generic term per the picture.... kinda like kleenex.

is 'old skool' better ?

There is some research out there, haven't looked for it in, idk, 10-15 years. It's pretty well known though by everyone who's ridden a disc and deep wheels in windy conditions.

The disc acts like a keel on a sailboat.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Pumping is a bit of a pain: you have to find the right floor pump with the right 90° Adapter.

But further no disadvantages: only advantages.
One advantage I did not read yet: no problems with the wheel getting untrue due to loosening or stretching spokes.
I ride my disk since years also in training.

I put disc wheels into the category of highly asymmetric marginal gains.

At low yaw angles the aero drag is a wash compared to the best deep rear wheels and your primary advantage is the reduced wattage to spin.. call it a few watts. If your frame has an extreme rear wheel cutout, the advantage here becomes even greater for a disc as there is increased airflow over the wheel which is other wise directed into the spokes and across the system, call it 4-5 watts with normal yaw angle distribution.

However, at certain cross and cross-tail wind conditions, the effects can be pretty unbelievable.. like 20-30 watts over a good deep wheel.. and in these conditions, the wheel also helps to move the center of pressure of the bicycle rearward leading to this sort of stability effect that others are mentioning.

So for maybe 100 extra grams and some money you have a gain that generally on the order of 1-2x that of one of those oversized ceramic pulley systems, BUT can unexpectedly be worth 8-10x that in some special cases.

I generally analogize it to the no-lose charity wine pull that my kid's school does. For $20 you get to pull a random bottle of wine off of the wall.. the guarantee is that the cheapest bottle on the wall is worth $20 but some are worth $50, 100, 200, and one is a $400 bottle, seems like a pretty good deal. So if you spend $2000 on a disc and plan to use it 100 times over the course of its life, you need to be comfortable in accepting that it will only return the expected $20 of value 80% of the time and then you can be thrilled for the 20% of the time that you get $100 or $200 worth!

However, if in any of this you are thinking 3-5 watts 'most of the time' is not worth $20 per race over 5 years (or whatever your math is..) then keep doing what you're doing.

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http://www.SILCA.cc
Check out my podcast, inside stories from more than 20 years of product and tech innovation from inside the Pro Peloton and Pro Triathlon worlds!
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Thank you.

Sincerely,

Every other STer who reads this.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

Thank you for the detailed response and great analogy! Thanks also to everyone else who responded to this post. There is a lot of good information here that will help me (and others) make the decision whether or not to go with a disc. I am definitely leaning toward buying one...price will be my main factor, and i will probably try to get a good used one (probably a Zipp 900 or super 9).

great analogy and financial reasoning

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Tridad

What kind of bike box? BikeBoxAlan?

Yep, great box, keep everything super secure, but can't fit a disc with the central post. Furhermore, there is no way i travel to a race with only a disc and no normal wheels just in case the weather is really bad. IMO you should consider disc only if you drive to most/all your race or if you are ok with the extra logistic.

That been said, i'm curious to know what could be the actual time benefit of using a disc over a normal deep wheel.

That limitation is literally the only thing that kept me from buying a BikeBoxAlan. I already had a disc and liked to travel with it. Really, liked everything about the BBA but decided to stick with my unwieldy clamshell

I have same bike box problem. I just take the disc with me on board as cabin luggage. I've done this many times, was unsure the first time - but I have found it fits easily into all overhead lockers. Security never care, sometimes interested to know what it is, but no issues. Cabin crew have occasionally asked what it is, when I tell them it is an expensive carbon race wheel they generally want to treat it like a priceless Stradivarius antique violin!!

[quote benleg. Furhermore, there is no way i travel to a race with only a disc and no normal wheels just in case the weather is really bad. IMO you should consider disc only if you drive to most/all your race or if you are ok with the extra logistic.

That been said, i'm curious to know what could be the actual time benefit of using a disc over a normal deep wheel.[/quote]

See Josh's post about 3 above yours for that answer. As the yaw angles go wider the disc becomes faster and faster. remember zero yaw is pretty rare in the real world and most triathletes are spending a lot of time in the 5 -10 range. The faster you are the smaller and lower the range will typically be.

Most people who use disc wheels have zero qualms about only brining that wheel. If they are going to do anything they'll bring 2 front wheels, maybe one in the 50-60mm range for windier days and on in the 80-100mm range for calm(er) days.

For the bike box problem I use a Premier Tactical case. It's hands down The Best bike case I've ever used.

I've flown to races & training camps before with 3 wheels, my wetsuit, aero helmet, regular helmet, 3 pair of running shoes, nutrition, extra water bottles, a towel, and all the other crap one needs for a 70.3 and a week of training. Then a small backpack for normal stuff.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

That case looks *very* similar to my scicon aerotech evolution. How do you manage to fit 3 wheels inside?

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

These struts are designed to work in a similar box (Velovault2) but might be possible to modify BBA to use this. The bracing strut passes through the wheel's hub as if it was the axle/QR skewer.

Cheers, Rich.

There are 3 wheel mounts in the case. 2 on one side 1 on the other.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Lots of good stuff on this thread!

Brian, how mechanically inclined does one need to be to pack the Premier? I can do low level stuff like change wheels and chains and cassettes. I have the largest P5d, so I assume it would need to come apart more than a smaller bike.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

Wheel cover sounds like a garbage can lid on every bump in the road.

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2017 Cervelo P2
2017 Cervelo S2
itraininla.com
#itraininla

Weird - not mine. I use both the screws and electrical tape where it meets the wheel. Mine is just on a basic Forte Titan.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

When I used one mine was pretty good.

I never used the screws, I taped the drive side to the spokes then taped the edge to the rim. I then just taped the edge of the non-drive side to the rim.

I used a 650C Jet 90

I love my disc.
We have one course where I am that is around 20km, an out and back, with the turnaround around ~150m lower than the start. One year on the way out we had a 30km/h headwind.
Keeping the 90mm front pointed down was hard, just a struggle. the wind was already blowing pre-race, and quite a few people (including at least one official) did ask me was I reconsidering the choose of the disc. Reality, I should have gone with a shallower front. But the disc was good on the way down.
This is a course I also ride in training, I think I have gone ~2mins faster on the outward section on a road bike than I did that race. ( and a bit faster again on the TT rig.)
The way back was eye opening on why a disc is better in the wind. 3 mins negative split, and ~6mins faster than my next fastest time on the return segment. (which had a 40km tailwind that previous attempt) The bike just felt planted, and it just flew uphill, perfectly stable. There were not many people who managed a negative split that day, but all had discs. (and from the profile, you should be able to understand why it is less likely to negative split.)


And as others have said, the whoosh whoosh sound gives a mental thumbs up :D

Disc cover. NO whoosh whoosh but still as fast

I can pack the Plasma, 3 wheels, all my race stuff and some training stuff in about 30 minutes. The easiest parts are the wheels and frame. It's super easy to put in the case. The hardest part is packing the helmet, shoes, wetsuit so it doesn't shift around too much. With the base bar area in the top of the frame I found a helmet fits and a wetsuit or running shoes (can't remember) fit well and tend to lock each other into place.

I've owned & used a ton of different cases over the decades. The Premier bike case is by far my favorite case.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

it's got 3 specific built in wheel areas. 2 on one side of the case, 1 on the other side. Then you put foam over the wheels and the frame locks down over that.
When I go back to NC and am testing and/or racing and will be there for a bit I usually put the disc, front HEd and rear training wheel in the case + a lot of training/racing gear. Use shipbikes.com and send it off. Then I have a single wheel box that I put my training front wheel in, load that with stuff and ship that off or just use that as my bag and fly w/it.

Can usually just travel with a carry on for a 10d trip if I ship the case & wheel box.

Now granted I have a lot of stuff that I need at my Dad's house in NC like a helmet, spare tubes/tire, some tools like allen wrenches, some regular clothes etc. That's makes it a bit easier if I'm going to be there for an extended time, just less to bring.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Why is this happening?

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Dr. Alex Harrison | Founder & CEO | Sport Physiology & Performance PhD
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Disc Wheels are expensive and people are cheap.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.