cwdzoot wrote:For MarkThailand -
Having ridden both I felt the Enve were a little more solid in the rear. Zipp 303 and 404 rear wheels feel a little spongy to me perhaps it's the drive side radial? ....
Moreover the Enve are cooler looking and you have a few custom options.
I plan to have either the Zipp or Enve custom built with Chris King ceramic R45 hubs (as soon as Shimano 11-speed compatible hubs are available) with Sapim C-Ray spokes 2x laced front and rear. However, I believe that my builder choices for custom Zipps will be limited to only one company here in the US. Although they carry both Zipp and Enve rims, they recommend the Zipps for comfort because, quoting them, "the rims seem to act as leaf springs and feel smoother over rough roads and thus would be more comfortable as a century cruiser." The other custom builder that I have ordered wheelsets from in the past only carries Enve rims, and highly recommends Enve though.
I have ridden Zipp 303's and they certainly feel comfortable. On the other hand, I have also test ridden Lightweights and Mavic CCU's and they were super stiff and very harsh over rougher roads. This is the reason why I am concerned about too stiff/harsh wheels since I do not need that characteristic for racing crits or off-the-saddle sprinting.
I was wondering about the Enve SES 3.4 comfort because all reviews tend to highlight the stiffness of the wheel, which makes me worry about the harshness of the wheel. I am actually thinking about the Enve SES 6.7 wheels. Though, the Zipp 303 front and rear 404 seems like a very good alternative.
Lastly, since beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I also feel that the ENVE SEE looks nicer and would go quite nicely with the rest of my ENVE components on my bikes, fork, stem, handlebar, and seatpost.
Thanks for your inputs.
Mark