Do Disk's stall? Aero experts!

Triathlon Forum
1

I find some of the news coming out of the Hed camp that deeper is not always better for all riders very interesting. That a 20mph rider and a 24mph rider have different needs stemming from their ability (speed) to keep any given wheel in it’s aerodynamic sweet spot. From what I have been able to read this seems to have to do with stall.

My question is that if it is true that deeper is not always better when it comes to wheels, does this thinking also apply to disks? Or do disks behave differently making them most always the best choice no matter what your average speed? Thanks

2

does not apply to discs.

the more wind the less drag up to extremely high yaw angles.

discs are always the best choice, aerodynamically speaking.

3

Some recent data has shown that disks aren’t best at lower yaw angles, but based on any rider’s real world opinion, disks are best (unless it’s an uphill TT).

4

Yes, some of HEDs deep wheels make less drag in a varry narrow window of YAW, that is true.

But overall, unless you get really lucky, the disc will be faster.

5

discs are always the best choice, aerodynamically speaking.
that’s certainly not true according to the data on Hed’s website (if you believe it). I, and I suspect a lot of folks, would be better off with a Stinger 9 or 1080 almost all of the time.

Of course, I wonder what happens when you throw a big-ass PT hub into the mix?

6

can you point to where this info is? thanks

7

I’ve wondered about the effect of the powertap hub myself, hopefully the pacing benefits offset any drag.

Here is the link to HED’s site.

http://www.hedcycling.com/wheels/

My solution is to have the Jet 9 and a wheel cover, if its crosswind time its disc + H3 front, otherwise its Jet9 front and rear.

Kevin