Disc Wheel

[Miranda]

Hello,

I am in the market for a really good quality disc wheel or wheels. Any opinions or experiences with the various brands out there such as Renn, Falcon Accel II, Hed, Zipp, Corima, Mavic and Campy?

Reynolds is testing their new prototypes so there is nothing available yet. I may purchase two discs one dedicated for the track and another for the road if need be. A few riders have shared with me that the interchangeable options to convert from track to the road from a few brands are a real pain at times.

The prices vary so much on these wheels! Is there really that much of a difference in quality, lateral stiffness, durability and performance on the upper end like Mavic?

Thank you!

Miranda

[madbiker]

A friend of mine has one of the $400 Renn discs. Hard to beat for that price. He is very happy with it. It is a flat disc, similar in shape to Zipp, etc.. If you want a lenticular disc, then you probably want to look at HED.

[11.4]

Discs are quite different in quality and performance, so a lot depends on what you want (and of course on what you want to spend). The stiffest wheels out there are the Mavic Io and Comete, and while not the lightest, they offer the best lenticular construction (for the rear) and a fabulous hand-laid-up five-spoke front wheel design. Both wheels are approved by UCI for all events, track and road, which is more than many aero wheels can say. (I assume you're interested in a rear disc and a spoked front of some kind, since for road use a front disc can be extremely squirrelly and dangerous in any kind of wind.) Lenticular designs (which are lens shaped when viewed from the rear, as opposed to discs made from a flat slab of composite) steer somewhat better than flat discs and have greater structural stability and rigidity (depending of course on the manufacturer).

If you're just doing an occasional time trial or triathlon, you can use a rear flat disc just fine. Most flat discs are pretty similar, with the main variances actually in the hubs -- it took Zipp years, for example, to get their hubs right. Lenticulars are great, but good ones do cost more (a Mavic Comete is about $1750-1900, depending on where you get it -- that's a rear only).

For the front, multi-spoke all-carbon wheels are the best way to go, both for aero qualities and stability, but they do cost more. The Mavic Io runs about $2900-3200, and the Heds and similar front wheels run $1000+ (again, just for a front wheel). You can save some money by going with a spoked wheel (like a Zipp aero rim with bladed spokes), which you can have built up custom on the hub of your choice, but you said "really good quality" so if cost is no object, I'd go with a multi-spoke all-carbon wheel. I've ridden the Mavic, the Corima, Falcon, Zipp, and Campy's. The Corima at the time wasn't UCI-approved, and while the price is right the finish is so-so. The Falcon Accel is probably the lightest wheel out there, but it's also quite fragile (small pebble hits or getting knocked in transport are all it takes to damage it), and at that price you can get the Mavic Comete. The Campy's are good (if you use Campy equipment) but you need to go to the upper-level wheels to get the quality of the Accel or Mavics. And Campy offers aero-rim spoked wheels and then full discs, but not much in between for the front. Zipps are popular, and many people swear by them, but if you ride a Zipp and a Mavic, you'll notice the difference.

Frankly, they're all good wheels for the riding most of us are doing with them. Among high-end wheels, as with other high-end components, it's splitting hairs for the most part to differentiate between them.