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HED Updates Ardennes to be Wider & Road Tubeless Ready

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HED updates Ardennes wheels and Belgium rims to be wider and road tubeless ready

HED’s Ardennes wheels and Belgium rims get a wider 25mm offering, and now they’re tubeless ready.

Steve Hed told us they came about because he was redesigning the rim profile anyway to make it more tubeless compatible, so they went ahead and made a wider option to accommodate current trends. They’ll have a 21mm inside width, and the new profile is also available in the original 23mm outside width, too.

Rim weight is 463g, also available without a machined brake track (all black, shown above) for use with disc brakes. Roll past the break for more info…

HED updates Ardennes wheels and Belgium rims to be wider and road tubeless ready

The new rim bed (right) has a ledge for the tire to sit on, which is a radical departure from the old design (left) that had a sloping edge leading up to the sidewall.

Hed said another benefit of the new design is that it’s more aero, particularly when running a narrow 21-22 tire since the machined brake track is angled to slope toward the tire.

Built, they’re featured on the Ardennes wheelset. Sold as a rim only, it’s called the Belgium and retails for $135 with 24, 28 or 32 drillings.

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Better Wider
Better Wider
11 years ago

Stoked to see HED ahead of the curve again. Wider? Great. Tubeless? Great. When can we expect to see these available at retailers?

greg
greg
11 years ago

the brake track slopes toward the tire. so… like the zipp 101, right?

Fredrick
Fredrick
11 years ago

So, let me get this straight.
The rim is now 21mm inside and weights 463 grams, a stan’s ZTR Crest 29er rim is also 21mm inside and weights 380 grams. Both have the same inside set up with the tire bead shelf.

So are these for road use, or daily drivers for the mountain bike?

james
james
11 years ago

the extra weight surely yields a stronger and stiffer rim that the Stans crest which also has a very low pressure rating for 25mm rubber making it unusable for traditional road pressures. the hed ounds like a good all-arounder.

Bob Loblaw
11 years ago

@Frederick, While I wouldn’t trust my wellbeing to road tubeless on a Stan’s mountain rim (to say nothing of their lack of a brake track), the HEDs would probably make a good solid 29er or ‘cross rim- even if the brake track was overkill for disc use.

snakeboat
snakeboat
11 years ago

IMHO, the alloy that Stan is using is quite soft… The pair of A340s that I dented last year in a pothole were the first pair I’ve trashed in a single incident in 30 years of racing ( I only weigh 150).

The HED C2s that I built up to replace were much easier to build and true than the 340s were. Much more solid rim. I think they’re on par with DT and above Mavic. I run them tubeless, but I typically use a compressor to seat them. Excited to get a new pair of these with the improved profile.

Ajax
Ajax
11 years ago

Nice! It’s good to see the industry moving towards wider rims.

comet
comet
11 years ago

To snakeboat,
what about stan alpha 400?

spytech
spytech
11 years ago

Do they have a release date on the rims? these could be in my future.

jdog
jdog
11 years ago

I have been riding the HED C24 labeled rims with Hutchinson tubeless road tires for over a year with no issue. Great rims. Very solid. My favorite to build on at this point. 24/28 is plenty strong for most applications. Mine are 32/32 and it is overkill.

Campy Seatpost
Campy Seatpost
11 years ago

To get all weenie about it, even without 100g tubes, 463g looks a little portly. I’ve got some Sprint 350s that stay nice and true.

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