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HED wheels

Anyone using HED wheels? Looking at jet 6/9 set-up. Have been racing with zipp 303/disc. I have been renting for average 3 race per year.

Comments

  • Jennifer,
    I'm about to sell my Hed Jet 6/9 combo. Let me know if you're interested. $900 for the set.
  • @ Bob - is that because of your new 11 speed Trek? I think I will stick with 10 speed for a good while.    BTW, if they are clinchers, and Jennifer isn't interested, my son might be.  
  • I have an older Zip 404 set, an older HED Jet 6 front, and a Zip 808 FC front. My only complaint about the HED is that it's a lot harder to get tires on.

  • Posted By Paul Hough on 09 Sep 2013 08:35 AM


    @ Bob - is that because of your new 11 speed Trek? I think I will stick with 10 speed for a good while.    BTW, if they are clinchers, and Jennifer isn't interested, my son might be.  

    How did you guess?

    I had five rear wheels.  Zipp 900 disc, Hed Jet disc, Hed Jet 9, Bontrager Race XL (stock wheel that came with the old SC), and Bontrager Aeolus 9.  The Hed Jet disc cannot be converted to 11 speed and all the other wheels required a new free hub body at a cost of $150 to $200 per wheel.

    That was an unintended consequence of going to 11-speed.

    I chose to convert the Bonty Aeolus and sell the rest of them (the two discs have been sold).  The new bike came with Bonty Aura 5's so they will be my training wheels.

  • my limited experience with HED wheels:

    hard to put on tires.   as mentioned below.

    does not come with rim tape (unlike zipp and others).    this is not insignificant as the wrong or inadequate rim tap causes problems with flats (tube cuts by spoke holes).

  • Hi Bob,

    I AM interested. I am trying to decide between replacing my broken Cervelo P3 frame with another P3 or going with the BMC TM01. Bike shop is recommending BMC. Only $400 difference in frame price.  I have been renting zipp 303/disc combo for racing. They are talking me into buying wheels because if I go with the BMC apparently it is really hard to adjust brakes/wheels. Prefer to set it up and race and train on same wheels.  Approximately how many miles on the wheels?

  • Not sure on the miles. I bought them summer of 2010 (so 2010 models) and used them race only for about a year. I bought a bunch of other wheels and ended up using the Jet 6/9 as my training wheels the last two years or so. Sounds like a lot but I probably average a ride outside maybe twice a month over the course of a year. So maybe they have been used 50 times... so maybe 2000-3000 miles if I had to guess.
  • Bob,

    I am still interested in the wheels. I am going to try to get on the BMC this weekend and check out the fit. Sounds like the wheels should be in great shape if primarily ridden indoors. Can I let you know in the next few days?


  • Posted By Bob McCallum on 09 Sep 2013 11:32 AM

    Posted By Paul Hough on 09 Sep 2013 08:35 AM


    @ Bob - is that because of your new 11 speed Trek? I think I will stick with 10 speed for a good while.    BTW, if they are clinchers, and Jennifer isn't interested, my son might be.  

    How did you guess?

    I had five rear wheels.  Zipp 900 disc, Hed Jet disc, Hed Jet 9, Bontrager Race XL (stock wheel that came with the old SC), and Bontrager Aeolus 9.  The Hed Jet disc cannot be converted to 11 speed and all the other wheels required a new free hub body at a cost of $150 to $200 per wheel.

    That was an unintended consequence of going to 11-speed.

    I chose to convert the Bonty Aeolus and sell the rest of them (the two discs have been sold).  The new bike came with Bonty Aura 5's so they will be my training wheels.

    Taking us off topic a bit, but how do you like your Bontrager Aeolus, Bob?   Are you running the clincher or tub model? 
  • Dave,

    Carbon clinchers.

    I like them.  Some recent testing #'s on both the Aeolus 7 and 9 are ridiculous.  The 7 tested almost exactly the same as Zipp 808 FC and the 9 tested better.  The Aeolus 9 rear tested better than most discs as well.  The new Zipp Super-9 carbon clincher was the only disc that tested better in some tests and that's a $3,000 wheel.  This is, of course, somewhat dependent on the bike as certain wheels are more aero on certain frames.  I ride a Trek SC so I'll go out on a limb and assume Bonty's test best on a Trek.

    They were expensive but not insanely expensive like Zipps.  I think I got the 9/9 set for $2300, whereas a Zipp 808/Super-9 Disc would cost $4000.

    Despite the fact I have used a 60/90 setup or a 60/Disc or H3/Disc or H3/H3... the twitchiness of the 90 front took a little getting used to.

    I'll try to find links to a couple of the tests.  There were two tests recently done by a couple of the bike or tri mags/sites, They helped sway my decision to get the Bonty wheels.  I think one article was in German so all I understood was the numbers and charts. 

  • Hi Bob,
    I just sent you a message.
    Jen
  • Bob, so you are now racing 90-90? Please explain twitchy also. I am thinking of getting another set of Enve powertap wheels. I train and race mostly with my Enve 45/65s, but am thinking of adding the Smart Enve 8.9 w power. Then if it were really windy I would just put on the 45 front. Not sure about that deep since I am 150 lbs race weight.
  • Paul, yeah I'm now racing 90/90. A couple of good crosswinds caused a lot more force against the front wheel than I had ever experienced with any other wheel. So it was a little harder to control. That was the twitchiness. It took a couple of rides to get used to that. It's the front wheel and not the back that's the issue so you'd be fine with your setup. Deeper the rear wheel the easier it is to control the front (as counter-intuitive as that may sound). So a disc would actually make my 90 front handle better than with the 90 rear. As I previously mentioned, pretty much the only wheel on the planet faster than my Bonty Aeolus 9 is the Zipp Super-9 disc and I'm not paying $2,500 for one wheel.

  • Thanks Bob...good info.
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