CN: What is next on your list to make the fastest components possible?
SH: The next project I think is a new rear wheel. As bike design is changing, as aero seat-stays and aero seat-tubes are changing, a disc wheel is probably not the best wheel for the future anymore. I think a tri-spoke or some version of something else… that’s what we are working on next is trying to replace that wheel with a wheel that will be lighter and little bit more aero.
A disk wheel is PROBABLY not the best wheel?? I give up and will just stick to my Renn Disk and Hed Stinger up front and not get caught up in the hype any longer…
I have heard that the disc may not be the fastest a few times; someone always comes to the rescue of the disc. Paul Lew (Lew wheels, Wear’n’TearBlack Hole, amongst other things) tried to say that discs were HORRIBLE, then claimed to have the world’s only trueable disc, yet never be able to produce a picture of said disc.
Many times it has been debated. Maybe Steve IS onto something I don’t know (and disc producers don’t want us to find out).
A. Has the ability to push it self in a crosswind. (The HED3 does this to a degree, but Mr. Cobb had stated that so does a disc.)
or B, and more likely, reinventing the wheel shape. Currently wheels are designed to create as little drag as possible. If I had to wager on a new direction for bike wheels, I’d say they will re do the rim shape and try and make then clean up airflow coming off the bike/rider. That’s been part of the theory behind lenticular discs. Wind tunnels don’t tend to agree with it though.
"As bike design is changing, as aero seat-stays and aero seat-tubes are changing, a disc wheel is probably not the best wheel for the future anymore. I think a tri-spoke or some version of something else… "
Steve is ultimately talking about systems design; a disc may not be the best choice in a bicycle system, designed as such, rather than a collection of parts - which is what we are all riding now.
Much of the ambiguity that surrounds aero-test results is an artifact of the design/test protocol, EG - “Let’s design a wheel that tests out x seconds faster over 40k.” Well, in isolation, you can do that. Fixture up a wheel, do the math, and bam - 2 seconds gained. Of course, when you bolt the wheel onto 30 different bikes, you are going to get a wide range of actual benefit analysis.
If you start with a blank slate, or at least a slate that says “these are the rules governing bike design, what is the fastest thing that fits in the template,” you may well get a different answer that you would asking “what is the fastest frame I can bolt on to my Mavic wheels…” or “what is the fastest wheel I can bolt onto my Trek frame…”
You may also ask, which of these wheels and frames are fastest for my body type? Long legs, short legs, wide shoulders, narrow shoulders, arched back, flat back, short torso, long torso…I beleive all these things change the aero dynamics of the “whole” frame, wheel, aerobars, body combination.