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HED Vanquish aero wheels gain more depths, equally aero with any tire width

HED Vanquish 4 aerodynamic road and gravel wheels for wide tires
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When the HED Vanquish 6 aero road wheels came out last October, they claimed to be more than just HED’s first full carbon clinchers. They also claimed to have the best aerodynamics on the market, with the qualification being for a wide variety of tire widths. Meaning, they’ve tested them and shown almost no difference in aero performance whether you mount a 23, 25 or 28 millimeter tires on them.

Now, you can choose from a Vanquish 4 (shown at top) or Vanquish 8, too, and still benefit from the same 21mm internal width (30mm external), but get 40mm or 80mm depths, too. All three options are disc brake only, which is how they got to a point where they were comfortable offering a full carbon clincher. Until this series, HED had always used an alloy brake track and rim bed with carbon fairings.

HED Vanquish 8 aerodynamic road and gravel wheels for wide tires
All three sizes will be available with white or black graphics.

The Vanquish 4 comes in at a claimed 1,511g (712g F / 799g R) and is available now in limited quantities. The Vanquish 8 is 1,799g (847g F / 952g R) and starts shipping August 1. All three wheels have QR and thru axle options on their 545 Disc hubs, which use the Centerlock rotor mount standard. They start at $2,500 for the set.

The HED V6 splits the difference at 60mm deep.

The shallower V4 wheels should also be a great option for cyclocross and gravel bikes, too, while the deeper V8 wheels should be great for the new crop of disc-brake equipped triathlon bikes. And the V6 should be great for aero road bikes of all types.

HEDcycling.com

 

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David R
David R
5 years ago

Any idea if HED mentioned increasing the impact resistance of the rim bed? I love HED wheels (we’ve got a set of Jet 4’s from like 8 years ago that are actually wider than my modern Zipp 404 FC’s and they feel super fast). These might be on the list if I get a disc bike in the next few years, however, my big fear with carbon is cracking the rim bed after a pinch flat etc. I’ve always been told that to make the rim resistant to heat that you sacrifice impact resistance obviously with the heat being moved to the rotor are companies like HED taking into account toughening up the bead area?

Ian Carlton
5 years ago
Reply to  David R

The blurb on their website talks a lot about safety and also mentions that the temperature variation compromises the structural integrity of rim brake carbon clinchers, while explaining why there’s no rim brake option on these. While the words “impact resistance” aren’t used, it’d surprise me if these wheels weren’t among the toughest carbon clinchers on the market.

Hexsense
Hexsense
5 years ago

Hope the trend for wider rims do not limit to high-end wheel set.
I wish to see rims narrower than 18mm internally go extinct in all market segment.

DRC
DRC
5 years ago
Reply to  Hexsense

The Axis branded wheels that came on my Crux have a 21mm internal width and Specialized sold them separately for $250. I agree with you though, I’d like a set of 50mm carbon tubeless disc wheel with wide internal dimensions for less than $2k.

robert
robert
5 years ago
Reply to  DRC

those exist. Roval CL 50s (not the CLX) were at $1750 i think. Carbon Tubeless 50mm Disc 21mm internal.

TheKaiser
TheKaiser
5 years ago
Reply to  DRC

Yeah, and you could build a set of the Light Bicycle 46mm U-shaped rims for well under $1k depending on hubs

David
David
5 years ago
Reply to  TheKaiser

+1 for LB rims fantastic quality

Bob
Bob
5 years ago

“equally aero with any tire width” can’t be true unfortunately – it will be only a few watts difference, but especially in high yaw angles the airflow will only stay attached to the rim with a tire that has less width than the rim.

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