I just received my rear wheel in the mail that I ordered from the slowtwitch classifieds. People have been asking about these so I took some up close shots in comparison to my Jet90 front. The ‘ridges’ you see are in fact ridges, its not just a coloration thing. I figure that isn’t ideal as compared to the HED Jet. The spokes do interface more cleanly though. The construction and quality on the wheel looks great. I plan to use this with a wheel cover, so it should give me a much lighter overall setup than my current standard rim + cover.
The rims are resold under many brands, such as PlanetX, Beyond, Karbona,etc
I agree with your impressions. I am really impressed with the price versus quality ratio of these wheels so far. I will be the running the front + a Hed Disc at CDA and I will* ***be running them as a pair, front and back, in Kona this year I have only one 5 mile test ride on them so far, but they seemed fast and smooth.
In order of difficulty of getting Michelin Pro3s on:
i’m curious how much weight you expect to save with this wheel over a standard wheel + cover. The claimed weight of this wheel (per the classifieds ad) is 1055g Throw in another ~380g for a cover which is what it will weigh for a 85mm wheel and you are still at 1.45kg for a “disc”.
An DA/open pro wheel will weigh 900g which still gives you 1.45kg after you throw in an open pro cover.
My current rear wheel is about 100 grams heavier than the gigantex
So 100 grams + however much savings in reduced cover size.
The DA open pros I see online are claimed at 1060grams
i’m curious how much weight you expect to save with this wheel over a standard wheel + cover. The claimed weight of this wheel (per the classifieds ad) is 1055g Throw in another ~380g for a cover which is what it will weigh for a 85mm wheel and you are still at 1.45kg for a “disc”.
An DA/open pro wheel will weigh 900g which still gives you 1.45kg after you throw in an open pro cover.
Who cares how much it weighs. Until you are faced with a long, long climb weight shouldn’t be a factor. Aero trumps weight.
There are some concrete tubular 95mm rims for sale, 20 hole count, going cheap in the classifieds…you should buy 'em
Last half ironman I did had plenty of rolling hills where I would have loved to have a few less grams to haul up them.
I agree. Sure aero trumps weight in many cases. Not all. If you happen to be a smaller, lighter rider (like me), a heavy rear wheel setup can start to feel like dragging an anchor around when you’re on a rolling course.
Hi Jackmott,
What is the width of the carbon rim bed?
It looks wide as the brake surface is raised as compared to the carbon fairing.
and the wider the better going with HED’s trend.
Thanks for posting Jack. Appear to be a good product from you and Roughster’s view. Hopefully going to work out a split deal with another STer. Seems like you got them pretty quickly. What tires are you going to run on them?
thanks for the detailed look at your wheels. overall, they look like decent all-carbon rims, but ya gotta wonder what knucklehead decided to mold in those totally goofy swoopy ridges into the sides of the rims.
looking at pics of gigantex rims online, i always thought the swoopy things were just some decals or silkscreen effects. but actual (and airflow distrupting) ridges ?! wtf? because those ridges are likely taking away some of the very aero advantage that one would be buying the wheels for.
Someone on hear posted that they heard it was for stiffness but I don’t know.
I “heard” that from Steve, the owner of Gigantex, when I was at his factory. It’s definitely for stiffness. They’ve also tried recessed bracing (valleys).
This graph has the Sonic Super 50mm, which is a gigantex carbon rim. Decent numbers for a 50mm rim at 0 degrees yaw, but 0 degrees yaw isn’t much of the story
This graph has the Sonic Super 50mm, which is a gigantex carbon rim. Decent numbers for a 50mm rim at 0 degrees yaw, but 0 degrees yaw isn’t much of the story
Thanks, but the 50mm does not have the spiral “bulge”, would be very interesting too see how it affect the speed.
And; this test does NOT test at 0 yaw only. Look at the first part of the test where the test is described, “all” angles are tested and the published result is a weighted average.
Thanks, good info.
At least their 50mm is competitive with the old zip 404, that at least inspires some confidence that they do try to make their rims aero and not just LOOK aero.
Thanks, but the 50mm does not have the spiral “bulge”, would be very interesting too see how it affect the speed.
And; this test does NOT test at 0 yaw only. Look at the first part of the test where the test is described, “all” angles are tested and the published result is a weighted average.
I have only one 5 mile test ride on them so far, but they seemed fast and smooth.