New wheels from 3T

[jmilliron]

Seriously guys. When have we last seen a new wheelset that isnt just incremental changes to old design?

Madfiber.

[prendrefeu]

Will we get 'whistling' wheels in the process ??

Whistle while you ride, then squeal while braking - it's the start of a musical peloton.

[Spuds]

I see no problem with them, provided the spoke tension is high enough that they will not detension allowing the spoke to detach from the rim.

I would even say that moulding the around the spoke bed (as opposed to through the rim wall) would be stronger and more durable. Less possibility of a crack propogating from a closed rim section than a hole through the rim.

[thisisatest]

That rear hub looks an awful lot like the old Cane Creek Aros rear hub...



Although Cane Creek stopped making them a few years ago, they were pretty tough wheels, IIRC.

-efwd

i understand that they are licensing the nipple-at-hub from Cane Creek. probably have their vendor making the hubs, as the hubs don't look similar, they look identical.
i have to imagine that their slots are detrimental to the aero behavior of the wheel. could be negligible, i guess.
lacing pattern is old-school thinking IMO, i prefer either doubling the number of drive spokes or crossing the non-drive spokes.
we shall see...

[kavitator]

i saw them today...really nice design! hope ride them next week

[etownfwd]

i understand that they are licensing the nipple-at-hub from Cane Creek. probably have their vendor making the hubs, as the hubs don't look similar, they look identical.

Not to nit-pick, but if you take a look and the non-drive side on the 3T hub, it looks more like a Zipp 188.



Although it's not very clear in that pic that I posted before, the non-drive side on the Cane Creek hubs has the same design as the drive side.

I just wanted to make that clarification.

-efwd

[CharlesM]

I dont mind the slots... But then water is virtually zero issue here. I dont think it plays against aero at all and the way it's loaded doesnt bother me as long as that insert has the surface area it needs.

Let's not forget where the new head cheese at 3t came from... Richie MC was the head of composites at Ferrari f1...

I wonder what the weight at the rim is with the design though. trading nips and threads for a retainer of substance could be a plus for weight at the rim or a minus... Guess we'll see, but if it were a substantial savings (or a savings at all) I dont think the marketing guys would have missed it.

I like the hubs. Liked the old designs too...


Aero wars are here though.

Folks seem to be either going for the old zipp shape and or doing what the thast 3 sets of wheels I've seen are doing and knocking off Fircrest.

[bura]

The article states, "In terms of weight, the Mercurio Ltd 60 wheelset (with 60mm deep rims) comes in at under 1,400g, which is up there (or down there, depending on how you look at it) with the best."

Zipp 404 and Hed Stinger 6's, both 60 mm deep rims, reportedly weigh 1,278 grams and 1,330 grams, respectively. The 3t wheels sound a little portly at around 1,400 grams.

Zipp 404 tubs have a rim depth of 58mms and 1278gr.
So if the 1387 gram weight on scale for the 3T set is correct they should end up with 1342gr for a 58mm wheelset.
The Hed St6FR wheels are real 60mm wheels. They would end up at 1285 gr for a 58mm wheelset.
Ok. I know weight is not down sizeable as I did it but just to give an idea comparing them at equal rim depths.

[mythical]

What will happen to the spokes if they are unloaded or compressed?

[CharlesM]

If you do that enough to make it important, you're probably more worried about where your body will land because you crashed into something that would toast any wheel...

[mythical]

No 3T wheels for me then...

[cwdzoot]

Got a pair for demo and so far so good - I will do a review on my blog after a few more rides.

Did not weigh them as they came from 3T already glued but had a chance to mess with the freehub and it's a pretty fanatic system the way it can accept both Campa and Shimano/SRAM - makes you wonder why this has not been done before.

[prendrefeu]

Excellent!

You could weigh them regardless, then subtract the known (most likely) weight of the tubs.

[ratfink]

I really like the design. They could make for some great training wheels. I just love having so many options.

[nifrodne]

The only thing I dont like is the lockring, do you need a campa tool for that ?