Wheels But Good Racing Tyres?

Stereophonic

I am buying new Road wheels for my beloved Racing bike for the next racing season.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I searched two wheelsets in particular. The two wheels I'm looking at are the

1. MAVIC COSMIC CARBON SL Premium - 1070 at Cyclesuperstore

2. ZIPP 404 Wheelset Clincher

I priced the zipps in various places and got prices like €1452 €1599 and in between. Checked out www.chainreactioncycles.com and got a great priced of €1073.00 which is really good. Cosmics were €1070

With the Cosmics at the same price range as the zipp's, I think the Zipps are a better purchase as got great reviews of them.

Feedback welcome on both wheelsets

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Could anyone recommend the best racing tyres and tubes out there? Theres loads but hard to choose... What would work well with zipp clinchers?

Thanks for the help

Quigs Snr

Cosmics, aluminium rims with a carbon fairing. Quite heavy but not overly so. Really quick on a flat road but kind of dead feeling on a climb (according to a tri racer turned roadbiker who I know sold his recently). Still I am looking for a set myself as they are so strong and are a nice looking wheel that you can ride all year round.

Zipps are lighter, more aero and probably more fragile, plenty of stories of them failing. Nonetheless I would go for the zipps everytime and at that price am tempted myself, make sure you get yourself a decent set of training wheels too and only take those zipps out for racing a dry weather riding.

Regarding tires, everyone has their favourite and swears by them. I am personally using Continental GP4000's on one bike and Continental Attack/Force on the other. Both fine sets of tires to be honest. The Michellin Pro 2's a very good also (apparently have a lower rolling resistance although I rode them for a year and found them to be no different in feel, they wore out pretty quick too, but hey if you are looking for a race tire they are great). The weights are pretty similar for all these particular tires. Around 200g each is about right for a race tire, any lighter than that and I reckon you are only asking for trouble !

crashoveroid

Mavic Comics or Zipp wheels are not meant for this country i myself race and have cracked two sets of carbon rims the roads here are way too hard for them if you want a set of wheels that are good and will last buy a good alminium pair the stiffest pair on the market at the momeant are the Campagnolo ERUS the back wheel is so stiff when you pedal you feel the difference from your trainning wheels

tunney

I know at least 20 people with zipps (404s and 808s) and not one of them has had any damage occur to them.

crashoveroid

tunney wrote:

I know at least 20 people with zipps (404s and 808s) and not one of them has had any damage occur to them.

isnt that good for you

Stereophonic

I heard they have a very good reputation myself. They look great too. Would the standard brake blocks work as normal on these wheels? I presume so.

crashoveroid

Stereophonic wrote:

I heard they have a very good reputation myself. They look great too. Would the standard brake blocks work as normal on these wheels? I presume so.

If it a alminium braking surface yeah standard brake blocks will do if its carbon you will need carbon brake blocks

Stereophonic

Bit of a weird question but could anyone get the silver aluminum sprayed a colour similar to the carbon rim without it coming off when brakes applied? So it all looks black with the silver rim no the Zipp wheels

Quigs Snr

Fraid not. If you want all black brake surfaces you need carbon brake surfaces, like I have on my bike. Not as good as aluminium and rubbish in the wet. Also riding them on wet days cause the pads to push grit into the carbon and really screw it up !

david1two3

Forget the Zipps ,they fall apart,time trial is ok but take them out for a lashing on the road and you might aswell forget them.The Cosmic Carbones are pretty hot ,great for road racing although in windy conditions they are difficult to control.

Stereophonic

The Zipps have disappeared of the www.chainreactioncycles.com website,

Flip

Quigs Snr

Yeah, and they are not coming back in the near future (I emailed them). Instead I got a set of Cosmic Carbone SL's today in Cyclesuperstore. 1034 with my Loyalty card. They are not very light (my Planet X Pro Carbon 50's are a lot lighter, but was just fitting them and riding them up and down the road there, feel very responsive, and the braking is great, nice to have a metal braking surface again ! I still love my Planet X wheels and will hold on to them most likely unless I get a good offer on them. I am thinking of using them for hilly races where the light weight might make a difference, or perhaps for races where I think I am in with a real shout and the tiny extra percentage might help tip the balance (such as the national hill climb champs, or were they on already ?)

banaco73

Go for the ZIPPS

fast wheels in all reviews

if you want really good fast wheels go for tubs

Good Luck

Stereophonic

It was too good to be true. Did you get the Premium ones?

Yes the weight of the Cosmics are something that you wouldn't think. Looks like I'll save abit longer and get the zipps or wait till after christmas and train on my wheels atm.
I wonder why they stopped selling them

Thanks anyway but a salesperson convinced me that the Zipps 404's are the ultimate option.

Cheers and good luck on the wheels Quig

Quigs Snr

Actually it seems theres only 100+ grams between the clincher 404's and the Cosmics. I didn't get the premiums, waste of money, same wheel with different skewers and stickers, only about 4grams in the difference.

Rode em this morning, and they ride superbly. Its true what they say about how they roll on a flat fast road. Very impressed. I don't know would I agree with the tubs being faster statement. Clinchers apparently now have a lower rolling resistance and the difference in weight isn't what it used to be, there are plenty of studies to back it up, have a look on forums like weightweenies.

I have Planet X Pro Carbon 50mm Tubulars (1460grams).

I also have Mavic Cosmic Carbone SL 52mm Clinchers (1770grams).

Same continental GP4000's on both, both on the same bike. I honestly do not feel that the tubs are any quicker. Maybe a little better on a severe hill, but that would be a function of the weight differential more than anything I reckon. Likewise the Cosmics seem a little easier to maintain speed with on a sustained 48kph run in a flat road. We are talking very subtle differences here, very tiny. In general I don't find much difference, perhaps I would find more difference if I max out my own ability, the fact that I am a crap cyclist and my legs aren't as cutting edge as my equipment yet probably might mean that effectivley the wheels are all too good for me and thus I am unlikely to notice the difference !

3 lads I know have the 404's clinchers (2 of them the old style ones with the metal brake surface, one who is also a pro, with the new style ones with the carbon surface). 2 lads, the ones with the older wheels love them and save them for special occasions, one is a C rider, the other an A rider who rode them in the RAS. The other guy, the pro, broke his.

Like anything else, you can be lucky or unlucky ! I always get wary when I hear sustained rumors about products, I had hear about problems with American Classic Rear hubs, but most people insisted it was cobblers and so I got a set, rode them for 18 months and they were great, then they broke, yeah you've guessed it.... rear hubs, so when I hear about reliability issues with Zipps, I get nervous. So much so that yesterday with Zipps in one hand, Cosmics in the other, I went Cosmic even though I had specifically gone out to buy Zipps. It was the nagging doubts about reliability and the fact that the weight difference for the clinchers was not as big as I thought coupled with the Cosmics reputation that turned it for me. (It helps that I have 2 sets of wheels nearly a pound lighter at home that I can break out for hilly rides !)

Stereophonic

I'm at the same stage, not sure which ones to buy out of the pair? Is the Pro cyclists on the Zipp 404 Clydedales?

http://www.zipp.com/Portals/0/Products/Wheels/404_clydesdale_tubular_524x250.jpg

I'll make my mind up pretty soon. Cheers for the review Quig

E@gle.

Quigs Snr wrote:

Yeah, and they are not coming back in the near future (I emailed them). Instead I got a set of Cosmic Carbone SL's today in Cyclesuperstore. 1034 with my Loyalty card. They are not very light (my Planet X Pro Carbon 50's are a lot lighter, but was just fitting them and riding them up and down the road there, feel very responsive, and the braking is great, nice to have a metal braking surface again ! I still love my Planet X wheels and will hold on to them most likely unless I get a good offer on them. I am thinking of using them for hilly races where the light weight might make a difference, or perhaps for races where I think I am in with a real shout and the tiny extra percentage might help tip the balance (such as the national hill climb champs, or were they on already ?)

whats a good offer on the planet x??

Quigs Snr

Hi Eagle,

I am not sure what I am doing with the Planet X's yet. I am thinking of keeping them as a summer race wheel. They do ride very well just not all that practical for long winter miles in the wet I reckon. On the other hand I am tempted to pick up an entry level MTB to do a bit of offroad with the lads this autumn and if so I would have to let the wheels go to fund it. Well not really, but it would certainley be easier to justify another bike purchase that way !

Theres a deal on with planet x where you can get a wheel deal for about 770 euro. I didn't go for this because those wheels have a naff marble finish, I wanted standard carbon look and that wasn't available in the wheels on offer. Also the tubs they were offering were crap looking orange ones. So I bought wheels, titanium skewers, tubs, valve extenders, tires and brake pads seperate. If I was selling I would be selling them with skewers and tubs preffitted (Conti Sprinters) maybe 1000km up on them. Plus one spare Conti Sprinter also. In addition 2 sets of used equinox carbon brake pads and two sets of unused boxed dura ace carbon brake blocks. Probably be looking for the guts of 600 for all that.

If I was going to sell that is.

E@gle.

Quigs Snr wrote:

Hi Eagle,

I am not sure what I am doing with the Planet X's yet. I am thinking of keeping them as a summer race wheel. They do ride very well just not all that practical for long winter miles in the wet I reckon. On the other hand I am tempted to pick up an entry level MTB to do a bit of offroad with the lads this autumn and if so I would have to let the wheels go to fund it. Well not really, but it would certainley be easier to justify another bike purchase that way !

Theres a deal on with planet x where you can get a wheel deal for about 770 euro. I didn't go for this because those wheels have a naff marble finish, I wanted standard carbon look and that wasn't available in the wheels on offer. Also the tubs they were offering were crap looking orange ones. So I bought wheels, titanium skewers, tubs, valve extenders, tires and brake pads seperate. If I was selling I would be selling them with skewers and tubs preffitted (Conti Sprinters) maybe 1000km up on them. Plus one spare Conti Sprinter also. In addition 2 sets of used equinox carbon brake pads and two sets of unused boxed dura ace carbon brake blocks. Probably be looking for the guts of 600 for all that.

If I was going to sell that is.

If ya still have them after christmas and are willing to part with them let me know, i just thought to myself that i better slow down on buying the cycling stuff im just after buying my frame (althought the black carbon effect wheels would look sweet with my frame. i dont think i need need wheels just yet

Quigs Snr

Will do. Those wheels would look sweet on that look frame alright !