Hi all, after recently being "spanked" at a few races by guys on carbon wheelsets, I bit the bullet and bought some of my own. Used off ebay. These 303s have some issues. Not being familiar with Carbon tubular wheels, I wondered if someone could clue me in on what these particular rims may have 'going on' They seem to have some 'dents' in the sidewalls, look like someone pinched em with their thumbs. Thumb-size depressions, perhaps 2-4 on each sidewall of the front rim and just a couple on the rear. The dents seem to be in line with spokes from the opposite side of the rim..The dents are perhaps a 32nd of an inch at the center of the depression and are more inward toward the hub..away from the braking surface. My guess is that someone has over tightened the spokes, causing the "apex" of the rim to tilt or twist toward the side of the hub where the spoke is attached? Has anyone seen this action before?
I closely and minutely examined each milimeter of the wheels for cracks or signs of fatigue at the spoke holes, etc. and there is nothing visibly wrong anywhere. Just those odd-ball "dents" (for want of a better word) I also got a good set of Lew/Reynolds DV wheels that I'm using as my 'race-only' wheels, so the dented Zipps are being used as fast group ride wheels and some training. Anybody comments?
Don Hanson

This is normal for 303 tubular rims from 2001-2003. I have a set with the same deformities. They have been bullet-proof and I have riden them hard for over 5000 miles.

This is normal for 303 tubular rims from 2001-2003. I have a set with the same deformities. They have been bullet-proof and I have riden them hard for over 5000 miles.
Thank you! That eases my mind. I'd hate to crash in front of everyone on a fast downhill causing a big pile because I had some "economy" Gucci-rims from Ebay..Very nice wheels, BTW. A big improvment in performance over the Krysirums I was on..Checking the net, I came across a Euro-Mag.wind tunnel test of a bunch of carbon wheels with the results quantified as 'time-savings" over a given 'distance'..It seems that last time trial I did this fall over a 40k course into a 25mph gusty headwind going out, it seems the average spoked carbon wheel tested would have given me 66 seconds over the Krysirums I did use, all else being equal. That would have been good for about 4 places..The Time Trial/Hillclimb was also into a huge headwind, up just 2000'. The winner (in my class) ran aero bars and a 4spoke rear wheel...and spanked everyone else by a large margin... guess all that fancy looking stuff really does work..can't whip em, join em..
Thanks again for the response,
Don Hanson