Let's see if I can verbalize…
When I had my SL's, they had like an INSTANT snap when you wanted to turn the screws up. Once they were up to speed, they kept rolling fairly good, and responded to changes in speed extremely quickly. They were unlike any lightweight wheel I had ridden.
Before that, I had ROLF Vector Pro's. They were good too, but they were so stiff. The rougher the road, the worse they felt. In fact, they skipped on rough corners. The SL's were very forgiving. I used them in the Harris Roubaix one year, and I never felt beat up on the dike sections. However, the Vector Pro's didn't respond quite as quickly to tempo changes, but I would say though, that they would be a faster wheel on the flats or in a Time Trial because they tended to work more like gyro's with the deep dish rims and thus more weight on the outside of the rim.
Since they responded so well to tempo changes, I found that during long road races where people like to attack, it was easier to stay on a wheel through the tempo changes. I'd have to say that they were the ultimate wheels for pretty much everything. They were just so much fun :)
I used them mainly in Criteriums and Road Races, but they were always a treat when I could take them out on a club ride during a sunny day. I won a lot of UBC Tuesday Nighters and a few Coastal Thursday Nighters back in the day. I could always count on them in a sprint.
Hope that sort of helps, but it would probably help for you to ride them too ;)
Bikes:
2005 Trek Session 77
2004 Specialized P3
2003 Giant TCR ONCE Team Road Bike
For Sale:
2004 Marzocchi DJII - NEW! PRICE LOWERED!
Tech Geek that likes to Freeride. Visit my stuff at: www.futurelooks.com and for that laptop fetish, www.laptoplifestyle.net.