Currently building up an Orbea Ordu and I’m looking for something in the budget category and even better would be something used.
Non-negotiable: Disc, Hooked tubeless, and 28mm tires…unless you can convince me the aero of 25 outweighs RR of 28
Really looking for the best bang of specs for the buck and I’m overwhelmed by wheel choice.
I dream of a tri spoke front wheel for the cool factor, but my brain is wondering if I should bother. What are the pros and cons?
Disc vs Spoked Disc vs Disc Cover? In a perfect world I’d have 3 wheels but I can always ‘borrow’ the rear wheel (shimano c50) from my other bike anytime I need to use it.
HED vanquish disc is on ebay right now, it looks a little beat up but seems like a good deal… but I know I could get a better value as a wheelset from somewhere.
Where do we stand on wheel width? I’m looking for something at 21mm, is even wider worth looking at? Light Bicycle has several very wide options.
My initial lean would be toward the HED options because they have wide and deep aluminum rims. There are a few wider options on the market now, but they are a lot more expensive than the HEDs.
My initial lean would be toward the HED options because they have wide and deep aluminum rims. There are a few wider options on the market now, but they are a lot more expensive than the HEDs.
There are a lot of wider options on the market now than the HED aluminum rims. They’re still using the Ardennes+ rim introduced in 2013 with 21mm/25mm internal/external. That was super wide then, and 21mm internal is still considered pretty wide, but I’d argue that for the stated preference for 28mm tires, the OP would want external width of at least 28mm. Wider with the old Poertner 105 formula.
For the Ardennes Plus rim in TT mode the argument is between 23mm and 25mm tires, not 25mm vs. 28mm.
HED is still a fine option, just saying it’s best with narrow tires by today’s standards.
My initial lean would be toward the HED options because they have wide and deep aluminum rims. There are a few wider options on the market now, but they are a lot more expensive than the HEDs.
There are a lot of wider options on the market now than the HED aluminum rims. They’re still using the Ardennes+ rim introduced in 2013 with 21mm/25mm internal/external. That was super wide then, and 21mm internal is still considered pretty wide, but I’d argue that for the stated preference for 28mm tires, the OP would want external width of at least 28mm. Wider with the old Poertner 105 formula.
For the Ardennes Plus rim in TT mode the argument is between 23mm and 25mm tires, not 25mm vs. 28mm.
HED is still a fine option, just saying it’s best with narrow tires by today’s standards.I was mainly recommending HED because or the “hooked” and “budget” criteria. But yeah, I otherwise agree.
Parcours has a great disc wheel it looks like, if only I could secure a cheap front wheel.
The EZ disc wheel cover costs another $300 so hits my budget target pretty well. Adds 500 grams, and realistically would never remove the cover. I’ve used a disc cover my entire tri life, but I’ve always wanted a real disc. And something about the HED disc has me worried about cracking the fairing especially around the valve stem as I’ve done on my old cover.
I’ve got a set of LB WR50 wheels on the way. 25mm internal, 32 external to match better with 28mm tires. Pretty excited for those.
I’ve also got a set of LB AR55 rim brake wheels. 21mm internal, 28mm external with their grooved graphene brake track. I’m really impressed with their stopping power, although they don’t quite mate up with 28mm tires as well as I’d like.
Caviat that I use these wheels for road racing, especially crits, where I find the wider tires allow me to corner much more confidently. That being said, if I was buying a new TT setup, I’d also go with something that let me run 28mm tires
I’ve got the clx II on the road bike and they are amazing wheels. In honesty I can’t really justify the cost difference of the CLX over the CLS but I was feeling like treating myself. So for $1k they are a steal. Note that the front is wider than the back, and whilst Specialised claim they are optimised for a 26mm then I’d not run anything less than a 28mm on the front to provide some protection to the rim.
My intent is to have the CLXs as windy day backup to the Bontranger 75s. The handling of the CL(x) in sidewind is freaky stable, way way way better than the Zipp 30s despite being deeper.
Spoiler Alert: This will either be a goring of someone’s sacred cow or an opening of a can of worms, you decide.
Just perusing bicyclerollingresistance.com to compare a couple of tires, the Conti 5000 S TR in both 25mm and 28mm.
At reasonable race pressures for both tires, what BRR refers to as ‘high’ pressure, there’s about a half a watt difference between the tires, and at ‘extra high’ pressure (which no one would dream of riding unless they wanted to lose their fillings) they’re equal.
So, yeah, unless you’re running wheels that are wide enough to hit the all important 105% figure for the 28 (which will measure out to 30 or so when mounted on a rim with even a moderately wide internal width), you’re better off with the 25mm tire on something like the HED Jet+ wheels, as the aero gains will certainly outweigh the negligible RR gains of the wider tire.
