Rear: Zipp 900 Tubular Disc Wheel
Front: HED H3D 650
The Zipp has dimples like a golf ball, the HED is even faster than other HED wheels at more angles of YAW (etc etc Blurb Blurb). Both are £1000+++ each; perhaps not state of the art but probably better than the kit you currently have. Certainly better than mine
Unfortunately they will make little or no difference to your time
I recently did a 20 mile PB on my TT bike with my ‘race’ setup. I changed my current wheels (approx. £500 each) for the new setup as above and a few days later re-did the 20 mile course. Very similar conditions and very similar state of fatigue, hydration, nutrition and general race prep.
Throughout the course my bike certainly felt faster. Unfortunately the time at the end wasn’t…11 seconds slower. My HRav was 2 beats lower, however, and I think I could have gone just a bit faster. Maybe I could have beaten my PB by 10-15 seconds at best, that’s how I felt.
I’m sure the manufacturer tests will prove me wrong at the margins but I’m going to save my money for a nice holiday rather than a new set of wheels that will just look quite a bit nicer.
Just to be clear: Good race wheels WILL make a big difference over bog-standard wheels. However I’m really not so sure that ‘excellent’ wheels will be that much better than ‘good’ wheels.
Related articles
- Different kinds of brick session for triathlon duathlon? (the5krunner.com)