I’m debating on getting HED Alps or Rolf Vector Comps. I’m a year or two away from Zipps, right now, or the fast HED stuff.
Hed Alps are REALLY FAST. . .and durable enough that you can train on them everyday as well.
I train on them on my Kestrel Talon SL all the time. I swap out to H3s for races, but will use the Alps on windier days or mountains.
You really can’t go wrong with these wheels. I love mine. . .except that I took off the clashing yellow decals since they didn’t go with my SL color scheme. 
I saw your site, those ALPS look nice on your Talon SL.
Is there that much of a difference in your times between those and your disc’s. What are you getting as far as minutes or seconds with the HED discs over the ALPS. Honestly, how much differnce would it make to you if you had to race with the ALPS on?
i love mine. i think they are one of the best value wheels out there and pretty damn fast to boot. my girlfriend rode them at eagleman to a pr bike split (i rode the h3s). i can’t say enough good things about them. they have stood up to the potholes of new york more than their fair share of times.
I have raced against a guy who uses Alps, he’s beaten me twice. I know I’ll see him again this year, we’ll see. I also know he hasn’t told his wife how much he paid for them!
I’ve just noticed that the Hed website is down or at least I can’t currently get it. They published their aero specs, the only wheel manufacturer that does. The Alps is a fast wheel.
My wife trains/races on Vector Comps on her P2K. They are a very durable multipurpose wheel but I’d suspect the Hed’s are faster.
Just curious, for a 2003 Cervelo Team Soloist, what would you recommend in the neighborhood of 600-800 bucks. I don’t like the Shimano stock wheel set, for 2003 team solist. 2004 is Velomax. Don’t care much for that either, good wheel sets for sure, but don’t like them. No discs. I’m really not into throwing down a grand, to be honest for a wheel set.
Great bike.
I’m a bit of a secondhand retrocrouch so if you want used wheels that are still state of the art aero wise I’d look at Campy Shamals or Hed CX’s. You can pick them up off ebay for under $300 a set. A little heavier than today’s wheels but weight is less important than most people realize and both these wheels are bombproof enough to be used for racing and training.
For racing the ultimate is a disc with front tri spoke. You can do it the expensive way or be just as fast with $60. CH Aero disc cover and used Specialized tri spoke($200 or so) off ebay(essentially same wheel as new Hed tri spoke)
If you want new, you should maybe send a private email to Gary Tingley who posts here regularly. I’ve noticed he’s a big fan of the latest Spinergy offerings. Apparently they offer a lot of wheel for the money. I don’t know much about them but understand they offer a lot for the money.
Yeah, spinergy. Checking that out. For sure.
BTW, this is really insignificant but hugely annoying to me. You know, I want to put white tape on the bars, not black, I know…I know…but have you guys found a white or light tape which doesn’t attract or grime in, dirt. I rode a litespeed ultimate the other day, which had this kind of golf club white leather thingy, half silver, which was wonderful. Didn’t feel like it took in anything.
Yet, I get all the 30 buck gel tapes, and the white ones all attract all kinds of grime.
“have you guys found a white or light tape which doesn’t attract or grime in, dirt”
Now that’s an oxymoron. Anything white will show up dirt.
Believe it or not the best thing I ever found was white electrical tape because you can wipe it clean with a damp cloth and not bother it. I had it on a bike with black regular tape that I trimmed in places with the white electrical tape for visual effect. Worked good, looked nice but I don’t know how it would work if you used it exclusively on a bar.
I had white bar tape on my girlfriends kestrel (recently switched to cool silver “carbon fiber” tape) and it actually stayed pretty clean. When it got dirty you just shoot it down with simple green, scrub a little and it’s nice and white again.
Well, it would be hard for me to quantify in any scientific terms. I take it on published wind-tunnel tests and opinions of the experts that the H3 is faster. I can’t imagine it is more than a handful or two of seconds over a 40k. Mostly I have the H3s and Alps, and soon another rear disc, to handle differing wind and road conditions. In everything up to moderately stiff but steady winds I’ll ride the H3s (and later the disc/H3 combo). If the winds are strong AND gusty, I’ll go with the Alps. For most road conditions I’ll ride the H3s at 150-170psi in the 19mm Tufos. For rougher surfaces I’ll stick with the Alps (clincher model since they are primarily training wheels), with Michelin Pro Race 23mm tires at 115-120psi. I am having a second PowerTap Pro hub laced to the rear Alps rim so that I can have an all aero wheel setup with power measuring capability. Currently, if I want power info from a race I have to go with the PT Pro hub/Mavic CXP-33 rim wheel that I have. I have not had any problems, however, in pairing that wheel with either the Alps or H3 front.
If I were to own only one of these wheelsets, I’d own the Alps in a clincher model. I’d train on Mich Pro Race 23mm and swap out the tires for Conti SuperSonic 19mm tires and run them up to 130-140psi on most courses. Though some would take umbrage using clincher wheels for race wheels, the reason I would do so here is that the Alps are perfectly suitable to use 100% of the time as trainers. If they were tubies it would get awfully expensive wearing out pair after pair of high dollar race tubies, and swapping out tires for races is really not an option with tubulars. You can do it, but why would you. . .
Just my $.02 and experience.
Are Hed Alps any good? Let’s just say a guy named Chris McCormack was running a Hed Alps as a front wheel at Wildflower on his Talon SL this year. He ran a disk in the back. Granted he is likely sponsored by Hed but I don’t think he would ride the Alps if it wasn’t a fast wheel. I agree with some of the other posters that it is a great wheel for the money. I happen to have some older Hed CX’s and if I was upgrading it would likely be to the Alps. Great all around wheel!
Mike