So its time for a disc wheel for my Diamondback Andean tri bike. #Edit# its a disc break bike, with tru axle
I’ve considered the following wheels
Roval 321
Lightweight autobahn
Enve ses
Hed Jet plus
My pros and cons, I know its a bit short, and thats were you guys come in, can you help me fill it up, and make suggestions?
The Price is not the concern, but ofc Ill look at it, the saved cash can be used elsewere.
Roval seems really good
tubeless
fits several Size of valves if needed.
Weight
no rimtape needed for tubeless
I can get a good Price on them
comes with ceramic speed berrals
abit big as far as I can read, so it Will be Harder to change tires when stressed out.
LW
weight
looks awsome
tubular, I had accely desided that I wanted to go tubeless this season.
Previously, Lightweight wheels did not test well in the wind tunnel. This was from a few years ago so more recent models many test better. Still, very pricey but nice bling for your bike.
I like my 321 a lot. It’s a bit wide so that causes some issues in my frame and the tire tightness is no joke. I sometimes train on the 321 and when I do I swap to a Conti SS I have (I don’t run my TT wheels tubeless). Mounting the Conti up is a breeze in comparison to when I go to throw the VCS back on. In fact I wouldn’t trust the VCS to seal due to the wear and tear the beads have taken with me wrestling that thing on. Curious to see how a 5000TL mounts up.
It’s the same retail as the Roval, but it is a bit heavier. That was one of the selling points for me on the 321…not that it really matters in terms of performance, but I am still a bit of a Weight Weenie.
IMHO, I think the disc wheel choice is largely budget and aesthetics. Most of what I read is anecdotal around lenticular versus flat discs and that some are better for some frames, but you don’t know, so just get any lenticular… Anyway, once you check off the technical factors (tubeless, disc brakes, etc.) the major aesthetic factors are brand, finish, solid vs. spoked, shape, etc. I think they are all likely to perform so similarly that there is little performance differentiation.
So, decide how much you want to spend. Then, pick the wheel that satisfies most of your aesthetic factors.
The AeroCoach disc is also an option. It is designed for the Corsa Speed, so it should mount any of the tubeless tires.
AeroCoach has their tunnel testing data up for this wheel and compares the HED and Zipp discs. The HED is a bit better out at 10+ degrees, so that might be a better windy condition wheel and HEDs are just always a decent bet.
As an interesting aside, Wattshop has a blog about wattage, weight and time. They use their prediction software with the British National TT results to calculate how much more Alex Dowsett would have to weigh before each rider matched his time. Second place was something like 6 seconds slower and I think Alex could have lugged a couple extra Kilos around the hilly TT and still won. As you get down to the end of the elite field you find that Alex could have been in the neighborhood of 130 kg heavier (roughly 300 lbs or a total of around 450 for us non-metric luddites here in the US).
Just had to look it up. A little disappointing it costs $2600. Was figuring it would be at a more competitive price. Not that this is out of the ordinary for other brands but was just expecting lower from hed.
I’d want my front and rear wheels to match, so I’d go HED in your case… or upgrade everything all at once, which is what I just did, going from Zipp to Enve because I wanted to run tubeless (Zipp disc wasn’t tubeless). Roval disc seemed best/easiest to live with actually, but their front wheels handle notoriously poorly whereas Enve front wheels handle brilliantly (my new 5 front handles better than my 303 NSW, and WAY better than my 404 NSW). The Enves are wide though, and required some jerry-rigging of front brake system to get fit my Speedmax SLX. Also, if it matters, my Enve disc is pretty quiet actually, not really any louder than my 808 was, doesn’t really have that whomp whomp sound unless I’m sprinting out of the saddle.
I went with the 321 (coming from a Super9) and I have been very pleased with it. With a Lifetime warranty I don’t even bother putting the CLX64 back on and just leave the disc on for training rides. The GP5000TL went on pretty easy, no fighting like some videos I have watched, it sealed up right away, added 2oz of orange seal and I haven’t touched it since except for air. From Sunday when I raced to this morning - so 4 days - it went from 80psi to 60psi this morning. Not bad at all. It didn’t lose any more air than my front wheel did over those 4 days.
Light. Stiff. Quiet (for a disc). Easy to put air into with the large opening. Price is a bit lower. I can’t think of any downside to the Roval.
