Sportive Advice

pechacheli

I have recently entered a100km sportive. It's been a long time since I last did one so need some advice on what wheelset to use. I have a pair of Zipp 808's which I use on my time trial bike and a pair of 43mm alloy wheels on my road bike. The course has some steep ascents as well as some good flat sections. Zipp's would be lighter but will they affect my climbing? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

batch78

Lighter and more aero? Surely thats a win, win situation.

You want to put in an awesomely fast time though running 808's at a sportive!

pechacheli

very true indeed!

as for a good time, i'll certainly give it my best shot

ugo.santalucia

Really, it depends on the sportive...

I am not a big fan of high (or even medium) profile wheels outside their scope, which is that of going fast on a flat well surfaced road in optimum weather conditions.

This is hardly ever the case for UK sportives, where you find a wide range of terrains and your Zipps won't perform well for 80% of the time (and probably hinder you in cross winds etc... ).

Having to choose between the two, I'd go for the medium profile, a safer option, but really, for UK sportives what you want is a hand made set of 32 spokes wheels, some of them hit the 1.5 Kg target without being scary to ride on and can take quite some abuse

pechacheli

thanks for your advice. my biggest concern about using the zipp's was cross wind and as you say if they won't benefit me in terms of performance its best to stick with the medium ones. I think you're right about getting a pair of wheels suited to UK sportives. it makes sense to get a pair of wheels that will do the job properly.

ugo.santalucia

pechacheli wrote:

thanks for your advice. my biggest concern about using the zipp's was cross wind and as you say if they won't benefit me in terms of performance its best to stick with the medium ones. I think you're right about getting a pair of wheels suited to UK sportives. it makes sense to get a pair of wheels that will do the job properly.

Yes, I would...

I've seen many wheels, even main brands, built against any basic wheelbuilding rule... rear wheels with radial spokes on the drive side, wheels with 16 spokes (what happens if one fails?)... :roll:

FransJacques

What kind of bike are they on? Do you have any pictures? I can gladly pass a judgemeent from the purely esthetic point of view.

But let's be honest, you don't want to have that kind of kit and 35% body fat...

pechacheli

thanks fransjacques! i can honestly say my body fat is approx 11%, bike is carbon frame/forks, no decals, just carbon finish and shimano ultegra groupset.

Ron Stuart

With a set of 808's you should get the rider number off your handlebars and on your back, then go and join in a proper road race. 808's are a complete waste of time in a sportive and what is more please don't join in a sportive with me in strong cross winds as I do like getting to the finish in one piece. They are about as sociable as tri-bars in the Tour de France peloton :shock: Something like 50mm deep sections in an event like Flat out in the Fens if your bike handling is good should be the maximum needed, stick with the 43mm set please.

Chrissz

Feck it :!: If you want to ride on 808s go for it mate. At the end of the day - do you really actually care what a few people might think? OK, so if there's a cross wind you may get a few wobbles but so what?

A sportive should be enjoyable - get out there and enjoy yourself mate

pechacheli

thanks for your comments! made me chuckle

firstly, i would like to clarify that my 808's were purchased for my time trial bike to assist me in going fast, in a striaght line as flat as possible. I can report they do this perfectly!!

although i would like to use them in the sportive due to their lightness, i do understand they aren't necessarily ideal.

Chrissz, as you say i will certainly enjoy myself on my 43mm wheels

Chrissz

pechacheli wrote:

Chrissz, as you say i will certainly enjoy myself on my 43mm wheels

Cool 8) Hopefully later on this month I'll have a thrash around a few sportives on my newly acquired 50mm Mavic Cosmic SLRs

pechacheli

hmmm... niceeeeee...