Not much, I don't think. The biggest difference is width - some older wheels like the original trispokes do best with *sub* 23mm tires, and most of the fast tires these days are 23mm or wider. But running a 23mm tire on an older rear disc I don't think would be giving up much at all.

Disc have not change much in recent years so a old disc will be pretty much as fast as the current one

the downside is
-you will often be stock with 10-11 speed and no option to change the cassette body for 12 speed
-narrower rim.... meaning not as good with wider tires like the new currents wheels from a aero perspective. But even then, it s a minimal amount as the rear wheel is sheltered by the frame so much less sensitive to mismatch tire/rim compare to the front wheel.

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Jonathan Caron / Professional Coach / ironman champions / age group world champions
Jonnyo Coaching
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Ahh gotcha, thank you both for the replies. I'd be running the disc with a 2011 P3 that is a 10 speed already and can't handle much beyond a 24mm tire in the rear. Sounds like it makes sense given my current setup?

For very little you can swap out some new bearings and you would be good to go.

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Dan Kennison

facebook: @triPremierBike
http://www.PremierBike.com
http://www.PositionOneSports.com

^^^^This.

I'm running a circa 2008 Renn disc and have never been tempted to get a newer one. Aerodynamically, discs are discs (all about equally fast), and even on the older discs you can easily run a 25mm or even a 28mm tire.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Things don't last forever. Do you mind telling us (or me in a pm) how old? H3s all have a rim that is bonded to the carbon. Discs circa 2006 and older have a rim that is bonded to the carbon. The safe working life of the adhesives and substrates on those wheels is about 15 years.

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Andy Tetmeyer (I work at HED)

I think I get what you are saying about the tire/rim on the rear wheel, but just in case and because I find it interesting. On the rear wheel the reasoning for the wider rim is to prepare a flow structure that can close up quickly over the rear of the tire. Unlike the front wheel, there is little reason to design a rear wheel with good head-on aerodynamics, since as you said it's sheltered by the increasingly well designed frames. Basically the only job of the rim is to cover the spokes at the top and create and airfoil at the back.

All of this said, unless you put a stupidly large tire on an old disc it's going to be faster than even the best deep dish wheels. It's also going to allow you to more stably run a deeper wheel in the front which is worth a lot more than a disc.

Hey, thanks a ton for your response! I am unsure of the exact year but the seller lists them as from 2006. Sounds like that would be too old to be safe?

Thanks for the sobering insight Andy. Like the original poster referenced, I have been running the same disc (wheel cover) + a HED 3 - Tri-Spoke (actually a Specialized era wheel) since 2006. Sounds like it's time to retire, at least that front wheel. With that wheel, which I believe was designed to be fastest with a 20 front tyre, I felt I was always rolling the dice, be it in crosswinds, or on rough pavement. Going down from Yellow Lake could sometimes be a very exciting experience, the new HED Jet 60 with a Conti Tubeless 25 is a lot less exciting, although in some cases, not as fast.

My new HED Jet 90 might be fast, but I'm suspecting my disc covered Mavic Open Pro with a Conti 4000s + latex tube was faster.

Now, if they made disc wheel covers for disc brake wheels......

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http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

Can you elaborate? Is the lifespan based on time alone, environmental exposure, or load cycles? Seems like there would be quite a difference between an H3 ridden as a daily wheel and a disc that only comes out a few times a year. Typically design lifespans assume above average params (ex. heavier rider, high use, bad road surfaces)...with a safety factor (since you really don't want an in use failure).

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

EZ Gains does them

Time is your enemy. "The safe working life of the adhesives and substrates on those wheels is about 15 years."

I have a year 2000 Zipp disk, tubular with full carbon rim. I've only used it for races only, but waiting at some point for the carbon layers to come apart or the aluminum hub to separate from the carbon.

Not speaking for Andy, but I think we're talking about a rule of thumb. Since most disc owners don't maintain a detailed log of usage and environmental conditions.

Even if you are not speaking for me, rule of thumb is correct.
I have seen delamination on older products. Nothing that has ever led to a crash.
Age and use need to be considered if purchasing an older wheel with bonded parts - or even a spoked wheel. You can easily see a broken spoke. You will probably have to look closely for a delamination. On a used wheel you do not know how much and in what manner it has been ridden.

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Andy Tetmeyer (I work at HED)

I also have a circa 2008 Renn disc (aluminum rim and carbon) I converted it to 11 speed. I have tested it against tubeless wider modern disc and a Sub 9 and I can't measure any significant aerodynamic difference. The only negative is the narrower rim which requires a 23 c tire but other than that the thing is almost as fast as anything out there. Only concern is if the disc is tubular nothing wrong with it, but if you race IM, it is a bit annoying to carry a spare tubular.

About the on.y topic not mentioned is the inability to run tubeless and some of the complications of tubeless tires.

Many of the fast tubeless tires, like the Corsa Speed tires, can have a very tight bead (tighter than the pre-tubeless tires/tyres). This makes it a chore to get the tire on with a latex tube and a bit of a pain if you have to do a roadside repair.

I also seem to remember HED warning against using the Corsa Speeds on the original C2-19mm Jet disc because the overly tight tire would cause the disc cover to warp and buckle, though that didn’t stop me from using them anyway. This problem could limit you to non-tubeless clinchers like the VeloFlex Records and Specialized Turbo Cotton, though I don’t know how the ETERO standards have affected this issue.

One way or another, I would look for a real set of tubeless compatible wheels. They will have the wider internal width and future proof your tire selection.