My question still stands - please note I’m not soliciting a response given your definitional challenges.
But your thread title is also so ridiculous and misleading in a National Inquire kind of way. And, you strongly imply you that Anne is incapable of assuming a leadership role merely because she is female. And then you are selling either the original or maybe replacement wheels that your trash in this thread in the classified ads. This thread is just overall really poor form.
Actually not the exact same statement…
“Correlation doesn’t imply causation, but it’s hard to ignore the departure of HED’s patriarch and the subsequent ascension of Anne as a likely cause of the breakdown.”
But your thread title is also so ridiculous and misleading in a National Inquire kind of way. And, you strongly imply you that Anne is incapable of assuming a leadership role merely because she is female. And then you are selling either the original or maybe replacement wheels that your trash in this thread in the classified ads. This thread is just overall really poor form.
this is the link generated simply by typing into google “anne hed” and then clicking the “news” tab. interesting reading. esp the various articles in forbes. usa today. the fedex grant. not much publicized, but, she’s on the speaking circuit, not by trying, but demand for her as a result of the exposure from forbes. she’s one of the founding members of a mentoring program for women who want to get into this industry. that company is stronger than ever. so much for faltering.
Disclaimer: This is a n=1 experience having owned ‘previous generation’ (i.e. Steve Hed) as well as ‘new generation’ (i.e. Anne Hed) HED wheels.
I’ve owned / used multiple HED wheels over the past 10 years, including: Jet 9s, Jet 6s, and a Jet Disc. I’ve also known multiple other cyclists that have rode HED wheels. Outside of a TSA-induced crack in the carbon fairing on my Jet Disc and a complaint from one of said cyclists about the lack of availability of an XD driver for the Jet 6s, the wheels have otherwise been bombproof. But HED’s stellar build-quality and QC track record appears to be faltering following their latest product release: the full-CC Vanquish series.
Given my past experience with HED wheels I jumped at the opportunity to order a set of Vanquish 6 wheels for my Strada build (HED build quality? full CC?, disc brakes? Fuck Yea!). I ordered the wheels in late October 2017 and built up the Strada in the spring of this year. It’s worth noting that my order was filled with one of the original Vanquish 6 (“V6â€) production runs. Following is my chronological experience with the V6s:
Tubeless Compatibility
I attempted to set the V6s up tubeless with S-Works Turbo 26s. While my tubeless experience is limited to 4 other sets of wheels, the V6s were by far the most difficult wheels I’ve ever attempted to set up tubeless. After hours of frustration trying every tubeless trick in the book, I ended up taking the wheels to my LBS. In fact, I had to take them to 3 different bike shops before the last one was able to set them up! The problem seems to stem from the tire ‘seating’ area being sloped inward towards the center of the rim. Because of this, the tire bead doesn’t seat solidly and just slips back down in to the center channel. The 3rd bike shop was able to get them installed by ‘building up’ the center channel with many extra layers of tape, using zip ties and a high-powered compressor. I had a back-and-forth email with HED about this with no ultimate resolution.
Tubeless Failure
Once the tires were finally set up tubeless, everything seemed OK, the V6s offered a plush ride and excellent crosswind stability. I happily rode the wheels for over a month without issue. However, after one long day the saddle I sat down on the couch to rest with beer in hand when I hear a sudden bursting / air gushing sound. My first thought was “Holy shit. One of the tires just failed and 20 minutes ago I was descending at 50+ MPH!†No, it wasn’t the tire, the Silca tubeless valve was ‘sucked into’ the wheel:
After inspection, I thought this was a nearly-catastrophic tubeless valve failure, however, after dialogue with both HED and Silca, it turns out the issue was that the HED wheels required a special rubber adapter grommet to be inserted into the valve hole prior to insertion of the tubeless valve. Sure, you could call this user error, but the grommets were not included with my wheels and no one I have ever talked to (including multiple bike shops) have ever heard of having to use a special grommet to set wheels up tubeless. Plus, why would HED design a wheel with a oversized & non-standard valve hole to begin with? Anyway, HED sent me the grommets at no cost. On to more concerning problems.
Spoke Detensioning
Back to the bike shop to set the wheels up tubeless again (this time with the special rubber grommets). Finally good to go, right? Nope. Get a call from the shop that the wheels were set up but the mechanic noticed that the spoke tension was really low - to the point that some spokes weren’t even registering on a tensionometer. Figured this was a fluke and I had both wheels re-trued.
Cracked Pawl Spring
Fast forward another month+ of riding. I return from a long ride and notice that there’s a ‘clacking’ sound coming from the rear wheel. I remove the wheel for inspection and after removing the hub body notice that one of the pawl springs is cracked, causing the pawl to flop around and the resulting clacking sound. I replaced the spring, but noticed while spinning the wheel that there was an awful lot more drag than there should have been, so I take the wheel to my LBS.
Spoke Detensioning (again) & Improper Bearing Seating
After inspection, the mechanic said the bearings weren’t pressed in properly (this was likely causing the outsized drag) and replaced the bearings. The wheel was was spinning freely, but the mechanic noticed the spokes weren’t tensioned properly (again), so he re-tensioned the spokes. But this time multiple spokes twist:
Known Issues & Flawed Build
The bike shop calls HED to see if they can send out a couple new spokes and, get this, the HED representative says “Oh yea, we’ve had production issues with the V6s and spoke detensioning is a known problem. You’ll need to send in the wheels so they can be inspected & rebuilt or replaced.†According the the HED rep:
HED didn’t anticipate the tires being run at “higher pressures,†as such pressures can cause defection in the rim such that the spokes detension. I was running my tires around 75PSI, so apparently this “high†pressure.Several sets of V6s were built with the wrong length spokes (mine included), which can cause the spokes to bottom out (and potentially twist) when being tensioned.There’s a known problem with the dust seal that can cause incorrect sealing and additional rotational drag.The tubeless setup problems I experienced could be the result of the original production runs, as they have since made “modifications†to the wheels.Throughout this process, HED customer service was descent. Maybe a 6.5 out of 10? While the tubeless issue was ignored (HED simply stopped responding), I was promptly sent the adapter grommets, and was notified yesterday that I’ll be receiving replacement V6s. But why wasn’t there be a recall on the impacted wheels? And I have out-of-pocket labor costs of $150+ (multiple truings / tubeless setups) and I had to pay $35 to ship the wheels to HED. I’m getting replacement V6s at no cost, so all-in-all, not terrible I guess, with the caveat that the replacement wheels are functional.
How has HED gone from a venerable brand pumping out bombproof wheels to being crippled with QC issues (by the company’s own admission)? Correlation doesn’t imply causation, but it’s hard to ignore the departure of HED’s patriarch and the subsequent ascension of Anne as a likely cause of the breakdown. Heck, if this was a public company, activists would be at the gates demanding a management ousting.
While HED’s customer service still seems OK, failures such as mine are at the cost of consumer confidence and rapidly-compressing margins. Let’s hope Anne can right the ship and rectify HED’s QC issues before irreparable harm is done the the company / brand.
Update
Received the replacement V6’s from HED. They now include a little warning sticker that shows the necessity for using the rubber grommet for a tubeless install. So far, so good with QC - no problems with spoke detensioning and the hubs are spinning silky smooth. Can’t comment on the tubeless setup as I’ve been running with tubes.
Now on sale in the classified!
(looking at you Volkswagen and your move from metal to plastic window clips, bastards).
This made me laugh. Then i recognized your name from the vortex.
What I got out of this entire thread:
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Dude gets a bad set of wheels
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Makes a single comment about HED leadership
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Thread blows up about dudes single comment
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People who replied have a big sense of butt hurt over dudes single comment ignoring the fact that the wheels were bad in the first place and lucky dude didn’t get hurt.
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If Anne (who ever she is) had read the OP and if she is worth her salt as a leader would probably own the problem and fix the issue which it looks like HED did with out all the salt and butt hurt.
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Typical ST at its best.
What I got out of this entire thread:
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Dude gets a bad set of wheels
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Makes a single comment about HED leadership
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Thread blows up about dudes single comment
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People who replied have a big sense of butt hurt over dudes single comment ignoring the fact that the wheels were bad in the first place and lucky dude didn’t get hurt.
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If Anne (who ever she is) had read the OP and if she is worth her salt as a leader would probably own the problem and fix the issue which it looks like HED did with out all the salt and butt hurt.
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Typical ST at its best.
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that was a hell of a “single comment.”
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you’d know who anne hed is if you followed any of the links provided, or actually read the thread.
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typical ST at its best.
are you sure?
the OP’s issue were with HED Vanquish wheels, on HED’s site those are advertised as tubeless compatible.
You are correct! Post deleted.
I’m talking about the accusation of “personal attack” when clearly the OP was talking about his wheels.
No I don’t know who Anne is…she is probably a fine person…but that wasn’t my point. The OP pointed out what is clearly a defective product that others on this forum may have on their bike’s yet a big…albeit not all…part of the thread was about the OP making a personal attack. That is absurd.
If you are referring to me, I’m happy to respond. I welcome good and bad critiques of products and have delivered some myself. We all benefit from that provided it is done in a reasonable way. The problem I have is primarily with the thread title. It is so over-the-top and absurd as if he is trying to catch headlines. Instead of simply referencing a poor product and/or poor customer service, he draws WAY overly broad conclusions about the Company and attacks the new female leader, invoking emotional feelings after the death of Steve where she has no basis to respond. That does not provide any value to us when considering the product or the Company. It’s just a personal attack. That has nothing to do with the wheels or the related service. So, I called him out on it. That’s done. You can disagree with me and that’s ok too. Let’s move on.
I remember this poster also had an odd over the top ‘open letter’ about the 3T Strata. This guy is the definition of squeaky wheel, but I don’t understand what he wants to get (other than attention).
On July 3rd 3T sent an e-mail to 3T newsletter subscribers announcing the new 3T Strada Due (essentially a Strada with a FD mount slapped on):
HERE as a PDF]
I subsequently send an e-mail to 3T to give my thoughts and ask for comment. After nearly two months without response (despite a follow-up from me), I thought I’d post the e-mail here to get feedback form the ST community (and possibly from 3T):
Gerard Vroomen / 3T,
I have a Strada. I love the bike. I shouldn’t care, but in an odd way I’m disappointed by the announcement of the Due. The Due goes against the 1x DNA of the Strada. It’s like you’re taking a step back, or compromising, just because the “market” isn’t “ready” for 1x. You describe the development of the Due as though it was the natural evolution of the Strada (“Phase Three”), but I find it very hard to believe you intended to have a 2x Strada at the time you announced the Strada. “Let’s take a 1x optimized frame and slap a FD on it for Phase Three.” Yeah, right. Following are your two primary arguments for the Due and my respective rebuttals:
Argument #1
You state that “having extra gear can be an advantage,” but how is that the case? Once the 3T 9-32 cassettes are available (the wait has been very frustrating btw. I’m still waiting for the Overdrive to be available), how will 2x provide any advantage? Let’s look at two examples:
Customer A: Not very fit and slightly overweight. Wants a top of the line bike with lots of gearing so she can comfortably crest the the hills on the local group ride.
- Option 1: 2x: Compact (52/36) with an 11-30
- Option 2: 1x with 38T up front and a 9-32 cassette
These purchase options provide near-identical gearing at the high end (32.4 vs. 32.1 gear inches, respectively) and at the low end both options will get you above 40MPH at 120RPM. While you’d theoretically get a bit more with the 2x setup, why would you even bother pedaling above 40mph?
Customer B: MOP Wattie Ink triathlete that thinks he needs to run a 54/39 because that’s what Sebastian Kienle does.
- Option 1: Shimano DA Di2: 54/39 rings with an 11-28
- Option 2: 1x with a 42T up front and a 9-32 cassette
These purchase options provide near-identical gearing at the low end (127.6 vs. 126.0 gear inches, respectively) and at the high end the 1x build actually gives you a bit more (37.6 vs. 35.2 gear inches)
Argument #2
You’re second point is that the Strata isn’t optimized for electronic drivetrains. I don’t understand how this is relevant as you can run the Strada setup with a XTR Di2 clutched RD or one of the newly-announced clutched Ultegra Di2 RDs. I suppose this argument applies if you want to run Campy, but who in their right mind runs Campy? And has anyone ever actually said to you “I love the Strada but want to run Campy”?, I doubt it.
I guess if you want to ride up and down Monte Zoncolan all day and want to be able to pedal when you’re above 40mph, there’s a place for 2x, but otherwise, I don’t see it. Why didn’t you instead invest in a campaign to show how there is no benefit to a 2x setup in any realistic scenario? Help me out here.
No I don’t know who Anne is…she is probably a fine person…but that wasn’t my point.
It’s the OP’s point. He called her and the entire company incompetent because he got a bad wheelset. That’s over the top. It’s fine to talk about product problems. Extrapolating to the the job performance of specific individuals or the direction of entire companies based on one purchase is what we call here “n=1”. It’s not rationale. I doubt there’s a single company, even those with the most stellar reputations, that don’t have a horror story here or elsewhere on the Web.
And I bet she would disagree with you and take responsibility for her company. Its a leadership thing.
Didn’t the OP acknowledge they did the right thing by getting him new equipment as part of his rant? And then the OP still made the “personal attack” on the character of the new owner and how HED is “seemingly faltering”?
Maybe; do you Think OP has given her a fair chance to show leadership, take that responsibility or whatever appropriate response, by posting the story here without her knowledge or participation? I don’t. Hence, my posts.
Now on sale in the classified!
Thanks for the plug. Wheels sold.
To recap did you get a new pair of wheels from HED and sale the “defective” wheels in the ST classifieds?
Sure thing. Glad to know someone will continue to ride HED wheels and that you were able to rid yourself of such atrocities.