HED is expanding beyond their typical aero & carbon focus with a new family of gravel bike wheels called Eroica. While that name make stir thought of old Italian bikes, for HED it means riding any surface in your path, be it pavement, gravel, or dirt – with some hints of cyclocross in there too. Tubeless, disc brake only & packed with some of HED’s unique technologies, the new Eroica gravel bike wheels are offered in carbon or alloy and at three different price points….
2020 HED Eroica gravel bike wheels in carbon or aluminum
HED says the new Eroica wheels are about riding every surface… ” everything between point A and point B is fair game.” They would really call the Eroica an all-road wheelset, because people who ride gravel bikes tend to be less limited in where they ride, following the path wherever it leads and just as likely ending up on the road as they might on some buff singletrack. So, these wheels were developed to balance aero speed & efficiency with construction that could offer the strength to take on some trails, too.
HED Eroica Carbon gravel wheels – tech details
The Eroica Carbon is a mid-depth 700c, tubeless-ready carbon gravel bike wheelset made in the US, featuring HED’s premium 8° engagement, 5-pawl aluminum 545 hubs.
The carbon rims are 25mm internal with a hooked tubeless bead, 30mm external, and just 29mm deep.
The asymmetric rims feature HED’s DNA rim shaping & spoke drilling tech like we saw in the recent Raptor MTB wheels – patent-pending Dual-Axis Nipple Alignment. It essentially means that at each of the 24 spokes, its holes are aligned with the push & pull, left & right of the spoke for perfect load distribution.
The shape of the rim then slightly undulates to reinforce the actual loads at each spoke hole, and in between extra material is removed. This creates slight twists & bulges along the nose of the rim profile, which can be seen when you take a close look at the carbon fiber orientation.
HED says the result is a stronger & lighter rim, made entirely in their Minnesota workshop, that builds up into a more durable lightweight wheelset. The $2195 Eroica Carbon claims a weight of just 1295g, comes with a 5 year warranty, and includes both tubeless tape & valves. The new wheels are in production now, and slated to be available next week, around September 17th for an official launch.
HED Eroica Alloy LT & GP gravel wheels – tech details
If you are looking to hit some gravel on HED wheels, but can’t quite justify two grand for carbon, the HED Eroica Alloy wheels could be a solid bet. Available in 700c & 650b options the Eroica Alloy is available in two spec levels sharing the same 24-hole, 25mm internal, 24mm deep 6061 alloy rim. The symmetric alloy rim is quite wide, 30mm outside overall thanks to HED’s Fat Lip design that reinforces the tubeless-ready bead to be more impact resistant since these are the kind of wheels you are likely to ride beyond the conventional limits of dropbar bikes.
The aluminum wheels are available as the $1070 Eroica Alloy LT that shares the same top-spec 545 hubset, or a more affordable $810 Eroica Alloy GP that features a 4-pawl, 13° hubset. Claimed weights for the 700c wheels start at 1620. The alloy wheels also come with a 5 year warranty, tubeless vales & tape, and will also be available to order next week.
HED Vanquish GP carbon wheels & rims in custom color options
In addition to new gravel wheels, HED is offering some new, more subtle color options for their more affordable US-carbon Vanquish GP road wheels. Debuted back in May, the 40mm or 60mm deep aero Vanquish GP wheels add red, blue, gray, or pro all-white decal options to the standard black & white. The new colors are available now for no extra cost, and are offered both for complete GP wheels or standalone Vanquish rims in 24, 28, or 32 hole drilling.
