Triathlon - Rear wheel setup question.

I have a friend who is selling a HED deep wheel, probably close to 90mm deep. He is selling it to me for about 150. I have been looking to buy a Renn disc if I can find one for 350 or less, I would consider it.

Now my question is the difference in the deep wheel vs the disc. I am building a TT/Tri bike. The triathlons would be in 50/50 flat/rolling terrain, the TT's are 90/10 flat/rolling. I will be running a low spoke wheel up front with either the deep wheel or the disc(I have Ksyriums, Neuvation M28's). So, knowing that, which would be the better setup? Would the HED DEEP make that drastic of a gain over a Neuvation wheel? Or, is the disc that much better of a choice to pay double?

A disc wheel will be theoretically faster, but I'm not convinced that always holds true for us amateurs as well... The pro's, that a different story altogether... I would go with the Hed Deep if it was my money.... Maybe a bit less sensitive to crosswinds then a disc. This is only an issue if you don't have the weight to hold the disc down.

I think you'd be better off with a FRONT aero wheel and using your Ksyrium rear wheel. The rear wheel should be "hidden" from the wind by the front wheel, frame/fork, and some of your body. This makes using an aero front wheel more effective, unless you are going to buy two aero wheels.

HED makes a 90mm wheel? Key question to ask is why is he selling it?

If you can't afford 2 wheels, get front first as it has the highest benefit.
Good wheels for the front should be something like: HED 3, HED alps, Zipp 404, Zipp 808.
Cross wind effect of 808 is only slightly more than 404. Normal wheels have about 2-3 lbs of correction effort in side winds. Aero wheels like these have about 4-5 lbs of correction effort. A disc is not suitable for front and would have 10lbs of side effort.
The alps is an interesting wheel, about 40mm deep and uses a more normal spoke look and yet has about the same performance as a HED 3.

Good luck and let us know what you discover. Oh, since it's your friend, take the wheel for a test drive on a moderate windy day. Try the wheel both in the front and then switch to rear and see what it rides like.

Good luck and let us know what you discover. Oh, since it's your friend, take the wheel for a test drive on a moderate windy day. Try the wheel both in the front and then switch to rear and see what it rides like.

How can you put a rear wheel on the front? Just a question. I would say to go for both, gives you options. If you can only get one, I would say go with the HED. It makes it much more vesitile then a disk, in a really windy day, it is a PITA on a disk, even for me and I am about 210lbs. Though I run a disk and a non-aero wheel up front, just because I got the disk for cheap, and havnt gotten around to getting a front wheel, the snow here doesnt make it a hurry to get one.

With my setup I am still pretty quick, but could deffinatly be faster.

So my opinion, is get a set of wheels(front and back) that way you will match, and be faster. If not, go with the HED, then find a good front wheel. But like was said, find out why it is being sold, and really check 'er out.

First, front wheel makes the biggest difference. A very deep dish wheel or a trispoke front will be the biggest difference. As for the back, the disc is going to be the fastest, with the deep dish second.

Very deep dish or trispoke front, and disc rear is worth about 2 minutes in a 40k at 25 mph over your Neuvations.

Wait a minute,
If everyone is worried about crosswinds, we shouldn't be recommending a deep V front wheel!!!
Crosswinds will through you around like a ragdoll with a 90mm deep V front and I assume the H3 isn't very forgiving either. Now on the other hand, the rear wheel is somewhat protected by the aerodynamics of the frame and you have your weight on the rear wheel, so crosswinds will not affect you as much.

So my recommendation would be 40-60mm deep V front and 90mm deep V rear for an all-a-round good performing bike.

I can't help you on 90mm vers. disc. I think the question is how bad do you want the extra 2 minutes? And what do you do if it is windy?

Thanks for the input guys. I found a disc and ended up buying it. I'll probably break down and buy a 50 or so front here before tri season starts.

I just put a set of 404's on my tri bike and the first ride was very windy(25+ mph gusts). The rims are 58mm and I was thrown around like a rag doll. I am a light weight at a 142lbs but they will make a good amount of force on a heavier rider as well. I personaly went with the 404 tubular wheels because it allowed my to take over 2 pounds off the wheelset that came on my Quintana Roo.

I just put a set of 404's on my tri bike and the first ride was very windy(25+ mph gusts). The rims are 58mm and I was thrown around like a rag doll. I am a light weight at a 142lbs but they will make a good amount of force on a heavier rider as well Roo.


What do you mean, thrown around like a rag doll? Are these new 404's or old? I thought the side force was only about 5 lbs, even with 20+ winds.

thanks