TT Front Wheel Choice in 2024

[toxin]

Of course

They dont really make trispoke (or similar) wheels that deep because there isn't much gain to be had

[timmerrr]

Unless you're racing, why not disc front?

He did post a photo from the 2024 US Elite National Time Trial Championship, ya know?

Aero Coach did just post a prototype, front disc brake disc for sale on their demo equipment link... I have solid bike handling skills and haven't ever been spooked on the TT bars despite training in some pretty gnarly conditions, but that still makes me a bit nervous.

Seems like the consensus here is Tri Spoke. If I go that route i would go with the BikeDoc non PCW copy. I like the idea of the deeper rim even if it doesn't really do anything with the Tri Spoke.

[BigBoyND]

Of course

They dont really make trispoke (or similar) wheels that deep because there isn't much gain to be had

If that's the case, why do we have many spoked options that deep?

[toxin]

Because thwre is a gain in reducing the length of the spokes

[BigBoyND]

Same whether they are standard spokes or tri spokes

[toxin]

Nope, when designed well they make less drag and the spokes actually benefit from being in eachothers wake

[xav]

Aero Coach did just post a prototype, front disc brake disc for sale on their demo equipment link...

It's not a prototype, we've been selling them for a couple of years now. Plenty of world tour teams have them off us but no one has really stepped up to use them! Hopefully after WVA used one it might be a bit more commonplace. I've ridden one outside, once you're up to speed they're surprisingly okay - I think a flat disc would be significantly worse though.

Regarding trispokes/wheel depth, you really have to take the whole wheel design as a system. It's not the case that a deep section is always faster than a trispoke or vice versa, you kind of have to ignore the construction of the the wheel and literally just go off the data. There are things you can do with both types of design but one isn't inherently better.

[timmerrr]

Aero Coach did just post a prototype, front disc brake disc for sale on their demo equipment link...

It's not a prototype, we've been selling them for a couple of years now. Plenty of world tour teams have them off us but no one has really stepped up to use them! Hopefully after WVA used one it might be a bit more commonplace. I've ridden one outside, once you're up to speed they're surprisingly okay - I think a flat disc would be significantly worse though.

Regarding trispokes/wheel depth, you really have to take the whole wheel design as a system. It's not the case that a deep section is always faster than a trispoke or vice versa, you kind of have to ignore the construction of the the wheel and literally just go off the data. There are things you can do with both types of design but one isn't inherently better.

I didn't realize that! I am tempted but also feel like showing up with a double disc set up as a mid pack finisher at big events might not be the move

I imagine if i asked which wheel I should buy, you would say the Titan, so, any wheels I really should avoid? Or anything new and exciting on the wheel front coming from AeroCoach in the near future?

[BigBoyND]

Nope, when designed well they make less drag and the spokes actually benefit from being in eachothers wake

I'm saying any spoke creates less drag when it's shorter. So if you say spoked wheels benefit from being shorter due to a deeper rim, the same applies to trispokes.

[xav]

I didn't realize that! I am tempted but also feel like showing up with a double disc set up as a mid pack finisher at big events might not be the move

I imagine if i asked which wheel I should buy, you would say the Titan, so, any wheels I really should avoid? Or anything new and exciting on the wheel front coming from AeroCoach in the near future?

I know what you mean re: double discs I haven't done it yet (was considering it in Denmark at the GF champs this year but it was too windy), it is quite the statement. British time trials (run under a governing body that isn't the UCI) specifically forbid them so it's only UCI events really.

Yes sure I'd love for you to ride a Titan, but if we discount that due to bias then objectively my recommendation would be something that has data behind it. It's always a two question process when a company releases a wheel with zero data on it, either:

1. There is no data/there has been no proper testing on the wheel design
2. There is data, but it shows the wheel is no good so the company doesn't publish it

Neither of those is great really. Out of your list the Newmen has aero data vs a DT Swiss which is good. Elite and Reynolds have no similar data. DT Swiss are pretty good too TBH, and really most of the big players that you know do proper aero testing/design (DT Swiss, Zipp, HED etc.) all make wheels which don't slow you down, although Zipp have had a couple of iterations of their wheels in the past which are surprisingly slow aero wise, the 808 NSW being the standout odd one.

[timmerrr]

I didn't realize that! I am tempted but also feel like showing up with a double disc set up as a mid pack finisher at big events might not be the move

I imagine if i asked which wheel I should buy, you would say the Titan, so, any wheels I really should avoid? Or anything new and exciting on the wheel front coming from AeroCoach in the near future?

I know what you mean re: double discs I haven't done it yet (was considering it in Denmark at the GF champs this year but it was too windy), it is quite the statement. British time trials (run under a governing body that isn't the UCI) specifically forbid them so it's only UCI events really.

Yes sure I'd love for you to ride a Titan, but if we discount that due to bias then objectively my recommendation would be something that has data behind it. It's always a two question process when a company releases a wheel with zero data on it, either:

1. There is no data/there has been no proper testing on the wheel design
2. There is data, but it shows the wheel is no good so the company doesn't publish it

Neither of those is great really. Out of your list the Newmen has aero data vs a DT Swiss which is good. Elite and Reynolds have no similar data. DT Swiss are pretty good too TBH, and really most of the big players that you know do proper aero testing/design (DT Swiss, Zipp, HED etc.) all make wheels which don't slow you down, although Zipp have had a couple of iterations of their wheels in the past which are surprisingly slow aero wise, the 808 NSW being the standout odd one.

I appreciate the response here. From what I can gather most ~80mm wheels are going to be 2-3 watts shower than the titan. Really wish we had more objective testing available to the public. I'd love to see how some of the wider wheels stack up agains the Titan. The HED vanquish 84, for example is interesting, as you should be able to run a 25 mm gptt or 26mm corsa pro speed and still keep an optimal shape.

Anyways, thanks again for the input here, I'm sure we all appreciate it in our quest to go a little faster.