Is it time for Ironman to allow disc wheels in all races and just be athletes risk ???
Kona 2019.2022 2023 2024 has nearly no wind .
Less wind than Arizona gets !
Cozumel 2021 had no wind and the days I was training there although it had a ton it was rideable ( I ride worse on the disc in training ) .
Yes, it’s time for discs in all races. The HED 180s and other ultra-deep wheels lay bare that a disc is totally rideable in Kona et al by many athletes (even on windy days). Leave it to the athlete to determine how deep a rear wheel they can handle (same standard that currently exists for front wheels…in theory someone could ride a HED 180 in the front, but no one is that stupid).
The rear disc/wind thing is a misconception. A disc in the wind stabilizes the bike in all but the most extreme conditions. An 80/80 setup is much less stable in crosswinds than a disc/80.
There’s two things that happen to change direction-your momentum shifts from straight forward to a tangent of that angle, and your yaw changes so you face that same direction. A crosswind destabilizes because it disproportionately blows your bike out from under you, meaning you need to correct by steering back into it to bring the bike under your center of gravity. A front disc with a 30mm rear would exacerbate this by also changing the yaw angle of you bike to point away from the direction you now need to steer. A disc on the rear is the opposite–wind blows bike away from you, but also yaws the bike into a corrective action.
The Kona disc rule is just a fundamental misunderstanding of the sport that’s been stubbornly held onto by the top brass at IM.
Yup agreed the front wheel depth is more of an issue then the rear wheel any one that has used different front wheel sizes can tell and feel it pretty quickly
100%! Front wheel a massively bigger deal. If Kona and Honu are serious, they should be limiting the front. Not the back.
Any chance this will be sorted by IRONMAN, including the ‘not-a-disc’ 180s in time for Kona?
I always thought it was more of a traditional thing than a safety thing. As in a bike wheel should look like a bike wheel. Not a disc.
As mentioned for years and years a disc is certainly equally as stable if not more in the wind. The deep front on the other hand is a nigthtmare in big wind.
I was always under the impression by Ironman the rear disc was not allowed in races like Hawaii , Cozumel etc because the ocean cross winds are strong . And could make riders go into the ditch .
Ironman kind of just did it and left it and really don’t need these rules they could just announce today and no one would object.
Like bottles or kits if you don’t want the gains or feel comfortable you don’t have to do it but others can .
it would have to be sorted out ,in conjunction , by an organisation that does not hand out the race number 13 for races…
and an organisation that says there is no draft benefit ,at 12 meter from front wheel to front wheel…
