travel together in a straight line though since we’re spending $2500 on bicycle wheels because they are “cheap”.
Tony Martin and Chrissy Wellington have gone awfully fast on Jets, so I would say the only performance difference of note is the weight difference. I would go with Jets over the Zipp 60 because the wider internal rim, improved aerodynamics and better cross-wind performance.
It would depend on your handling skills and what sort of course you’d be racing on. Alu hybrid wheels don’t give up much, mainly weight, but carbon tubulars and clinchers are not downright horrible at braking with the right setup. ( good pads, calipers and adjustment).
If you want to go full carbon race wheels but aren’t confident of your braking go carbon tubulars. More forgiving in tterms of technique.
I currently ride a triathlon bike with a disguised rear brake and the braking performance is already pretty bad compared to my road bike (and the tri bike has upgraded TRP brakes).
Well, the good news is that using your rear brake for maximum braking performance is already useless. If you want to slow down as fast as you can, all you need is the front brake.
Yes, it was definitely a factor for me. My main race this year, IM Mallorca, has some long descents and I wanted to feel more confident going down. I also wanted to stick with clinchers.
I’ve ended up with a CXR 60 front and a Citec disc rear. I probably could have gone with a carbon rear along with the CXR but got a decent deal on the Citec.
It’s not been ridden in anger yet this year as I only finished the changes last week and then had the front derailleur snap at the hinge riding to the start line last weekend.
I’m due to do a 15 mile TT on Sunday so I’ll have a better idea then but just riding round the block a few time to test things out the braking feels great, if a little strange sounding on the Exalith rim. Again with the caveat that it’s not been ridden hard the ride also feels really good although I’m using latex tubes for the first time this year as well so although they feel different to my last wheels how much is the wheel and how much the tube I’m not sure.
I can’t say ones better than the other…It took some adjustment for me. I went from a Mavic Wheel set that I rode for a while, then went to a set of Zipp 202 CC. The Mavic seemed to have a little breaking power, but now I don’t know. I will say the Zipp’s make a cool sound when the break…
There isn’t much difference in braking when it’s dry, aluminum has a slight advantage but carbon is quite adequate. When it’s wet, however, aluminum is greatly superior.
Flo wheels are very robust and would be a good choice at your weight. Very fast wheels with good braking, although a bit hard to mount tires. Heds are very good as well, a little lighter and a higher price point but still a lot less than Zipps, Enve, etc.
More forgiving in terms of you’d probably be much less likely to suffer a blowout with tubulars than clinchers if you drag the brakes. not that it’s any ‘better’ , just that it’d be more forgiving to user error.
I went for first ride on my Boyd Carbon tubulars this past Sunday.
New R3 with 2012 Boyd’s and stock boyd carbon pads.
What is all the hype about??? Stopped awesome! No worries at all!
Make sure you have the right pads recommended by manufacturer and Party on Garth!
By the way they are second hand Boyd’s so no affiliation and I am 230-235lbs with there clydsdale wheels
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I suppose. That may be cancelled out by being much less likely to roll the tube off with clinchers.
In both cases calling the scenarios “much less likely” is a bit misleading since both scenarios are highly unlikely to start with, if you installed everything properly.
More forgiving in terms of you’d probably be much less likely to suffer a blowout with tubulars than clinchers if you drag the brakes. not that it’s any ‘better’ , just that it’d be more forgiving to user error.
The SRAM S80 is a decent wheel with an aluminum brake surface. SRAM owns zipp. They are the same shape as the older non-firecrest 808’s, minus the dimples.
The SRAM S80 is a decent wheel with an aluminum brake surface. SRAM owns zipp. They are the same shape as the older non-firecrest 808’s, minus the dimples.
The SRAM S30/S60/S80 line no longer exists (though they can be found used or NOS). You can get the Zipp60, which is basically the S60, but it’s overpriced for what it is given that there are options with better performance for ~similar or less money.
