Wheels on Ebay - Tips?

If there are not a lot of pics, ask the seller to take more.  If they are cool about it and there is nothing wrong with the wheel, then they have nothing to hide.

Get insurance when it is shipped to make sure it doesn't get hosed in transport.  It will only be a few bucks extra (if the seller is not already offering it in the listing).

Check their feedback of course.

Ask how many miles on the wheel and what conditions it was ridden in.  Just race day on dry conditions is totally different than as a traning wheel in rain and dirt even with less mileage .........

Nice.

Another question.  Most seem to be tubular (The HEDs).  I want to go with something like that due to my weight, 225 lbs.

However, I only had clinchers my whole life, so that's what I'm used to.  I'm not intimidated by tubular, but it's something new that I would need to get used to.  Not sure if I want to do that.  BUT, the better people tend to use them.  Should I just get used to them?

You would want to buy a set then so that you do not need to carry spare tubes AND a spare tire in a race.

As to the pros/cons of tubies versus clinchers .......... that is as heated as the Ford/Chevy and Mac/PC debate.  Each has positive and negative points.

As long as you are keeping the tires inflated to the proper pressure, you would not have to worry about pinch flats so much with clinchers, so the weight concern shouldn't be as much of an issue.

I personally race on and prefer tubulars for my race set up.  There are plenty of others here that use clinchers with great success.

On the Hed's specifically, be aware that some deals are factory "seconds" that are beyond tolerence for "trueness" need for Hed to sell at retail but still safe to ride.  Some people never notice, but others have issues especially if used on bikes with cut-outs or more "wobble" at high speeds.  So they could be a great deal or not.

FWIW, I found a lightly-used Zipp 808 on ebay that saved me several $100s and am quite happy with it.  Do your best to guage your "comfort" with the seller as the lowest price is not always the best deal.

I saw these, and for what I was going to pay for new Flashpoints, I can get these...

Is his numbers about "trueness" his way of saying they don't meet standards?

rear wheel

NOTE:  I just noticed...  They had the matching front wheel too yesterday, but it looks like someone bought it, so I'm no longer interested (I wanted the set), BUT the question remains...

No.  It sounds like he's advertising that it well exceeds the standard for an "A" wheel.  Something like a .032 would be a "B" wheel becasue it's outside the .030 tolerance level.

That's what I thought.  Just didn't want to get confused.  Darn, I wish the front wheel was still there.  Someone must have "bought it now".  I could have gotten the set for under 1k.  But then I would need carbon brake pads, but that's not a big deal.