Cyclocross and Road Disc Wheelsets
Race Day Wheels
Zipp Road 303 Disc Wheels
In support of SRAM, Zipp recently introduced the 303 Firecrest Disc-brake tubular wheelset. They feature 45mm deep carbon rims with 88/188 Disc Brake hubs, built with 24 spokes in a two cross spoke pattern on the front wheel and the same number built in two cross, but marketed as a ‘virtual’ three cross spoke pattern (in terms of stiffness apparently) on the rear.
The weight is 1680g for the pair in clincher or 1435g if you go tubular. The rear sells for £1350 and the front for £1150, and they come with a maximum rider weight of 250lbs…
RC Assault CX clincher
Reynolds have branched out into the cyclocross disc wheel market with three versions, all due to hit the market in late 2013. The most cost effective is the Reynolds Assault CX wheelset which is available as a tubular or clincher version using 46mm deep rims in PR3 Hybrid Carbon. The build is 24/24, DT Revolution spokes in a 2-cross design from Reynolds Racing straight-pull hubs, with a CTg Braking System, irrelevant to disc brakes but it’s there anyway…
The weights are 1663g for tubular and 1883g in clincher. These represent Reynolds affordable racing wheelset and as such cost £1299 for the pair.
FFWD F6D wheels
These are full carbon tubular wheels with 60mm deep rims featuring FFWD’s DARC profile – which stands for ‘Double Arc’ and compresses air on the rim to create a faster air flow, reducing the drag behind the wheel – and DT Swiss 240 Centrelock Hubs. Both front and rear wheels are laced in a two cross pattern with 28 DT Aerolite. The weight is 1465 gram and for £1325 comes with wheel bags, quick releases and valve extensions.
Conclusion
Although that’s just a quick look, the good news is that there’s plenty of choice out there, irrespective of your budget and your preferences. You could even get yourself a set of black, unbranded Chinese disc wheels via a quick search on ebay for £250, but we would see that as a risk too far.
As the market place warms up to road bikes with disc brakes and with the increasing demand for cyclocross disc frames and hydraulic braking, then the amount of choice in wheels to go with them will no doubt follow.
No matter what happens on the road side of things, we believe that the modulation and braking ability of discs brakes for a rainy Sunday on a muddy cyclocross circuit cannot be compared; consequently their domination is inevitable and as mentioned, this will be further helped by the first disc brake win in the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup at Valkenburg in the Netherlands just over a week ago, quickly followed by a second in the Czech Republic this last weekend…
[rps-include blog=127.0.0.1 post=29481]
1 Response
[…] featured on our earlier Cyclocross and Road Disc-Wheelsets the Iron Cross Wheelset offers a disc only 6061 Alloy rim; 24 spoke 2-cross front […]