Best Rim for Powertap?

tuney said:

Guys

Im about to build a road/crit racing wheel with a Powertap SL. I'll probably use a deep section zipp rim, but im not sure how deep to go, or whether to go for clincher or tub.

I'd probably do some tts on them as well.

Example Rims are
303 - Which I have a tub pair already and really like
404 - is deeper, anyone used these for road racing??

Does anyone have any advice on:

Brand
Rim Depth
Rim Type - clincher/tub
Spokecount

Thanks
Chris

I see that you did not get a reply. What did you end up doing about your power tap sl and a zipp rim? I want to build a similar wheel, can you give any advice? Thank you, Greg404

It depends!

I have two road PowerTap wheels. I built one with the Velocity Deep 30mm rim and one had the Mavic Open (default) rim. I only use the Deep rim wheel for racing and use the other wheel for training and hillier races and as a pit wheel for crits.

Tubular or clincher, that's your preference. If you already use tubulars and like them, no big reason to switch.

If money and repair time is no object, I would go with 404 (or maybe even the new 90mm deep Zipp) tubular. The problem here is, if you get a flat, it may not be repairable in time by the time you notice it for a race, even with Tufo or slime sealant. This is more important in this case because unless you have a backup powerTap wheel, now you will have no data for the race.

Keep in mind that using a deep section rim for training means you have to change your repair package to include long stem tubes and perhaps a stem extender and teflon tape, or the equivalent in the case of tubulars.

The last thing to think about is, you only get about half the aero gain of the equivalent wheel on the front if you use an aero rim on the back, and mass really isn't that important in the big picture unless you are only doing a hill climb race or doing a whole lot more climbing than the typical American amateur road race. There's a detailed analysis at bike.com and biketechreview.com.

18-24 spokes in the front depending on weight, and 28-32 spokes in the rear, depending on weight. 🙂

Im probably going for the new 404 HP. This will make it usable is most races, I've just gotta check it's UCI legal!