I'm having a dilemma of sorts because of needing to buy new wheels later this week. I'm going with a set of 404 from the fine folks at  Wheelbuilder.com but contemplating tubular vs clincher.

Main decision points:

1) 200g difference per wheel for CX & Crits is a small difference in performance unless there's significant climbing. Accelerations are the biggest difference but hard to get any facts on what that difference actually is. Read one article that stated a 5% difference from a standing start, 10s sprint. Don't do many of those; I'm not  a track racer; applicable to some degree to crits. Picking up the bike in CX matters also, but the aluminum Dura-ace tubeless that I currently own are a good option for a balance between weight & performance.

2) TT = doesn't matter for performance due to few accelerations. Wheel cover on the rear makes 808 or 404 comparable to a disc.

3) Clinchers have less rolling resistance at the same psi, but a very small difference at that. Tubular can go very high in pressure which can be helpful to reduce rolling resistance (TT mainly; I like having traction in crit's).

4) Clinchers have good repairability. Tubular might not be a good everyday wheel set because of the opposite.

5) Aluminum to carbon wheel swapping is painful with brake pads needing to be changed, and re-aligned with the Zipps because of the angled brake track.

6) Zipp tubular have additional aero features (shape) to gain some minor improvement over their clincher.

7) Well glued tires shouldn't fall off but do present a mess for changing tires if to be used for CX.

Many of you are laughing by now because of this much thought going into a wheel set. Some of you get it. Share your thoughts if you have any on this subject. Thanks for playing.