Comparing road/TT clincher wheels approx $1200 range

quux

Hey,

I'm looking to buy my first race wheels for road and tt races. I'm a beginning cat-5, weigh 170 lb, and do the 40K in a couple of minutes over an hour. I have an entry-level BMC road bike and Cervelo TT bike and I want these wheels to go on both. I'd like deep section rims but I'm going to stick with clinchers and aluminum brake surfaces as I'd like to use these once or twice a month for fast rides, and don't want to change brake pads for carbon rims or fear punctures on tubulars. My budget goes to about $1300 for the pair.

I'm looking at 3 deep section wheel sets all about 1700g and $1,300

Dura-Ace 7850 50 mm Al/carbon
Zipp 404 'Special Edition'
SRAM S60

Two other options, less deep at 30mm but about 200g lighter and both $1,000:

SRAM S30
American Classic 420 Aero 3

Any experience or opinions regarding these wheels?

Cheers from Baltimore, MD
Andy

taz3611

Have you considered American Classic carbon 58's? They come in clincher form, are deep aero section and not too heavy. Mine are very good

quux

Good point - the AC carbon 58 meets my criteria so I'll add them to list 1 - more choices!

Might sound a trivial matter but while those red-decaled wheels look great on your red bike they might look odd on my blue road bike! It's the BMC and like AC they are liberal with decals, when I mentioned AC's a friend said "It's going to be a battle of the decals".

incog24

If you're willing to go 2nd hand, for that price you should be able to get some pretty new Mavic Cosmics and a decent disc. Could be the best option speed wise?