2008 Zipp 808s vs 2020 Chinese carbon wheels

So I have seen a rear Zipp 808 10 speed from 2008…Alu brake track clincher for sale. The price is only 380 USD. I can buy a similar Chinese wheel from Farsports with DT Swiss 350 hub for 430 USD new.

It is to complement a 2014 SL4 Tarmac that I bought. I have a Farsports carbon frint wheel that can be used with this bike, but my other rear is Sram and not Shimano.

Which would you choose from an aerodynamic, quality and reliability perspective?

I have read that the Firecrest Zipp 808 model is only 9 seconds faster over 40km for a complete set at 42km/h. The NSW version is a further 25 seconds faster for 40km, although at narrow yaw angles there is much less difference between all three wheels.

So a set of NSWs are about 0.26km/h faster at that speed, whilst a full set of Firecrests are only a meagre 0.05km/h faster.

No data about how any of these figures compare to Chinese carbon. I am aware that the rear also only accounts for 40% of the aerodynamic efficiency that the front brings.

Thanks. Opinions most welcomed!

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I would always rather have DT Swiss Hubs over Zipp, from a maintenance perspective, more-so with a rear wheel.

Can you swap the freehub body from SRAM to Shimano or are you saying you use it on two bikes?

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Yes, I use the other wheel on another bike with Force 22 (front and rear both 60mm). You may have a point about the Zipp hub, although from looking at the wheel it seems to be in very good condition.

I wouldn’t want any wheel from 2008. It’s going to be narrow (probably 15mm) and you’ll have to run 23mm tires on it.

I have a set of Farsports (50mm, 25mm external). They have been awesome and were $600 shipped for the whole wheelset (got them on a 10% off sale).

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