I bought a Quintana Roo PR4 staying with the cheaper model as I wanted to save for good race wheels and now it is time to get those but so many choices. I need opinions from all of you. I have disc brakes.
A few questions that will help narrow recommendations:
- What is your approximate budget?
- How much do you weigh?
- Have you used deeper wheels before? If so what were they and how comfortable were you handling them in a cross-wind while staying in the aerobars?
- What races are you planning on using them for? 20 and 40K TTās? Sprint Triās? Ironman? etc
Budget of course dictates your options. If you want to stay under $1K (new wheels), some very viable options for deep section, disc brake wheels can be found at Tokyo Wheel, and BTLOS. With hub upgrades available on each site, you can really build an affordable, but quality, set of race wheels. Mix and match front/rear rim depths, spoke choices, etc. I have a set of Tokyo Wheels for my road bike that Iāve been very happy with (wish I had upgraded hubs) Hope this helps you.
Iām 5ā3ā and 122 lbs. Iāve used some trispoke wheels in the past on another bike and I felt pretty stable in a crosswind but stability concerns me with really deep section wheels. Iāll be doing mainly 20k but the occasional 40k TT. No multi sport events.
Iād like to stay under $1400 per wheel.
Thanks! I will take a look.
So one of the things to think about is your wheel to tire interface. You want to make sure the tire doesnāt balloon further out than the rim (read about the 105 rule) as this could negate gains from the deeper rim. So as you look at wheels think about how wide of a tire you are planning on running. The wider the external width of the rim the wider the tire you can run without a penalty.
For example, a HED Jet (21mm internal, 25mm external) pairs well with a 23mm tire (depending on the brand. Something like an Enve AR 4.5 (25mm internal, 32mm external) pairs well with a 28mm or 30mm tire.
The benefit you will have with being on disc brakes is not having to worry about the quality of the brake track. That has been one of the main things that has separated say the ENVEās or Zippās from the smaller brands and open mold brands. The former had much better braking.
Anyway, I would definitely have Aerocoach Aeox wheels on your radar. The nice thing about them is they also have aero data (and crr) of what tires work best with their wheels which makes it easy to figure out the fastest setup (check out the āLearnā tab for more info)
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Solid disc wheel so you can get the āwhomp whomp whompā soundā¦everything else is inconsequential.
Semi-serious.
The aero difference between disc wheels is pretty smallā¦especially if you are buying a new, disc-brake option. So my advice is to get one that is solid and gives you the whompā¦it is the best thing about disc wheels. I had a wheel cover for a number of years, but always lusted after the āwhompāā¦finally bought a used Zipp disc and have been content ever since.
You can get alot of wheel for $2,800/pair. If the money is not an issue, then look upstream to HED or ZIPP. As far as stability is concerned, the depth in the rear isnāt the challenge, itās up front. You can go disc rear and 60/80 MM up front and hit that budget number with a very high quality wheel set.
So you think the 60 up front is good. I like the idea of a 60 vs an 80 and maybe would put it on my road bike for road race in low wind as well.
Depends on wind conditions, I use both. An 80 up front can be pretty twitchy at times. And, youāll get more benefit from the deeper rim in the back, so a 60 would not be a detriment if you went that route.
For $2800, Princeton Carbon wheels you canāt go wrong. Get the Wake 6560 or the Wake and Blur combo (cost a bit more). And they are fast!!!
Nice wheels and I know a pro triathlete that really likes them. That said, from their own wind tunnel data it looks like they are only about ~1.5 watts faster in the key 0 to 10 degree Yaw than the HED Jet 6+ which is $1800 cheaper which would allow you to have money left over for a disc wheel as well. But I have no qualms with people who want to splurge on high end stuff. Iām just personally a big cheapskate (and buy a lot of my stuff used)
So I decided to get a pair of NOX 55ās with DT Swiss hubs and use them on my TT and my Tarmac and then upgrade the rear to a disc if I think that will get my TT speed over 25 mph which I think is the podium cut off fir my female masters age group at nationals (if they happen)
You donāt need to go over 25mph to get the benefits of a discā¦it is always faster, no matter your speed.
Just get a wheel cover for the NOX 55ās and youāll have both uses coveredā¦deep rim wheels for everyday riding and a ādiscā for TTās.
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A cover is a good option either until you get a ārealā disk or even permanently as they are just as fast. A hundred bucks and youāre in business.
My bike fitter recommended a cover as well. Said it was 90% of the benefit of a disc wheel but I havenāt found one for a disc brake wheel.
You may have to remove the disc rotor to use a wheel coverā¦which is a pretty simple operation. Take it off, put on the wheel cover and then put the rotor back on.
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