While doing some amateur data sleuthing, it occurred to me that performance of the H3 is comparable to that of 60 mm deep wheels at low yaw, and that the H3 is actually somewhat worse at higher yaw.
So naturally, under what sort of conditions does the H3 excel?
Personally, I race at ~28 mph on flat grounds on my TT bike (20-30 min TTs). Even though this is generally considered lower yaw territory, I’m wondering if I would be better off on a 60 mm. Or am I neglecting certain things in my consideration? Somehow recall that a trispoke is advantageous as it has lower power required to spin; how much lower, I don’t recall.
Keep in mind most of the drag values you’ll see don’t take into account rotational drag so you’d have to discount the whole H3+ curve by ~2-3 watts. I run my H3+ in calm conditions.
“A tri spoke may not always be the best choice, but it will never be a bad choice”
or something like that…
Arent the most tri spokes just 60mm front wheels with less, but bigger spokes?
Without Any data to back it up, I would Think that an 80/90mm would be at least on par for real life usage. But then again, if you arent competing to win tri-spoke/disc combo looks faster
Honestly my H3 has never done well on my roll down tests compared to my 2008 Jet 60 and 2010 Jet 90. My 60 and 90 were always close but my H3 was consistently slower.
“A tri spoke may not always be the best choice, but it will never be a bad choice”
or something like that…
Does that require the correct (21?) tire width?
I would guess that to choose the best wheel, one would have to assume each wheel is fitted with the best tire. The original H3 tri spoke wheel were maximizes aerodynamically with a 19mm tire. Now, the best tires still in production are 20mm (Conti SuperSonics). But a few years ago, IIRC, the H3 molds were updated & now wider tires are best on the newer model H3s.
Honestly my H3 has never done well on my roll down tests compared to my 2008 Jet 60 and 2010 Jet 90. My 60 and 90 were always close but my H3 was consistently slower.
That was on 650C wheels though.
From what I Think I recall from an aero test, that I dont remember where I found, I Think the conclusion what that at 0 degrees yaw, a spoke would be faster.
With a disc rear and a front tri spoke, where would My garmin speed sensor go? Thats the main reason I dont have a tro spoke. Never going to qualify for Kona or win something, But at the very least, I try to look fast
That was the one that prompted my post, which is to say results showing a TriSpoke slower than a 90 mm, even after accounting for aero rotation. Al though i could be misinterpreting the graph
I did a pretty solid VE test on my HED 3c. It took a Vittoria Pista on it to beat my HED 6+ with GP5000 and latex. Roads here not good enough to use an original 19mm tire HED with any confidence.
I now have an HED 9+.
Fwiw, hour record holder currently runs 90’s on road…Enves. Lookup “Campanaerts ftp test†on youtube. Cool video.
That was the one that prompted my post, which is to say results showing a TriSpoke slower than a 90 mm, even after accounting for aero rotation. Al though i could be misinterpreting the graph
As I understood them, the charts do not consider watts to spin. When this is also factored in, I understand this could (arguably) give the h3 an advantage over others in low yaw situations.
But what about some of the more recent composite spoke designs? VisionTech, the weird two-spoke one or the latest Xentis?
Hed’s design comes from the early 90s, and wonderful though it may be (is it true that it was designed on a Cray?), better than other trispokes of the time such as the Nimble crosswind, that’s still a long time ago.
Honestly my H3 has never done well on my roll down tests compared to my 2008 Jet 60 and 2010 Jet 90. My 60 and 90 were always close but my H3 was consistently slower.
That was on 650C wheels though.
Thanks that is very helpful.
Would be interesting though anyway whether Tom A has done a test with the Chung method.
To determine which wheel is the fastest, you must test it in the particular bike you are using it in. The fork and frame interactions will dictate which wheel is the fastest for which bike.
