Hed does it for pretty darn close.

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- Nick
Now that I know some of you guys look through the special needs bags for kicks, I'm gonna put some really weird stuff in mine. I can see it now. "What the heck was he going to do with a family pack of KFC chicken, a football helmet full of peanut butter, a 12 inch rubber dildo, and naked pictures of Bea Arthur?"

While Hed's Jets are the most reasonably priced of the bunch, I don't understand why the Jet's are worth what they are. Mavic Cosmos wheels are $300. Can some chunks of plastic really cost more than $100? I think we should be getting 60mm carbon wheels for $400/pair.

Hey Frank at Renn, are you out there?

??? I've ridden a Renn, and it's a great wheel! However, how you can compare the new Zipp wheel, or any spoked wheel, to a disc is beyond me.
A disc is very simple to make. A nomex (commonly used as airplane flooring and readily available at Boeing surplus, if you live in the great NW) core, with a carbon skin, bonded to an aluminum rim, with a hub glue and screwed. The hub's the only tricky part (why Zipp discs are so expensive is also beyond me!).
The Zipp rim is structural, and a whole lot more complicated to make.
Non-structural fairings either a)have a lot of spokes which negates *some* of the aero benefit, or b)have too few spokes to be a reliable wheel. (The Cosmics get by with this with ridiculously high tension, which often results in spoke pull-through at the rim).
If there were a way to make a cheap deep-dish carbon wheel, it'd be out there by now! The Hed Alps seems like the best alternative.

These are the old 404 and 303 non-dimpled rims laced up with Taiwanese hubs (according to Zipp Rep) with upgraded bearings. They're nice, especially considering the new suggested retail for '06 Zipp is $1750.00. So, the savings are substancial considering the aero benefits will likely be identical.

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Jim Manton / ERO Sports