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HED Disc Brake Cyclocross Wheels Coming Spring 2012

HED Cycling disc brake hubs and wheels for cyclocross coming in spring 2012
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HED Cycling disc brake hubs and wheels for cyclocross coming in spring 2012

HED Cycling is bringing a set of disc hubs to market in spring 2012 as a build option for their wheels.

The hubs will use CenterLock rotors and have 135mm rear spacing and be able to be built into any of their rims. HED’s Paul Ellis told us they won’t offer the hubs separately, but did give us their standalone weights: 160g front and 266g rear. Ellis said they went with CenterLock rather than 6-bolt because it’s simpler and they like the design better. It generally allows for a lighter weight hub, too.

Pricing it TBD, but Ellis says it won’t be much more than their regular hubs. At present, they’re not telling of any plans to build a disc-only rim, so the wheels will use their existing rim-brake compatible rims. The benefit is they are basically ready for road use, too, meaning you’ll be ready when the eventual move to disc brake road bikes becomes the norm.

Hubs photo after the break…

HED Cycling disc brake hubs and wheels for cyclocross coming in spring 2012

 

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Brandon
Brandon
12 years ago

Those hubs look amazing!

Mark W.
Mark W.
12 years ago

so how are the wheels ready for road use, they have 135 spacing on the rear hub?
I am curious if they have much market in road racing any time soon though, but i do still love my current rim brakes on my road bike a hell of a lot.
I do like how they used center lock hubs for them, that system will be much better for handling the stresses braking on road bikes.

Chris
Chris
12 years ago

I think 135 and discs will soon become the standard for road bikes, especially if the UCI weigh limit stays in place. 130 hasn’t been around forever and 135 makes more sense, especially now that we’re cramming 11 cogs onto the rear wheel. Would also allow mortals on budgets to have one set of wheels for road and ‘cross.

I like the polished finish and see others returning to polished alloy. Personally, I always feel cheated when companies paint alloy parts. They only do it because it’s cheaper and over time it always ends up looking like crap.

brett
brett
12 years ago

What I really want for Christmass:

Road/Mtn/Cross to all have 135 spacing. All have disc brakes that are center lock. All use 10 spd. All use a standard BB type (BB30?). All have a standard headset size for top and bottom.

I promise I will be a really good boy this year if this happens.

Nate
Nate
12 years ago

Likely some great hubs, and Im excited to see things going this direction, but damn theyre ugly! From looking at the picture they dont look polished they appear to be plated, and not a quality looking job at that. Im also not really into the oil drum look, but to each their own! No matter what I say, HED is a great company and I suspect these hubs will function brilliantly!

Turbofrog
Turbofrog
12 years ago

Agree with Brett. Road bikes have already had 120 and 126mm spacing, and with 29ers spaced at 135 as well, there’s no reason why you couldn’t have one uber-versatile wheelset for road/cross/mountain if you really wanted to.

Mark W.
Mark W.
12 years ago

@turbofrog
the only problem i see with a do all wheel set is it wont be good at any one thing
It will be to heavy for road racing
to narrow for mountain biking well
changing tires a lot
changing rotors a lot
over build for road riding
under built for mountain biking
changing cassettes a lot

“just because you can does not mean you should”

Gillis
Gillis
12 years ago

I’d like to see road go to 135. It makes sense to have road and cx still have some compatibility even if they are beginning to stray farther apart in that respect.

Not really a fan of center lock at this point. It’s too limiting. There are a lot of good rotors out there that aren’t available as center lock.

craigsj
craigsj
12 years ago

“Not really a fan of center lock at this point. It’s too limiting. There are a lot of good rotors out there that aren’t available as center lock.”

CenterLock hubs trivially take ANY 6 bolt rotor and they do so better than any 6 bolt hub. Yes, they use an adapter but the hubs are lighter and the bolts are eliminated. Weight is close anyway. The only problem with CenterLock is most hub makers don’t support it. There is no downside.

Jones
Jones
12 years ago

So I could run these on my 29er too…

Matt
Matt
12 years ago

2 cross spokes with a carbon rim would make me nervous about the different stresses disks put on wheels.
Maybe a manufacturer should just make the jump to 150mm spacing with a 15×1 set up, one less shifter, mech, chainring, etc. A wider cassette body with wider chain wouldn’t go amiss…

Mark W.
Mark W.
12 years ago

@matt
what the hell is making the hub wider going to do to make any of that better?
can you indulge me on the benefits of your idea.
Because what i see, it 140mm rotors that are built into a strong hub that is laced correctly

Chris
Chris
12 years ago

@Mark W:

Too heavy for road racing is a small concern given that well under 1% of cyclists actually race. The other 99+% of us are smart enough to realize that a few grams isn’t that big a deal.

Doesn’t need to be too narrow for MTB, wider rims are (again) becoming the norm on road bikes.

Colin
Colin
12 years ago

How many spoke holes are in the hubs you saw? I currently race cross on disc brakes (best decision I ever made), and the biggest limiter I have with choosing race wheels is hub drilling. You can’t really find any decent disc hubs with fewer than 28 holes, and most nicer wheelsets have a front with 24 or less. A nice pair of 24H disc hubs would make me very very happy.

mbiker42
mbiker42
12 years ago

@Mark W.

A wider hub lets the flanges be farther apart. This stabalizes the rim better and reduces the dish of the wheel, making it stiffer and stronger. It’s like the legs of a stool, the spoke elboes are the feet and the further apart they are, the more stability you get.

So if the standard stays 130, the drive side sokes will remain nearly verticle. Then the disc rotor will force the nondrive flange further inboard decreasing their angle as well. Those feet are now really close together. This forces higher spoke tensions that decrease the life of the wheel. The options to detune this stress are higher flanges on the hubs (heavier) and/or deep section rims (expensive carbon).

A wider standard would net a lighter system with more available options. 135 exists now and is good but going to 140 could net innovation in all areas of bikedesign and get you that versatile wheel others are seeking. It’s a balance though, going too wide will widen qfactors or cause heel clearance issues. so there’s the rub.

someslowguy
12 years ago

i think its worth noting, that as long as you have a disc brake cyclocross bike with the likely 135mm spacing ‘standard’ means a few things: 1. the frame will likely not accept rim brakes 2. therefore it doesn’t matter if your current road/cx racing wheels fit. 3. if you buy super rad carbon tubular disc brake wheels for your cx disc bike its likely not going to have a rim braking surface, so it doesn’t matter if the rear hub spacing matches your road bike with rim brakes. 4. lastly, if road bikes begin coming with disc brakes one day then frame builders/manufacturers will be able to adopt 135mm spacing for disc road bikes when the time comes.

my point is, while yes all the ‘standards’ are frustrating, it doesn’t seem to matter if cyclocross disc wheels fit your current road bike OR if your current carbon tubular wheels fit your cyclocross disc bike. not only are 135mm 700c disc wheels already plentiful (29er xc mtn wheels) but the extra 5mm allows the non-drive spokes to still have some triangulation since the flange is crammed inward.

i guess i’m just glad to see the cx disc ‘standard’ moving toward 135mm.

Justin
Justin
12 years ago

Bummer about the “no disc specific rims”. To make the most out of having disc brakes it would be great to have a lighter carbon tubular rim that doesn’t have reinforcement for the braking surface.

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