My guess is most posts will recommend the HED Jet 9/disc combo as the fastest. That is my vote. I have the Black set, and I absolutely love them.

Edit: wheels and tires have all gone wide. The HED are some of the widest. Make sure that modern wheels & tires will fit your wife’s frame.

What tires/tubes is she running? What bike?

Wheels have moved, but they may not be any faster...

Rear: don't know if you'll find something faster as that you have (or do you just want something NEWER)

Front: you see in professional tts often 4 spokes: they do probably not ride them because they are slow.

Yeah, if just wanting something new, easy answer is HED Jet disc, a 6 or 9 for the front, and a 9 for the rear for times a disc might not be allowed.
23mm GP5000 tires, latex tubes.

I'd probably keep the disc depending upon what frame your wife rides. If it's a less aero frame then I may move to one of the disc that has a bulge in it. If it's a rather aero frame I'd stay with a flatter disc.

For instance I ride a plasma premium 3 and I know a flat disc is ~ 3w faster than a bulged disc. This is the 1 time I wish I didn't ride Powertap hubs.

If I was riding something like say a Felt B14, ORbea, Shiv or an older model TT/tri bike I'd almost certainly ride a bulged disc. It'll be somewhere ~1 - 4w faster

For the front she may want to try the new aerocoach wheel or a Jet 90. She could drop down to a 60 and not give up that much to the 90 but have a bit more versatility in case she bike races.

The disc/jet 60 or 90 should for the same power output put her ~ :05-:15 up the road /40k

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Brian Stover USAT LII
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If you want to splash the cash on some nice new bling then fair enough. Just don't expect to to be faster or even more so, it to make any difference to her races!

I run a tri spoke front and disk rear.

I care not if that combo. Is a few second slower than any other, it just looks fab and makes me smile every time I look at my bike.

That adds to the experience.

Get a tri spoke front, they just look cool. 😄👌

So the frame is a Ventum One that I built up with Campy SR EPS (all her bikes are Campy). There's quite a bit clearance in the frame. ENVE 7.8's are not a problem (know that since we tested it). Neither is a Super9 disc (that's what I have).

Tires are Conti GP4000S II 23's with latex tubes.

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"Suddenly the thought struck me. My floor is someone elses ceiling"-Nils Ferlin

Yep, Jet disc, and I just bought a H3+ trispoke. Its a love affair going back to the specialized/dupont days... :)

Brian, I'm interested in your comment about a bulged disc being faster on an Orbea. I have a 2018 Orbea Ordu and my race wheels are Mavic CXR 80s. Did my 2nd 70.3 this year: 2:51:03, 19.5mph, 159W NP. I'm 5'9" 150lbs. Would I even benefit from a disc - say a Zipp 900 because they're light? Or should I just stay with the Mavics? Thanks for your input.

A rear disc wheel is faster.

Weight has nothing to do with it.

The HED+ are amazinv but actually some of the narrowest by modern standards. 25mm at the track. The 7.8 is 27.5mm at the track.

I’ll buy that old wheel set off of you if/when you upgrade.

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Strava

I got over the cool. I’d rather go faster.

I owned a tub HED 3.

I highly doubt for triathlon she is doing 28+ mph airspeed. Where trispokes will start to shine.

Do not buy a trispoke unless you are popping off nearly 20min 10mi TT times. Yaw matters.

Keep the rear disc if frame is tight. Get a 9+ for front. If frame does fit a modern tire width rear disc, gain the CRR. I doubt much CdA gain.

I'm over cool and I'd rather go faster too, that's why I'm asking if, with my power numbers (159NP, 2:51 for HIM), I should even consider a cheaper used rear disc (like a Zipp 900) or should I just stick with the Mavic CXR 80s. Would it be appreciably faster or only be 'cool'?

Far more important to say that if your course is windy, don't use the trispoke. The effects of actual wind conditions far exceed the differences in effective yaw from speed.

Your statement is reminiscent of the erroneous "disc wheels are for fast people" myth that pops up once in a while.

Trispokes work just great for slower people. Don't need to be super fast "trispoke bro." But if there are significant crosswinds, both fast and slow people have better options.

Something to mention: I would make sure your wife is able to change on a flat (get the tire on and off) on any new wheelset. With almost all new wheels going TLR, some wheel/tire combo are difficult to get tires on/off (enve and hed are usually on that list).

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I’ll qualify my statement by I made it from looking at the gains at modest yaw of a 9+ versus a trispoke.

I rarely ride when yaw will be low single digits for most of a route. I train the TT bike down east with 15mph winds.

I just find the trispoke to be an expensive one trick pony. If you are slower, yeah it works....on the rare calm day. But a 90mm modern profile works more often. And a modern 60mm almost always works well.

Out of 365 days per year, I would choose the trispoke 10 days.

It works, but not often. So if on a budget is like an ‘extra’ tool in the shed.

And yes, fast trispoke bros can use theirs more like 50 or 100 of 365 days in a year instead of just 10. I guess that was my point. It isn’t a litmus test, just logic and budget.

While that is somewhat accurate it should be noted that 25mm measurement is just at the brake track and the fairing portion is much wider than that; whereas with the 7.8, that is the maximum width which is not necessarily at the brake track. Enve's drawings show 29mm for the 7 and 27.5 for the 8 at their widest points. The HED Jet RC9 Black flares out to 32mm.

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Anyone have thoughts on this?

Every once in awhile „the disc is always faster comes up“..maybe for a reason

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-shoki

Hard to ignore the success of the Princeton Carbonworks Wake 6560 in world class time trailing world this year. Pricier than the 9+ (which is of course also a great option), and also pretty much impossible to find used, but very possible the fastest and easiest to handle front wheel out there with a 23mm tire.

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I own both and measured both. The HED Jet+ Black 6/9 is 25mm at the track and the Enve SES 7.8 is 27.5mm at the track, both front and rear (the front bulges to 29mm, the rear does not). This is the measurement I use for the 105% rule, and thus the tire can be wider on the Enve. It would make little sense to me to size the tire based on the widest portion of the fairing if that is several cm away, because then the setup would look like a figure-eight instead of a smooth airfoil.

Other popular wheels as measured at the track:
Zipp NSW 26.5mm
AeroCoach 26.7mm
Reynolds AR 27mm
Bonti XXX 27.5mm
Roval CLX 28mm
FLO AS 28 mm

I really like the HED Jet+ wheels, but they have fallen behind on the width trend. My response was to the statement that they are some of the widest, which unfortunately they aren't. It would be nice if they released some 28mm wide Jet++, but I won't hold my breath.

Not replying to anyone in particular, but have to assume for a lady triathlete they will be able to benefit from 23’s or 25’s from a weight and psi standpoint whereas big boys need more tire for the crr gain.

I’m 155 to 160 lbs. Zero need for 28’s or 30’s.

So don’t think super wide tire stuff is relevant here necessarily.

That's the thing with Aero, what makes sense to you might not be what's fastest.


But Don't take my word for it

You can see in regards to the Zipp 404 the brake track width of 24.75 is not referred to when discussing the width of the wheel or how to apply the "105% rule". It is the maximum width of the wheel which is not at the brake track. But please do go on about how HED has fallen behind.

ETA: also on the widest bit, they kinda are some of the widest at 32mm wide. This could cause issues fitting some Time Trial frames.

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