Whats your opinion on tri-spokes?
 

Some hate them some love them,

Ugly and serve no useful purpose. Oh, and a waste of money! :)

It really depends on which forum you ask. Triathaletes love them, road cyclists not so much.

I personally don't like them because they're severely affected by crosswinds. You'll find yourself constantly minding your steering on a day with wind.

Also, these wheels are never perfectly true coming out of the setting mold from the factory and due to the nature of them, that's the way they'll stay FOREVER.
The same goes for both the modern carbon monocoque ones and vintage carbon composite ones. And all makes from FFWD to Zipp and in between.

I've had an early Specialized Tri-spoke, and a 26" Spin tri spoke.

Both were cool, hip, trendy, whatever back when I was in my early 20's.
I've since sold both of them, because I don't really care about that aesthetic anymore.

They look cool, but for the vast majority of real-world applications on the street and road, they're silly as hell.

Completely impractical for anything other than racing, in any discipline.

Its funny.... my 13 y/o boy came home yesterday with department store Mongoose BMX with imitation mags! He got it for $10 at a yard sale.

I had to laugh - back in the late 80's and early 90's mag wheels on a 20"er were the cat's ass. Along with Haro, GT, Mongoose, Diamond Back....

Just out of curiosity is the phrase "cat's ass" a good or bad thing? I may be exposing my age here haha

As for trispokes, I have a specialized trispoke on the front of one of my fixies and for the most part, I do like how it looks and I get a lot of compliments from non-cyclists. For the most part "real" cyclists love to hate on unnecessary parts that only serve to look "cool". But whatever, if you like it go for it. I got mine for free from a friend which is the only way id ever have one. I wouldn't be willing to spend any money on it otherwise

Tri Spokes are so 1993

They are 50% worst than M5 Two Spoke wheels

It is a good thing. It tends to be colloquial, so even to some old folks it might be new.

Hey Cruisin keep in mind this thread was from 2016. I think cat's ass is a good thing but there is so much odd slang and stuff that doesn't make sense.

I was curious to see if it took over the phrase "the bee's knees"

I used HED3 some time ago, the roll was nice and smooth. The look was incredible. The downside was you could easily be pushed away by the wind on a windy day. One of the best wheel I've ever ridden on.

It's in the realm with "the cat's pyjamas," great if you like throwing '20s - 1920s - slang around. My 14-year-old daughter who is into Dashiell Hammett likes to use "swell" to describe things that aren't. I'm waiting for her to start saying "everything is eggs in the coffee" any day now ...

👀 If that is a great riding experience for you, then I am sorry and hope you get the opportunity to ride on a good wheelset with good tires. It will change your life.

well I hope so!