Anybody riding those. Did see them on a Shop-Litespeed recently. Design looks like the HED Alps.
Who makes them? Price? Quality?
Looking for an aero front and an ALPs had been on the top of my list (don’t want to go all out and buy the big Z…)
I was going to post asking Herbert or maybe Dan (if he knows) about them. ABG makes them. Pretty new (I think Real Design is only a year or two old, at least in this incarnation). They make two different models with 60mm rims. One weighs 1770g and goes for $1500, the other is 1840g and goes for $1200. To me, it looks like they are kind of like Mavic Carbones, decent wheels but not competitive with Hed Jets ($800, 2000g) on the low end or Zipp 404s ($1350, 1650g) on the high end. Spinergy’s introduction of Tilliums is only going to make this worse for Mavic and RD/ABG.
The intriguing thing to me is that ABG could do an OEM or upgrade thing with them, make a little money and make QRs and Litespeeds a lot more attractive. If they made 60mm deep dish carbon wheels a $500 upcharge, people would be beating down the door even if the bikes sucked (which I’m not saying they do). Not sure they could make money doing it that cheap but I will be interested to see if they try something like that. If they do, I could see it as a huge plus for ABG. If they try to stay aftermarket at the prices they’re at, I can’t see them setting the TT/tri world on fire.
BTW, others would know better than I but I don’t see them, at least not the 60mms, as an Alps-type wheel. Alps have less depth to them so they are going to automatically be lighter and less crosswind sensitive but also less aero than 60mms. Even if they are competing with Alps, they have the same problem as they do against Jets; 240g heavier and $200 (a set) more expensive or 170g heavier and $500 more expensive.
i think real design was designed with input from steve hed, hence similarity to alps. i noticed that they were spec’d on the qr lucero pics herbert posted, and it looked like they were carbon rims.
herbert, care to verify the wheelset spec’d on the 05 qrs?
I don’t know if ABG specs them, but since the bike looked like a stock Litespeed, this is entirely possible. And the bike (Tuscany) definitely looked better compared to Ksyriums or Velomax wheels. Couldn’t see much dead weight either.
Found the web site:
As the website says, they offer a 40mm wheel (Ultrasonic, 1540 grams per set ( 700C ) that looks really similar to the Alps in design (as I could see close up and personal). However the employee couldn’t tell me more about it (or wouldn’t, after he found out that I was only interested in the wheels and not the whole bike).
Thanks for the info that they will probably not be competitively priced. Sigh…
Anybody riding those. Did see them on a Shop-Litespeed recently. Design looks like the HED Alps.
Who makes them? Price? Quality?
Looking for an aero front and an ALPs had been on the top of my list (don’t want to go all out and buy the big Z…)
“Real Design” is a wheel and hub company which was owned by QR and acquired by ABG (Litespeed, QR, etc.) when they bought up all the bike co’s and was resurrected about a year ago. Having not actually seen one I can’t tell you about price or quality (although I would suspect reasonable and very good, respectively), but Steve Hed helped the guys at ABG design the wheels. They’re constructed like the Jets (aluminum rim and carbon fairing), not the Alps.
ABG does make the Real Design wheels and they do spec them on their bikes. I’ve sold three bikes with them and everyone likes the ride. Their are two models and one with a carbon hub.
I had a set of RD Ultrasonics on my ‘04 Tiphoon. They were not bad wheels. Seemed to be pretty smooth and were similar to Hed Jets. A buddy of mine bought them from me after I used them for a couple of training rides and after a couple of races. He seemed to have had some issue with them and sold them on E-bay. I, personally didn’t have a problem with them. I only sold them because I got a screamin’ deal on a set of Hed Alps. I do like the Alps. I race on them and train on them and they feel pretty solid and smooth. No problems thus far except I did encounter being blown around on a windy day crossing a bridge. It got a little hairy but I survived. I would definitely not pay retail of around $1100 for the Ultrasonic 40s when the Alps cost around $975. I just happened to initially get the Real Design because for some reason my Tiphoon was delivered with them instead of the Velocity Deep Vs and I didn’t have to pay for them. I do understand however that Steve Hed had a part in their design.
Sorry about the delay with my response, but we are in the middle of 05 catalog time. Which is most likely the most nerve wrecking and time consuming time of the year, but that really is not your problem. 
As for Real-Design spec:
If you buy a QR Lucero or Ti-phoon with a Dura-ace tri kit, it’ll come stock with a Real-Design Ultrasonic 40 wheelset, but it is possible to upgrade it to a Ultrasonic 60.
If you buy a QR Lucero or Ti-phoon with an Ultegra tri kit, the same is true with a Real-Design Supersonic 40 wheelset, and you can upgrade to a Supersonic 60 or Ultrasonic 60.
The difference in the wheels is the Ultrasonics have carbon hubs and bladed spokes, while the Supersonics have aluminum hubs and straight spokes.
I hope this helps
Herbert
QR/Litespeed
FYI, all wheels are handcrafted and laced here in Ooltewah, TN
How much for the QR Lucero, Dura-ace kit? Will you also offer the frame with the new Ultegra 10 Speed?
Dave from VA
“I would definitely not pay retail of around $1100 for the Ultrasonic 40s.”
It is probably a situation similar to the Bontrager aero bars. Trek/Bontrager puts a high retail price on them to quote when they are included with the bike. It sounds good to have an $1100 wheelset spec’d on the complete bike, but they aren’t necessarily looking to sell a ton separately at retail.
swweeeeeeeeeeetttt…
we need prices…
Lucero with Dura-Ace, MSRP $5,050.-
Lucero with Ultegra 10, MSRP $4,090.-
Realistically availability of the 05 QR Lucero will coincide with the availability of Ultegra 10 closer to mid November.
Cheers,
Herbert
QR/Litespeed
In respect to a previous post the Alps are also a carbon faring on an aluminum rim, the spokes go to the rim.
Hed does sell rims separately as well, and after Kona you could probably score an alps front quite cheap.
I have seen the Supersonic 40 and they look just fine, the carbon faring was quite mushy. I was a bit afraid I would put my finger through the carbon with anything more than slight pressure. I am also not sure if I would personally be confident on them as I weigh 190 lbs at 6 feet.
I was looking at them for my wife, but went with the tillium that I know I could race on, and for less money. The lbs I saw them at showed a retail of $800, the tillium’s were $600, not a tough decision.
If they are durable and strong enough for a 200 lb rider, they would be sweet wheels to be speced on any bike.