Best 40-60mm tubular wheelset for road racing & crits?

[06dhewett]

Hi all,

Any thoughts on tubular wheelsets in the 40-60mm rim depth range (generally accepted as the optimum depth for varied road racing - do you agree or could I stretch to e.g. ENVE 6.7s?) best suited for a taller rider (i.e. stability less of an issue, 75kg) for UK road races and crits? Taking spinning up a heavier, deeper rim out of corners and during accelerations (although deeper rims will generally be stiffer) vs aerodynamic advantages into account . . . I'm never going to be a mountain goat and my sprint is good but not exceptional, I'm more of a breakaway rider.

Currently considering the following:

FFWD F4R (very light, decent value, but there are stiffer wheels with better braking out there)
Zipp 404 (fairly heavy and heard bad things about Zipp hubs and also various rim/spoke interface faults)
ENVE 45 Classic (light and top quality rims, but aerodynamics are slightly dated and stability apparently isn't great)
Shimano C50 (not the lightest but otherwise seem decent)
Mavic Cosmic Carbone 40T (again, not the lightest, but seem like a pretty solid wheelset despite the relatively low spoke count)
Reynolds 46 Aero (pretty heavy)

Any advice or experience of these kinds of wheels would be very much appreciated.

[konky]

Bora's are light stiff and durable. Also cool branding, a wheel used by many a pro. I have owned the 50mm Ultra and just bought some 35mm One's. Both tubular. Fabulous wheels.

[$mokeyJoe]

If the FFWD F4R are too flexy, why don't you search for the F6R? Not that much heavier but stiffer.

I do race all-round with the F6R (tubulars). I love them. I also have some Corima's Aero and Winiums, Enves 45's, A. Nemesis,...

[davidalone]

whats your weight?

404s are fine. the hub problems have mostly been remedied, and are more than good enough if you are decent at looking after your equipment. you hear alot of bad stuff about zipp wheels, but you dont hear alot of the satisfied customers also.

the 303s / ENVE 3.4s are more of the swiss army knife wheel that can do anything, they are nice wheels. if you have bad winds where you are these might be a better bet. I feel that the good thing about 60mm plus wheels are that in a pinch they can be used for TT wheels as well.

I'd put in a second vote for the boras. they are very very nice wheels and in my opinion the most 'balanced' wheel out there.

[WESTMOTORSPORTS]

I rode reynolds dv46ul's last season and would hardly call them heavy...1240grams a set! Super strong wheels that can be had for 500-1000 usdollars on the bay. Hard to beat.

[06dhewett]

I rode reynolds dv46ul's last season and would hardly call them heavy...1240grams a set! Super strong wheels that can be had for 500-1000 usdollars on the bay. Hard to beat.

Very true, just realised I was looking at the clincher weight due to the ambiguity of Reynold's website. Fair enough.

[06dhewett]

whats your weight?

404s are fine. the hub problems have mostly been remedied, and are more than good enough if you are decent at looking after your equipment. you hear alot of bad stuff about zipp wheels, but you dont hear alot of the satisfied customers also.

the 303s / ENVE 3.4s are more of the swiss army knife wheel that can do anything, they are nice wheels. if you have bad winds where you are these might be a better bet. I feel that the good thing about 60mm plus wheels are that in a pinch they can be used for TT wheels as well.

I'd put in a second vote for the boras. they are very very nice wheels and in my opinion the most 'balanced' wheel out there.

I'm 75kg.

I'm starting to lean towards FFWD F6Rs based on pretty much flawless reviews, weight and price. Whilst I'd love a pair of ENVE 6.7s, I don't think the marginal aero benefit which comes from their profile justifies the £1000 price difference.

[Tinea Pedis]

Have you considered the new Knight Composites wheels?

I've had Enve 6.7 (clincher and tub) and 3.4 clinchers, they are fast wheels. Currently on Mavic Cosmic Carbone SLR. But have a set of Knight Composite's 95's to test soon. Aero data looks good on them. The latter being what you should be looking at. As a breakaway rider you want to squeeze every extra second out of your gear. I can relate, as you should like an English version of me my mate breaks 1400w in his commute to work, I've never broken it ever! Race or otherwise. And can't climb for peanuts either. So it's breakaway wins for me too.

[Tinea Pedis]

In what situations did you find yourself racing on 6.7s, or perhaps I should ask, when did you choose not to race on them and why?

A friend has already suggested them to me, but I was put off slightly by the fact that a.) it's a choice of 35mm (quite shallow) or 65mm (bit too deep and heavy in my opinion) and nothing in the sweetspot in between and b.) they appear to only be available as clinchers.

[kgt]

IMHO the best wheels in this category are Corima aero+, Fulcrum racing light and bora.

FFWD, ENVE, Shimano and Mavic are also good choises.

[Briscoelab]

The Shimano C35 and C50 are really under rated wheels. Either are excellent.

The Enve 6.7 are also amazing.

[sd5500]

I'm going with 6.7 tubulars for crits and flatter RRs, just not 100% on hubs but its looking like T11s. I have 1150gr Aelous D3 3s for very hilly races.

[sawyer]

IMHO the best wheels in this category are Corima aero+, Fulcrum racing light and bora.

FFWD, ENVE, Shimano and Mavic are also good choises.

+1

For what you're after I'd go a bit shallower and perhaps wait and see if Fulcrum bring our a wide 35mm Racing Speed next year (their range normally mirrors Campagnolo's)

BTW, the FFWDs are not flexy IME (F4Rs). Underrated wheels that can be VFM if you shop around. Pretty similar performance wise to Boras /Fulcrums though not quite as good brake track

If you want really stiff and light I have a pair of mint CCUs for sale :0

[Valbrona]

The Bora beats any deep section wheel out there.

[sd5500]

The Bora beats any deep section wheel out there.

"beats" others at what?