Jet
 

There is a Black Friday sale on a HED RC6/9 wheelset and I was thinking about purchasing it for my road bike. Question, is that just too deep and heavy for road riding in general? I have a similar setup on my track bike, but I don’t have to climb hills on my track bike and crosswinds aren’t an issue at the velodrome.

60mm deep front should be fine unless your a featherweight.

I wouldn't say the depth is an issue - I would prefer to ride my Jet 6/9 daily versus the Bastogne (same rim profile as Ardennes). And my primary race wheels are Stinger 7/9, so 75/90mm, and I use them even in gusty conditions.

(Caveat - over 45 mph any front wheel gets a bit sketchy for me, and about 50 mph is the limit on the Jet 6, and I'm basically hanging on for dear life at that point.)

However, the Jets are so heavy compared to the Bastognes (same tires, tubes, cassette, and bought same year so same hubs/spokes) that when I go on a typical truck hunting ride (looking to catch a 40+ mph draft off a truck), I'll fit the Bastognes, or, if I'm lazy (like I can't quickly find the Bastogne rear), I'll leave the Jet 9 on in the back.

The jets were relegated to trainer duty the year I got them, 2010. I use the Jet 9 all the time, with a Bastogne front, on the trainer. The Jet 6 was basically unused for many years after maybe 5 rides/races, until I flatted a Bastogne front.

I bought the Jets when I went all wide, so in one swoop I bought the Bastognes, Jet 6/9, and Stinger 6/6. I thought I'd use the Jets in training crits and training rides, but other than slowly getting to higher speeds (not my style, but happens on descents mainly) I don't like them. I'd rather use the non-aero Bastognes.

I bought a Stinger 7/9 set up (my go to race wheels) as well as a Stinger 4 front for super windy conditions. The 7/9 Stingers are awesome, stiff out of saddle, fast in those cross tailwinds that I love. The 4 feels like it's going to fold over when I'm out of the saddle- the first few times I used it I thought I had a flat tire, it was so mushy. So I wouldn't recommend that for an aggressive out of saddle kind of effort.

A training ride with the bike set up to go fast, mostly on descents but also truck hunting. Happened to be the Camp Pendleton ride but the set up was ideal for truck hunting - stable rear end from the tall rear, lighter and less wind affected front end.

Thanks for the information. Based on your information, I think I will buy them. I really need a daily set of wheels and it sounds like these will be fine for that. They are the Stallion wheelset, so 20/28. I was a little worried about the weight when climbing, but really It won’t matter cause I am going to get dropped anyway 😂😂

Haha! That's me, 100%. On new group rides I might be introduced to a friend's friend as "this guy's been racing for forever" kind of thing. And then I go shooting out the back, and the new rider looks back like, "well, if that's what a racer that's been racing forever can do, then I'll be fine."

I've used the wheels up to about 190 lbs no issues, sometimes quite heavily laden (maybe 5-6 lbs total with bottles and stuff on me?), and I have the normal 18/24 front rear, in fact every HED I have is 18/24. Never an issue, and in fact I've never trued the Jets. I trued the rear Bastogne once, and had to tension both Bastognes once.