HED Ardennes SL Wheelset - Tubular One Color, Shimano/Sram

• Manufacturer: Sram
• Part number: ARDENNESSLTUBUSHI
• Description: There is no mistake here, no need to write in, Hed has both a clincher and Tubular version of their Ardennes SL Wheelset. This is the tubular, the one favored by cyclocrossers and climbers. They've taken the same dimensions and same Scandium alloy of their Ardennes SL clinchers, but extruded a tubular rim rather than clincher. And the rest of the wheel is identical to the clincher version. VeloNews tested out these wheels in the unforgiving world of cyclocross and found them the best of the wide-section aluminum tubulars they tried, and even saw them as a wheelset you can use successfully in both the muddy discipline and on the road, just by swapping tires. This is the same C2 concept wheelset that has been turning more and more heads as the world warms to wide rims. As you've certainly read in our other write-ups of Hed wheels, C2 is for the two Cs that the 23mm wide rim improves. Cda, which is aerodynamics, and Crr, which is rolling resistance. That is, the width and shape of the rim reduces both aerodynamic drag and road friction. Making a rim 23mm wide and 25mm deep when most rims are around 19mm wide and 19-23mm deep is a big difference. The reason for the greater width is because of 23mm tires, the minimum tire width you almost always should be using on the road (there are 22mm clinchers; these will work, too). A 23mm rim paired with a 23mm tire changes the tire's footprint. It grips better in a straight line, and it grips better in turns because the tire deforms differently and more evenly. A 23mm tire on a 23mm rim also has lower rolling resistance. Hed sent the wheels to Continental Tires for testing. Conti's engineers shrugged their shoulders, figured there was no difference, but put them in the jig and ran the tests anyways. It turned out the 23mm width has 18% less rolling resistance.

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