You could not run a tubular and clincher on the same wheel. I think maybe they misunderstood that the Aeolus will be available in both tubular and clincher versions. The Bontrager XXXLite rim, which the wheel is based around, comes in both tubular and carbon clincher. So all Aeolus wheels, including the disc, will eventually be available in tubular and clincher.

That being said, I do understand why there is not more love on this forum. Same reason there is not more love for the Campy Boras or Lightweights. The Aeolus are very expensive. I am lucky enough to be able to ride them without having to pay for them, and I will say that they would be at the top of my list of wheels if I had the money. The disc is fantastic. The braking surface of the XXXLite rim is excellent. Feels just like an aluminum rim in terms of response. It is also extraordinarily stiff. The Zipp disc is nice, but it is nowhere near as stiff as the Aeolus due to the rippled/semi-lenticular skin. At its widest point, it is ~35mm. All the wheels use DT Swiss hubs, made for Bontrager. The Bontrager wheels are also the best wheels I've ever used in terms of true. They are straight as an arrow and they stay that way.

But, you do pay a huge premium for these wheels. ~$3k for the wheelset or ~$3.5k for a front + disc. That's a lot. They are the best wheels I've ever used, but like with all things, I'd have a hard time convincing someone that they were twice as good as HED wheels or 75% better than Zipps. Rather, like with all things, you are paying a lot for a marginal improvement.

I consider myself very lucky to get to ride them. Any questions about the wheels, feel free to fire off any questions. I've got the Aeolus 6.5 front (tubular) and Aeolus TT Disc (tubular).

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

Just out of curiosity, why does this disk have spoke holes???

The disc is made by taking a special hub, made for the disc, the XXXLite hoop, which of course is made with spoke holes, and then HED bonds on the special rippled skin at their factory. So the spoke holes come from the use of the existing XXXLite rim. It would add cost, rather unnecessarily, to make a version of the rim without holes just for disc.

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

I was going to answer - then I saw it was Swimfan asking....

Seriously though, the disk is built around a rim that is used for other purposes as well. This would be much like the way a Zipp 404 Clincher is built...only bonded to a carbon tubular rim as opposed to an Al Clincher rim.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

allright, they used the same rim for all aeolus wheels I guess.

yes and no. they use the same Bontrager XXX-lite tubular for all the tubular wheels and Bontrager XXX-lite clincher for the clincher wheels. The cool thing about the wheels is that the tubies & clinchers are very similar and are both all carbon.

Let me start a fight here. Carbon Clinchers are DUMB DUMB DUMB. I know I am not the only one to use a QR lever and or a screw driver to get a tire off of a rim in a hurry. You do this with a single small area of contact with a carbon rim...you just cracked your rim. Then add to that the risk of getting a slow flat...you have about 60psi in your tire and hit a pot hole...dead (where as a tubular does not have the high thin walls, and the tires glued to the rim will protect the rim surface from sharp impacts). Another issue is that every carbon clincher I have seen (and some Al rims with carbon fairings) have pretty low max pressures as the side walls just cant handle high PSI...if you go carbon, go sewup.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

never actually used one, but lots of carbon clinchers rims are rated for 115 psi. that would work for me in every race situation.

if the price was reasonable, i might try some.

and maybe i am more patient, but i have only used plastic tire levers on all my clinchers for almost 20 years. never a screwdriver.

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Where would you want to swim ?

I have used both and have never had any trouble with the carbon clinchers and tire pressure. I understand your hypothesis about someone cracking the rim by mistake, but i doubt a screwdriver could crack those rims - and more to the point - if someone is dumb enough to use a screw driver to take a tire off on a $1500 wheel then maybe they deserve what they get...

Though I prefer my handy QuickStik...you give me a flat in a place I have no proper tools, I will use what I have to for tire removal. Al can handle it.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

Just a curious is the Aeolus changed over to campy. I checked bontrager website but couldnt find anything.

The hubs are made for Bontrager by DT swiss. So they are easy swap freehub bodies. All the Bontrager wheels feature the quickchange hub...

(I think this is what you were asking...)

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

Are the rim and disk shapes the same as the HED products? How would they compare to a stinger 60 and a superlight disk?

The rims are very different. That is a huge part of the cost. The rims are the OCLV XXXLite rims.

The disc is MUCH lighter than the Superlight. It also has a very different skin. The skin has a rippled structure, with varying thicknesses. Bontrager calls it s a "semi-lenticular" disc. So I would say the Aeolus TT disc is quite different in terms of shape compared to a standard HED disc. It also uses a different hub (all Bontrager wheels use a hub made by DT Swiss for Bontrager).

As compared with the Stinger, both have the toroidal rim shape (as does the Zipp 808 and 404). So the Stinger 60 & 90, Zipp 808 & 404, and Bontrager Aeolus 6.5 & 5.0 all have basically the same general shape.

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp