On the virtue of traditional wheels when racing Paris-Roubaix

Ryan Cousineau wrote:
[...]
Also, and never underestimate this factor, CX bikes with Zipp 404s look
way cool.

Does that opinion have the Fabrizio Mazzoleni seal of approval?

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

In article ,
Tom Sherman wrote:

Ryan Cousineau wrote:
[...]
Also, and never underestimate this factor, CX bikes with Zipp 404s look
way cool.

Does that opinion have the Fabrizio Mazzoleni seal of approval?

Probably not. As always, Ed^H^H Fabrizio certainly knows of an even more
exotic Euro-crafter producing even more obscure equipment which is
specifically sought out by the racers and hidden under sponsor stickers.

If I had to make a serious guess, that probably means deep-section
Lightweight wheels this season, or perhaps a set of dimpled-hub ZED4
wheels (dimpled spokes: next year; 2010 they'll dimple the quick
release).

The ZED-series wheelsets seem to be so frou-frou exotic that they're
rare even on pro bikes.

Oh, and it turns out Zipp now makes a CX-specific (!?) 404:

http://www.zipp.com/Products/Wheels/...ist/1/Level/1/
ProductID/43/Default.aspx?SortField=ISBN%2cISBN

The base ZED4 is $3000, or more than every bike I've ever bought
combined. The ceramic bearing upgrade is $668-1000, or more than any
single bike I've ever bought. There are upgrades available that I don't
actually understand.

However, any ZED wheelset includes a custom-embroidered wheel bag, for
free!

I don't mean to mock too much. These wheelsets make no pretentions to
everyday use, and legitimately offer small fractions of performance to
riders for whom such increments may mean the difference between a podium
or not.

For pro riders, such things only translate into better pay and greater
prestige. For amateurs, we're talking BRAGGING RIGHTS, a priceless
commodity during the post-race beers.

So on margin, they make sense!

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."