Building on 10 years of aerodynamic testing and in-house carbon fiber manufacturing, the new HED Vanquish 6 aero road bike wheel is a tubeless ready, disc brake model that’s their first-ever full carbon clincher rim. Prior to this, HED had stuck with an aluminum rim bead hook and bed, flanked by carbon fairings at various depths. They simply weren’t convinced carbon fiber was the right application for a braking surface that also needed to hold high pressure. Now, with the move to tubeless and disc brakes, those concerns are gone.
In fact, making it disc brake only is the sole factor in moving to a full carbon rim. Like their other carbon rim parts, it’s made in house in their Roseville, Minnesota, factory. They worked with the layup, resins and put a specific arcing shape on the top of the rim to improve impact resistance.
Basic specs are:
- 21mm inside width
- 30mm max outside width
- 60mm depth
- 545 Disc hubset
- 1,598g wheelset weight
- 475g rim weight
- $2,500 retail
- Available now
Recommended tire sizes range from 23 to 28mm wide tires for optimum aerodynamics, but they say you’re safe running up to a 42mm for gravel. Meaning they’re fine for cyclocross, too. Max recommended tire pressure is 90psi, which sounds low, but they say the added air volume coming from the wider rim and deep center channel means it’ll ride best around that limit. However, they said you could pump it a little over 100psi and it’d be just fine.
The 545 Disc hubset uses a 5-pawl, 45-tooth engagement system with larger 6902 bearings. They’re Center Lock only, but a 6-bolt rotor adapter is available separately. They’re 24 hole front and rear, and you can get Shimano, SRAM XD or Campagnolo 11-speed freehub bodies. Pick from 12/12 and 15/12 thru axle combos, with a QR adapter kit available separately.
