Purchasing Race Wheels...advice?

Awesome, Chris!   Thank you.  If I can get some replies to this, I will hopefully have a decision this week.

LOL, yeah, it is, but the guys there (Steve and Eric (?) ) are great to work with and are very responsive.  They're better bike store owners than webmasters

I like the look of a tri spoke front and back.. plus {there was a thread just the other day} they are pretty much bomb proof and can be ridden as training and race wheels,, I'm not sure if the disc's will get the same amount of mileage on them..

I was talking myself into a hed tri spoke and disc, using the excuse that paying for shipping in a combined package from one place would offset the cost between a HEd disc and Renn... 
it's funny the way we can rationalize something to ourselves when we really want to buy something

Most aero is going to be the H3 front with the Hed Disc rear. However... its going to be more expensive than the Renn rear, and it is minimally more aero.

So how much is a teensy bit of aero worth to you? If a few hundred doesnt mean much, go all Hed. If you wanna save a couple hundred and come in a couple seconds slower, go with the Renn rear.

More importantly..... how do they look? 

From what I have heard......  I am no expert. For everyday use, HED3 front and rear.  In higher winds, HED3 front and disc will be more stable than HED3 front and rear.   I've had these in pretty gnarly crosswinds and they're a bit twitchy, but not too bad (I ride at 225-230#)

oh yea and just to confuse  you a bit more,, in that same price range for tri spokes

http://www.nimble.net/

D_M_S - 2008-04-24 5:08 PM Not to threadjack or anything, but I thought there was a training benefit to riding your "heavy" set during training and then use your race wheels only as the race nears. I train on Shimanos that are basically rolling rocks and then switch to my Spinergys the week of the race for my taper rides. Should I not be doing that? Also, just curious, why clinchers and not tubulars? I understand the cost/maintenance, but aren't you giving up some potential weight savings? My buddy once said that race wheels with clinchers is like putting cheap gas in your Ferrari

"..we are ensconced MOP'ers.."

Okay, now that I have conversed with my sponsoree (Chris), we have decided to go with the HED 3 front.  The question now is disc vs trispoke rear.  Is the disc in back not recommended for everyday use, or can it just stay on the bike? 

D_M_S - 2008-04-24 3:08 PM Not to threadjack or anything, but I thought there was a training benefit to riding your "heavy" set during training and then use your race wheels only as the race nears. I train on Shimanos that are basically rolling rocks and then switch to my Spinergys the week of the race for my taper rides. Should I not be doing that? Also, just curious, why clinchers and not tubulars? I understand the cost/maintenance, but aren't you giving up some potential weight savings? My buddy once said that race wheels with clinchers is like putting cheap gas in your Ferrari

Yes, train heavy, race light.  the HEDs, however, are not that light.  About the same as my Mavic Aksiums, in fact.

Clinchers.  Simply more comfortable changing them, and the cost/benefit analysis simply doesn't make sense unless you are shaving seconds off the pointy end of the pack.  If you are a weight weenie (said respectfulyl), it might make sense.  But then my metal bottle cages have to go in favor of $120 carbon versions.  And I'd have to stop eating M&Ms.  Where does it stop?

D_M_S - 2008-04-24 5:08 PM Not to threadjack or anything, but I thought there was a training benefit to riding your "heavy" set during training and then use your race wheels only as the race nears. I train on Shimanos that are basically rolling rocks and then switch to my Spinergys the week of the race for my taper rides. Should I not be doing that? Also, just curious, why clinchers and not tubulars? I understand the cost/maintenance, but aren't you giving up some potential weight savings? My buddy once said that race wheels with clinchers is like putting cheap gas in your Ferrari

If you dont mind wearng down your braking surface on your race wheels, and your hubs... go for it. Train on em. Also, you risk breaking them in training and then not having any race wheels.

Lots of people like to ride clinchers so that they dont have to carry a spare tire with them, lower rolling resitance(supposedly), and they are more comfortable with them.

D_M_S - 2008-04-24 5:08 PM Not to threadjack or anything, but I thought there was a training benefit to riding your "heavy" set during training and then use your race wheels only as the race nears. I train on Shimanos that are basically rolling rocks and then switch to my Spinergys the week of the race for my taper rides. Should I not be doing that? Also, just curious, why clinchers and not tubulars? I understand the cost/maintenance, but aren't you giving up some potential weight savings? My buddy once said that race wheels with clinchers is like putting cheap gas in your Ferrari

 This has come up before. My opinion is that life is too short to save your 1500 dollar wheels just for race day. You need the extra weight for training I guess you could put a brick in a bottle cage and get the same effect. The aero dynamics is another story. However I think I would prefer to train on a wheel that tends to get squirrely in windy conditions. That way you know how it will act and can still feel confident hammering on them. On the other hand DMS, you and your friend are both correct too.

 Blasphemy dude...........

what a tease   

Got my clincher HED.3's used off Ebay.  No probs using them for everyday training. 

The front can get a bit twitchy in crosswinds.,

Hey Rick,

Yes, a deal in comparison to what HED was offering direct.  Thanks to ChrisM, I went to bikedoctorusa dot com and I got 20% off MSRP for 4 wheels.  It saved me and my sponsoree $640 on the 4 race wheels.

After talking to Steve at BDUSA, we decided to not go with the disc in the rear.  We are getting the clincher trispokes front and back.