Home > Clothing-Gear-Tools

Found: Wheelset Porn Courtesy of HED, Sapim, and Chris King

Written by Nick Burklow
20 Comments
Support us! Bikerumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More

Hed-Belgium-Plus-Black

We all love to drool over those deep Enve rims, or a set of Zipp Firecrests.  But sometimes, a wheelset of a different variety really grabs the attention.  This build from CyclePath in Portland, OR does just that for me.

They have made good use of the recently updated HED Belgium rims that are now wider and Road Tubeless ready.  These rims were announced back in February, but have just now rolled into the shop.  They have been laced to the always coveted Chris King R45 11 speed disc hubs using Sapim CX-Ray spokes.  And as the kids would say, they are murdered out.   The all black rim (non-machined disc specific), black spokes, and black hubs just looks awesome.

Click through for weights and build info.

Chris-King-R45

These aren’t the lightest build around, and they aren’t made of the magic plastic.  What they are is a set of wheels I would ride every day, all day, and love it.  This build should be stiff, reliable, and comfortable if set up tubeless with a good tire.

Stats

  • HED Belgium Plus Black rim avg. weight – 464 grams
  • Front Wheel – 790 grams
  • Rear Wheel – 905 grams
  • Total – 1695 grams without tape or tubeless valve
  • Stan’s Yellow Tape 25mm – 7 grams per layer, 2 layers per wheel
  • Stan’s 44mm valve stems, stem and nut only – 8 grams
  • Total wheelset weight – 1739 grams

Head over to CyclePath’s blog for more info, and see what other neat things they are working on.
Nick Burklow
0 articles
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

20 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
CXisfun
CXisfun
11 years ago

How does my local bike shop land an advertisement like this?

0
Reply
TXC
TXC
11 years ago

CXisfun,

Bikerumor sells ad space for money. All it takes is money!

0
Reply
Engineer
Engineer
11 years ago

10 points for the title Nick. Good one

0
Reply
bc
bc
11 years ago

CXisfun: you, or someone in your area, could become a contributor for bikerumor, and then when your LBS does something really cool, said contributor can post about it!

0
Reply
Speedy
Speedy
11 years ago

@CXisfun – tell you LBS to host a blog and post cool, new, high end stuff to it. Then maybe they will get a bit if love tossed their way.

0
Reply
rico
rico
11 years ago

Why so heavy, are these 32 hole CX wheels or something? I’m sure they are super durable, solid and smooth, which is saying a lot. I have a couple stans wheelsets that are good but get soft after a time. There is only so light you can go with alloy rims and have them stay rock solid.

0
Reply
Alex
Alex
11 years ago

Rather than Zipp Chinacrest, I like to drool over Rolf Prima wheels…made by hand right here in USA. Compare what you’d pay for the build featured in this post (1,700g) to what you’d pay for a set of Rolf Prima Elan alu clinchers (1,300g), also made with Sapim spokes, and with a custom hub made for Rolf Prima by California-based White Industries. 2-year factory warranty. As with Zipp, HED are also made by some overworked kid in China.

I’m not saying this isn’t a nice build (as overhyped and overpriced as Chris King is). I’m saying if you’re spending this kind of money, you have better options with wheels that are truly made in the USA. ENVE is also very good, and made in USA, but also very expensive.

0
Reply
CDG
CDG
11 years ago

1695 grams seems heavy to me. I have a similar set of wheels (32H HED Belgium rims, Sapim CX Ray spokes, White Industries T11 hubs), and they are ~1525 grams with an ENVE rim strip. Are the King hubs that much heavier? I’ve never considered them, so I’m not sure how much they weigh. I figured for the price, that they’d be light.

I’ve been using these wheels for CX training, and they are very solid. I’m looking at building up a tubular version of the same wheels in a couple of weeks.

0
Reply
CXisfun
CXisfun
11 years ago

@Alex: Zipp rims are made by hand in Indiana, I’ve been to the factory and watched them lay up the carbon. I’ve been in room where they store their rolls or carbon. I watched the mold pop a rim out. I was in the finishing room where the rims go after the mold.

The hubs are made just outside Indianapolis.

The wheels are then hand-assembled in Indianapolis, I watched a group of about 16 people lacing up, tensioning, and truing the wheels.

You should make sure you know what you’re talking about before making statements.

0
Reply
AdSpace
AdSpace
11 years ago

This is little more than an ad for you favorite bike shop.

Cielo Cycles/Chris King announced today that they will be offering hand built wheels directly from the factory, something that seems appropriate for a website like this to pass along if you wanted to to talk about buying hand made wheels from Portland. Instead, you’re simply stating that “My Bike shop has the ability to build wheels, and they like things in black.”

Good looking wheels, but don’t try to disguise your advertisement as legitimate content. Maybe ride the wheels for a while, offer a legit review, and then post about it.

0
Reply
CXisfun
CXisfun
11 years ago

@CDG: they are using the Belgium+ rim, which is heavier than the standard Belgium rim, though that only makes up for about 30g. The bigger difference comes from the hubs, since these are disc hubs. Comparing your road T11 to the King R45d isn’t apples to apples. You should compare a disc White hub, like the MI6, that set is 545g. The King R45d are 420g for the set. Your T11 hubs are 344g, the R45 road are 317g.

0
Reply
Max
Max
11 years ago

[Deleted] comparing a strong, long-lasting wheel set to some Rolf prima [Deleted]. Paired spoke designs are a pain in the ass to true and, thanks to large sections of rim that are nowhere near a spoke, they sometimes get a wobble in between spoke pairs that can’t be tried out. I’ll take the heavy and rock solid wheel set pictured above any day.

Though some white industries hubs would be pretty nice as well…

Source: Shop mechanic who has laid hands on far, far too many Rolf Primas.

0
Reply
Sapateira
Sapateira
11 years ago

Belgium Rims? This model of HED rim don’t call Ardennes?

0
Reply
Michael
Michael
11 years ago

TXC: No money exchanged for add space here. We just built an awesome wheelset, took some pictures and posted it to our blog. Thanks to Nick Burklow for diggin our rad wheels and Pete Luty for insisting we build him a set.

0
Reply
Max
Max
11 years ago

G: lol

0
Reply
CDG
CDG
11 years ago

@CXisfun…thanks for setting me straight! I shouldn’t post before coffee. I didn’t even notice that the Kings were disc hubs, or that the rims were +’s. Definitely explains the weight difference.

0
Reply
Psi Squared
Psi Squared
11 years ago

Wow. I just thought this was a blog entry about a really cool set of wheels that were put together. Instead of enjoying that article for that reason, maybe I should pretend to know the secret motivations of everyone involved in this wheel build, and of Nick as well. I’m sure everyone pretending to know those motivations has very deep ideas about those motivations…..in their fantasy worlds.

Oh well. To the builders, nice hoops! To the owner of the wheels, ride ’em like you stole ’em!

0
Reply
Greg
Greg
11 years ago

@CXisfun: Zipp’s carbon wheels are made in the U.S. , but their aluminum wheels, bars, and stems are made in Asia. (not that I care).

0
Reply
CXisfun
CXisfun
11 years ago

: Correct, I forget that Zipp has alloy anything.

0
Reply
SLCBrandon
SLCBrandon
11 years ago

@alex

Thanks for telling me how to live my life. How can I contact you for life coaching services? You seem to literally know it all.

0
Reply

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.