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How to Choose the Right Cycling Wheels | Tom Budden | Hed Wheels, Aero Gains & Buying Advice with South Coast Velo
11 Plays4 days ago
Whether you're training for your first triathlon, chasing a new PB, or simply wondering if upgrading your wheels is really worth it, this episode is packed with practical advice.
Scott Hill is joined by Tom Budden from South Coast Velo, the exclusive UK distributor for Hed Wheels, to discuss everything cyclists and triathletes need to know before investing in a new wheelset.
In this episode you'll discover:
- Why wheels are one of the biggest performance upgrades you can make
- Carbon vs aluminium wheels – what's right for you?
- Disc wheels, deep-section wheels and Kona-specific designs explained
- How wheel depth affects speed, stability and handling
- Tubeless vs TPU tubes – the pros and cons
- Choosing the right tyre width and tyre pressure
- Common mistakes people make when buying wheels
- What to look out for when buying second-hand wheels
Tom also shares his own background in triathlon, mountain biking and cyclocross, explains why Hed has built such a loyal following among elite athletes, and offers honest advice on selecting the best wheelset for your riding style, goals and budget.
If you're thinking about upgrading your bike, this episode could save you money and help you make a much smarter choice.
Follow South Coast Velo:
Instagram: @southcoastvelo
Website: southcoastvelo.co.uk
If you enjoy the podcast, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your training partners.
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Transcript
Introduction and Today's Topic
00:00:01
Scott Hill
Hello, good day everyone. Welcome to UK Tri-Chat hosted by myself, Scott Hill from Tri-Wolf Triathlon Coaching. um Today we're going to talk to Sifcoast Velo and going to talk about wheels. Obviously you can see on the screen there some wheels in the background. So I'm pleased to welcome Tom here today from Sifcoast Velo. Tom, don't know if you'd like to just introduce yourself a little bit and um actually Sifcoast Velo itself.
Sifcoast Velo Founding and Operations
00:00:24
Tom Budden
Yeah. Hi, Scott. Thanks for having me. um Yeah. So I um set up South Coast Velo about coming up to three years ago now. um I got offered the distribution for the UK for for head wheels and it was sort too good an opportunity to turn down. So I set up a small business with my friend and I'm Yeah, we've been doing that since.
00:00:49
Tom Budden
And um yeah, providing the head wheels to the UK customers through our website.
00:00:56
Scott Hill
okay yes and We know that Head is is quite a big brand out there. It's been around for numerous years now and it's quite a popular choice, I think, that um pro athletes and top-end athletes will see.
00:01:07
Scott Hill
and Wheels is a topic that comes up. you know i talk to athletes all the time when I'm at at events and and people I coach and everything else. and you know there are people always looking for marginal gains and stuff like that and not just within triathlon but within the cycling of community wheels really can improve performance i'm guessing and i'm guessing that's something that you're quite an advocate for and promote across your website and yourself anyway so how how do you find that having the distribution for head wheels is it just head wheels you do or do you do other wheels as well
00:01:28
Tom Budden
Yeah.
00:01:36
Tom Budden
Just Head. um Yeah, that's solely what we do. Sell Vittoria tires as well, but that's a ah really small part of it. And yeah, just through our website. We have a few, um there's like hand-sling bikes that we work a little bit with nearby.
00:01:54
Tom Budden
um They offer Head as an option on their builds. But otherwise, it's purely through our website. and um Yeah, people message us, but ask ask the questions, and um ah try and help them out.
00:02:08
Scott Hill
Fantastic. And where about is CypherCast fellow located in
Customer Interaction and Product Offering
00:02:11
Scott Hill
the UK?
00:02:11
Tom Budden
Based in Southampton. um Yeah, down on the south coast.
00:02:19
Scott Hill
Yeah, so you are the distribution then solely for headwheels in the UK. There's nowhere else in the UK that's doing them right now, I believe.
00:02:25
Tom Budden
No, that's correct, yeah.
00:02:27
Scott Hill
That's fantastic. So how are you finding the market for headwheels in UK just now?
00:02:33
Tom Budden
It's it' not easy. There's a lot of competition and obviously there's cheaper options out there and yeah, it all all comes down to um
00:02:46
Tom Budden
yeah like ah what people are after and um yeah, it's pretty slow but it's um yeah, we've we've got some we had some good customers and Yeah, not very good answer.
00:02:58
Scott Hill
yeah I know we had a conversation before, you know, talking about head itself and I mentioned, well, I've been involved in support now for a number of years.
00:03:00
Tom Budden
Hmm.
00:03:06
Scott Hill
um and It was something I looked at as as a brand many years ago now and couldn't really find a market for it in the UK where it was quite easy to get hold of. and And I guess that in some ways is possibly still the case as well in and and and a lot of ways. Most Bike brands now offer bike builds. You can buy a bike online and build a specific build with that. And I know you work quite closely with other brands in the UK and you can offer stuff like that through them as well. But I guess if people want to look for head wheels or find out any more information, they just come to your website, right?
00:03:38
Tom Budden
Yeah, yeah, that's right. Southcoastfellow.co.uk. um Or just, yeah, drop us an email and there's a um contact form on there as well, which but like usually most of the wheels we sell, someone will get in touch and sort of build up a um we have a conversation and like to you know find out what what they're up to and what their goals are and try and uh get the right wheel set for them and then um it's actually been great like following different people that have bought wheels through us on our social media and um follow their races and stuff that they've been doing and seeing them racing on the wheels it's been been amazing which i guess you you wouldn't get
00:04:19
Tom Budden
Otherwise, if you're buying a ah set of wheels from one of the big online retailers, that sort of thing.
00:04:26
Scott Hill
Where does head actually, the wheel, did they come from originally? I'm guessing it's the US.
00:04:29
Tom Budden
So yeah Minnesota in in the US um set up in 1984. eighty four Steve Head was the guy that set it up. He's like a aerodynamics guru and started messing around with you know right different wheel shapes and wind tunnel testing and stuff. and i think that was the first person to make a disc wheel um and i think a lot of the things that they did over the years like uh you know the wind tunnel testing and uh all that kind of thing they're like yeah the first people to do it and a lot the wheel brands have sort of followed on from that over the years um yeah they're quite a small company i think they might might look like a bigger
00:05:14
Tom Budden
company even than what they are. They think they they everything's run in-house there in Minnesota. I think they only have about 20 odd people working there, which is, you know, from the engineers, front of house, shipping, wheel building, carbon layup, everything.
00:05:31
Tom Budden
so It's all done in-house, which again is something you won't find many other wheel brands, you know, do that.
Wheel Design and Specific Uses
00:05:40
Scott Hill
I guess um we're in the we're in the transitional phase now where I think every bike ride now is disc brakes, but we still have a lot of people out there using rim brakes. so Do you have the capacity to offer wheels to both?
00:05:53
Tom Budden
Yeah, yeah, yeah. They are one of the brands still sticking with rim brakes through their Jet series of wheels. So yeah, we we still get a lot of people looking for ah rim brake wheels.
00:06:05
Scott Hill
No. I guess that the ones behind you there, and they all the jet series and I've got the one in the middle
00:06:09
Tom Budden
These are all disc brake ones here. I just sort of brought a selection down. um Yeah, these are all disc brake. That's the Jet 180, obviously the Kona wheel there.
00:06:19
Scott Hill
there.
00:06:22
Tom Budden
And the other two are
00:06:22
Scott Hill
Yeah, that one. So for for the listeners out there don't know the one there in the middle, that came out as, so if you were to race Ironman World Championships, Kona and Hawaii, you're not allowed to fall disc wheel because of the wind conditions.
00:06:34
Scott Hill
Obviously, Head designed this one, which I think it was about two years ago now, maybe three. came out
00:06:40
Tom Budden
Maybe a bit more, rough maybe four years ago, I think it came out.
00:06:43
Scott Hill
came into into Hawaii and obviously at the time it was it wasn't a full disc wheel, but it was so close to it. So it was probably the talk of the town and the talk of social media is, oh my God, this wheel has appeared and what benefit it will bring.
00:06:49
Tom Budden
Hmm.
00:06:57
Scott Hill
And it's something you see more and more of now, not just in Australia. in Kona, Hawaii, but you see it in other races as well that might be deemed relatively windy, Langea being one of them.
00:07:06
Tom Budden
Hmm.
00:07:08
Scott Hill
So if there's an added benefit to that. is that is Is that a popular world, do you think, just now? Are athletes looking at that more more?
00:07:15
Tom Budden
i Obviously, it has its niche in that most people that buy it will be qualified for Kona and buy it for that specific reason.
00:07:25
Tom Budden
But um we've got a few few customers we sold it to that yeah just purely like the look of it. And you know you're not going to lose a lot of speed compared to a disc wheel by going for it.
00:07:36
Tom Budden
So yeah, they they look good as well as very fast.
00:07:37
Scott Hill
Yeah. So Sifco is better than obviously main distribution for head wheels. um how big How big is your your team, your shop, however you deal?
00:07:49
Tom Budden
It's just me at the moment. um I started it with my friend, as I said, I think I mentioned earlier. um He's gone off and on, he's got another business that has sort of taken up a lot of his time. So I decided to keep plugging away myself, um sort of scaled it down a little bit and um yeah, just running it from home.
00:08:11
Tom Budden
And a few wheels coming in and out and the wife getting annoyed, but you know,
00:08:12
Scott Hill
So you from from home,
00:08:18
Scott Hill
I've got a stock full in the garage there.
00:08:20
Tom Budden
Yeah.
00:08:21
Scott Hill
So with with the wheel sets, obviously we can see behind you again, there's the different sets of wheels, but with those, which ones, I mean, if looking at athletes specifically, you know, there's a wide range of athletes out there.
00:08:34
Scott Hill
um If you've got athletes that are looking for podiums, top end of age group, elites, all the way down to those new to sport, I'm guessing there's a range of wheels for a different person and whatever their their goal and their outcome is or what they want their outcome to be.
00:08:49
Scott Hill
Do you see a difference between within athletes ordering? Are they speaking to you and saying what's best for me if you know if i I'm new to sport or I'm high performing? you get questions like that coming from athletes?
00:09:01
Tom Budden
Yeah, definitely. um i think I guess it all comes down to budget. um If you've got the money to spend and and you want the best of the best, then you go for the sort of the vanquished disk with the the deepest possible front wheel, which they do in three three different depths. of This one here is the shallowest.
00:09:22
Tom Budden
through to an 84 mil one. um Obviously, that's a full carbon layup, full carbon wheel. um But obviously, it has a price tag to match. And then they have the Jet series of wheels, which are a bit cheaper. They've got like an aluminum rim profile with a a carbon fairing
00:09:43
Scott Hill
Yeah.
00:09:43
Tom Budden
built onto them. um So yeah, we they do a disc wheel in those, and then the three different um depths of wheel in the jet as well, which are quite a bit cheaper.
00:09:54
Tom Budden
um But yeah, other than that, yeah, we and then they do a full range of sort of aluminium shallow section wheels. So yeah, there's something for everyone there, as well as the gravel wheels and
00:10:06
Tom Budden
track wheels as well, just depending on whatever it is. So yeah most of the customs we have are triathletes and purely using them for racing as they're sort of race wheels. But then we get a few people that have wheels just for for their road bike or yeah gravel bike.
00:10:26
Scott Hill
I think aerodynamics really matters in sport.
00:10:29
Tom Budden
Yeah, definitely. um Yeah, ah like Head have been sort of one of the innovators as far as, ah like, as I said earlier, in in the wind tunnel. And that's the biggest, probably like the biggest thing that they do is, yeah, they're being aerodynamic. And like over the years, there's been a few changes to that their rim profiles where they've been tweaking it and making it faster. Yeah.
00:10:59
Scott Hill
yeah Obviously with with the athletes that you're you're talking to and selling to within the UK then, or even wider, because you'll probably, you'll know this anyway through head in research and research, I'm assuming.
00:11:00
Tom Budden
yeah
00:11:10
Scott Hill
What is, what do or what do you see as the most popular combination then for a triathlete today?
00:11:16
Tom Budden
Again, it comes down to budget, I think.
00:11:16
Scott Hill
think that
00:11:17
Tom Budden
um Most people would like a, I think, for the longer distance stuff, definitely a disc wheel on the back. um It is always going to be faster.
00:11:29
Tom Budden
um But then you'd probably only have that as a if you're having them as a ah race set of wheels. So some people might want it as their wheels for for everything. So you're not going to want to run a disc wheel on your training ride midweek. so um The 60 mil, I think a 62 millimeter deep middle ones are really popular, or some people.
00:11:53
Scott Hill
Yeah, exactly.
00:11:56
Tom Budden
Yeah, so through our website, if you want a deeper back wheel, shallower front wheel, we can mix and match and provide whatever the customer wants, really.
00:12:08
Scott Hill
um I guess again just for the listeners out there, what you typically tend to see is you know athletes with rear disc wheels to give them performance benefits off that but then they tend to have a smaller rim on the front so that they can keep control and steer the bike um sufficiently.
Tire Trends and Recommendations
00:12:23
Scott Hill
It's not something you ever see other than people testing stuff as double disc wheels or or and obviously track sports and stuff like that. but um yeah typically front wheel shallower discs so people can control the wheel more in windy conditions and then obviously a larger disc at the rear for the aerodynamics and hopefully for the benefits of some wind as well to act as a sail and help them along which is pretty good for for everyone i'm guessing then so you mentioned that you work with vittorio tires as well and i'm guessing goingnna have combinations that you can set up for them and over the last few years we've seen a change in
00:12:57
Scott Hill
Obviously a change in disc brakes, we've seen a change in tyre, tyre rim depth as well and thickness, latex tubes, TPU tubes, tubeless and everything in between. how have you found that around what you're doing and and what again are people looking for today?
00:13:15
Scott Hill
if i If I was to look back three years, everyone was on 25 mil tyres but you're starting to see a big shift in that now.
00:13:22
Tom Budden
Yeah, yeah. um Yeah, definitely. I think most people now are running. i mean, i from what I know, I think the the width of, say, the the Vanquish wheels, they're 22.5 millimeter internal rim width, which is on the wider side. It's not the widest out there, but it's it's one of the wider ones. So paired up with like a 28 mil tire or a 30 mil tire, you're going to get the um the aero benefit as well as the comfort from the wider tire, the lower tire pressure, and everything else.
00:13:59
Scott Hill
Yeah. And how would people gauge their tire pressures?
00:14:03
Tom Budden
So they do have a tire pressure chart on their website, which I probably run little bit lower than what they suggest personally. And that seems it's always been fine for me. But yeah, going back to what you said just now, on 25 mil
00:14:22
Tom Budden
If you're 70, 80 kilograms, you could probably want to be running, don't know, what, 80 psi, something like that. um Whereas if you're running tubeless on a 30 mil tire, you could probably get down to closer to 50.
00:14:37
Tom Budden
And um yeah, it's going to be comfortable, better handling, smooth out those bumps a little bit on the on the yeah UK roads.
00:14:37
Scott Hill
I
00:14:46
Scott Hill
was just saying, um you know, mentioned about tubes and tubeless and everything else. An athlete I coached yesterday who was out on a ride and they sent me a video they had a puncture but their sealant wasn't sealing so it was obviously going everywhere else like that I haven't actually converted to tubeless I'm still running with tubes but rather than go from I went to latex tubes I'm now using TPU tubes I've never gone tubeless so I guess in that's personal choice and preference as well I mean my outlook on it was
00:15:19
Scott Hill
um because races cost so much and I'm going to do it, like say an Ironman or a half Ironman or whatever else, and the cost is there. i This is just me in my head. I would hate to have an issue and not be able to finish a race, where regardless of a result, I would always rather able to change a tube and still finish.
00:15:33
Tom Budden
yeah
00:15:39
Scott Hill
I know with tubeless, you can still carry spare inner tubes and change and do that. But I'm very fearful of the mess that comes with it. So.
00:15:48
Tom Budden
Yeah. I mean, I came from mostly an off off-road background, sort of racing mountain bikes right from a teenager. And then cyclocross for the last 10 years has been my main goal.
00:16:03
Tom Budden
um So making the switch to tubeless sort of was ah sort of an early convert, I guess. and um this yeah
00:16:10
Scott Hill
I think mountain bikes were, weren't they? Mountain bikes were earlier than everyone.
00:16:12
Tom Budden
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, definitely. um um Yeah, once once you get used to using them and the the benefits, I think, yeah, there's no way I'd go back. I did have a puncture actually off-road the other day, but the sealant's so good nowadays that there's a few tips and tricks if it's not sealing. Get the the the hole down to the bottom of the tire so the sealant's sort of pooling at the bottom, and then it'll usually fix it.
00:16:41
Tom Budden
And occasionally, you might just have to stick a little bit more air in, but that's very rare.
00:16:41
Scott Hill
Yeah.
00:16:46
Scott Hill
and And if people are using tubeless, how often are they having to replend fluid and liquid in the
00:16:52
Tom Budden
That depends on the sealant you use. um I've been using the Vittoria stuff since we've been selling the Vittoria tires. We've been getting on really well with that. um I would probably say you'd want to make sure you're refilling up like every six months or so.
00:17:09
Tom Budden
But then um what's it called? the ah One of the... can't think from the top my head. There's another brand, one of the one of the more expensive ones.
00:17:23
Tom Budden
um Amazing at sealing the tires, but they dry out really quickly. So you might be having to do it every month kind of thing. So it's just getting to know you what you're using and how it works. And they all have their you know work slightly
Buying Tips and Common Mistakes
00:17:39
Tom Budden
differently. But um yeah after time, game you get used to it.
00:17:43
Scott Hill
Yeah, that old saying, practice makes perfect, right?
00:17:46
Tom Budden
Yeah, definitely.
00:17:47
Scott Hill
Yeah, so you get used to it No, fantastic. So I think if we look at the wheels as such, as as a whole, what type of mistakes do you think people make when they are looking for wheels or buying wheels?
00:18:02
Scott Hill
Cyclists and triathletes.
00:18:07
Tom Budden
I guess it's a tough question. I guess like some people might you buy a ah wheel set that's maybe too deep for the type of riding that they want to use it for.
00:18:20
Tom Budden
um You see that from time to time. Yeah, it's just choosing the right wheel for the type of riding or racing that you're going to do. Like I said earlier, you're not going to buy disc wheel if going be using it week in, week out through your training rides, whereas you might find 60 mil wheel is perfect for the kind of fast enough, but light enough and everything else.
00:18:50
Scott Hill
I think yeah earlier on we touched on, or you touched on the expensive wheels as well. and And there is a vast scale of cost, isn't there, with UK distribution, world distribution stuff as well. And it's all over social media and stuff now. um And if we look at the lower end of the scale all the way to the top end of the scale, um is is the top end always better? Or is that a case of people who just got the money so they go for that, but people can still have a good performance if they're looking at wheels that are in the middle or even less?
00:19:22
Tom Budden
Yeah, I'd say to a point, yeah, you get what you pay for, I think, um with a lot of like with a lot of things. um Obviously, I can only really speak for Head and like what their... Sorry, my dog's making a... Oi, come here.
00:19:41
Tom Budden
Yeah, I think the thing with Head, um
00:19:45
Tom Budden
it's...
00:19:47
Tom Budden
What you're getting for the money, is um it's everything from like the manufacturing process. it's all Everything's hand-built. They do it all in-house. um They might not be the yeah doing the the craziest things that some of the brands are doing that you might end up paying more for. um But don't know, like carbon spokes, for example, like they'll still stick with like the sapping steel spokes, and you're going to get a more comfortable ride from the wheels with those.
00:20:20
Tom Budden
And it's going to be easier to live with. you know if It's a much more practical solution. you know If you break a spoke, you could take it to a wheel builder, and they'll be able to real rebuild them. And the same goes for their hub.
00:20:29
Scott Hill
Yep.
00:20:30
Tom Budden
So everything's designed to be practical and usable, rather than trying to be the lightest or craziest out there wheels.
00:20:41
Tom Budden
And what you get off the back of that is ah an amazing ride quality. ah as well as um yeah they're super smooth to ride which you might not get from one of these other expensive wheels with carbon spokes and yeah
00:20:59
Scott Hill
Yeah, so I guess it's down to preference, isn't it? And you know you touched on it before you get what you pay for. So I guess when people are buying headwheels, they are... They know they're going to get a quality product.
00:21:10
Scott Hill
Yes, they might pay a bit more for it, but it's being invested um with a more hands-on approach rather than potentially machine manufacturers being manufactured with someone that's taking due diligence, time, care, and looking for that overall performance, longevity in the wheel.
00:21:23
Tom Budden
Exactly, yeah.
00:21:25
Scott Hill
So where you may pay a little bit more than the bottom end budget wheels, so you will end up with a wheel that is potentially going to last you longer.
00:21:31
Tom Budden
or even some of the the bigger brands as well, you know, they they they work in a different way. You might have some brands that are, there's a few I can think of that might have like a massive marketing budget.
00:21:42
Tom Budden
Wheels are outsourced, you know, they're made out in in the Far East and in the factories and then brought over. um Yeah, they might have the budget to be able to
00:21:52
Scott Hill
Yep.
00:21:55
Tom Budden
turn around the warranty repairs and and whatever, but it's something we don't really see with head because of them the way they're manufactured and ah made and let' see the the the care that goes into them. I think that shows through in the in the ride quality of them.
Sifcoast Velo's Growth Plans
00:22:10
Scott Hill
yep you know, and there's a big secondhand market out there for everything to do with component parts and bikes and everything else. If someone was looking for secondhand wheels, you know, be ahead, then what what do you think they should be looking for when they do that?
00:22:24
Scott Hill
And and with that, do you
00:22:25
Tom Budden
Funnily enough, actually, we've we've got had a couple of people get in touch looking to replace some like their free hub body and sent some pictures. And it's turned out they've been fake wheels, which is only something I've not even seen until recently.
00:22:39
Scott Hill
Yeah, i guess that's something well I guess that's something that's probably quite common we do. Well, I know of a UK company that was um selling bikes with UCI stickers on it, which were not UCI approved, but they were selling of stickers anyway. but And I guess that's something that happens quite a lot.
00:22:59
Scott Hill
not just in sport but it's been all sorts of stuff right um but that's quite interesting that you've actually seen it firsthand in the uk as well so i guess with you know our listeners out there if you are looking at secondhand wheels then you know look for expert advice look for ways to spot fakes so you know you are buying a genuine product so effectively you are buying something that's safe reliable and genuine uh rather than being caught short and and i guess if people have already reached out to you before there's always that opportunity as well as the specialist in the uk i guess for head
00:23:30
Tom Budden
Yeah, definitely. yeah Yeah.
00:23:33
Scott Hill
I think we're getting little bit of a lagging on this one at a minute, but um obviously we're seeing the wheels behind you there and we touched on obviously the Kona disc wheel, the one in the centre there, the jet, but um some people would argue that even in windy conditions, a full disc wheel could actually be safer as well um in some ways, obviously counterbalancing it with the front one.
00:23:34
Tom Budden
Yeah, carry on. so
00:23:59
Scott Hill
Is that something... that you've seen, heard or believe in or
00:24:04
Tom Budden
I can't say that I'm,
00:24:07
Tom Budden
I can only speak from from experience of riding them myself. And yeah, they feel, very stable with with the disc wheel on the back. I don't think we do have quite a lot of people asking, oh, am I am i going to really notice a difference? But I don't think so with the with the back. And even with the front wheels we've had, the work they've done and the rim profiles, even with the deep section wheels, they're definitely stable even in the wind.
00:24:36
Scott Hill
yeah
00:24:36
Tom Budden
um We've had a few people say how how happy they've been with them since from what they've been using before and how much of a difference in the crosswinds and stuff they make.
00:24:48
Tom Budden
But that's only speaking from what I've heard from customers and what I've seen myself. So obviously, I'm not an engineer or, yeah. or yeah
00:25:00
Scott Hill
but I guess with with this then, The types of wheels out there that you mentioned, you've got aluminium rims for rim brakes, and now we're we're seeing obviously, well you could carbon wheels for rim brakes as well, but we're seeing the transition to more and more disc brake bikes. Is that also adding to the longevity of a wheel?
00:25:20
Scott Hill
Obviously, you know again, I talk through personal experience here where we look at rim brakes on carbon, you hear stories of delamination and stuff like that. I guess now with the transition into writ into disc brakes, we're seeing wheels last longer for that reason as well.
00:25:37
Scott Hill
And I guess that's a positive thing for people doing cycling and triathlon stuff.
00:25:37
Tom Budden
Yeah.
00:25:41
Tom Budden
Yeah. and No, we get a few people um with the rim brake wheels. that Yeah, but the thing that's going to go first eventually is is the rim profile itself from break in. um So we do sell with the sort of head do the aluminum, I guess, like they what you call their training wheels or shallow section aluminum wheels. And people of people We have people like use them year round for a lot of people that go and do Audaxes and stuff like that. And they've they're absolutely bomb-proof. And eventually, and like they'll have a rim brake wheel. So we resell the um we can do rim only for those. So people will buy the rims from us, get them rebuilt, and the wheels go on and for years.
00:26:31
Scott Hill
Yeah. So with the, obviously the wheels you're selling at the moment then, what is, what's the lower end, um, single wheels cost wise up to the most expensive one and and they come in in pairs as well in some cases.
00:26:44
Tom Budden
Yes, usually I think the cheapest um ones are £500 to £600 for a pair. For the rim brake ones, right up to like a couple of thousand pounds for the the disc wheel behind me there.
00:26:58
Tom Budden
um Actually, it's probably not quite as much as that thinking about it. But I can tell you now, actually.
00:27:08
Tom Budden
Yeah, that's right. It's a vanquish.
00:27:14
Tom Budden
Yeah, it's 1,600 pounds. is That's the the most expensive one they do is the disc wheel there. So i think compared to a lot of the competitors, it is expensive. But there there's a lot more more expensive ones out there.
00:27:28
Scott Hill
Yeah, I should say it's not the most expensive one i've seen um for sure. yeah Some other brands are a lot more than that. £2,000 plus.
00:27:36
Tom Budden
Yeah. yeah
00:27:37
Scott Hill
for this wheel um so obviously we we've touched on obviously training wheels racing wheels and things like that as well um i think it's really important for athletes to remember that if they are spending such an expense on a set of wheels um then they need to start using them correctly and wisely anyway and bring them out on occasions when they're going to get maximum benefit benefit from it and a common term that we we like to use i guess is is train hard fight easy so If you can train on a little bit of a heavier equipment, be it you know the type of wheels, tyres everything else, and then when you come to race day you want the maximum performance is when you put
00:28:12
Scott Hill
and all all the bells and whistles and everything else on your bike and and have the performance that yeah you hope to have on the day. um Is there a difference in rider weight, on what type of wheels they should have? and again you know Again, I looked through personal experience years ago, there was we look at bike components and bike frames and stuff and and heavier people might be more restricted to riding or be advised, depending on what they weigh, obviously.
00:28:41
Scott Hill
um aluminum rims rather than full carbon has carbon caught up as wheels caught up with that now and can anyone purchase these or or is there weight limits within within wheels
00:28:54
Tom Budden
I think, no, I think, I think, yeah, you're right. I think now with the carbon wheels, they with the head wheels at least, again, ah I can only speak for the head wheels. So they're, yeah, they're really strong. So they're they're going to work for for anyone really. You do see a lot of other brands that are trying to make,
00:29:12
Tom Budden
I think with the road stuff particularly, you see a lot of people going like, what's the lightest wheel I can buy? so I'm going to go for that.
00:29:18
Scott Hill
Yeah.
00:29:18
Tom Budden
But they're not thinking about, well, what's the spoke count? how strong are the sidewalls on the wheels? That's another thing. Had to have been sticking to um ah hooked rims. So um for the tubeless, you've got either hooked or hookless.
00:29:36
Tom Budden
And there's been some talk recently, a lot of the brands have been making hookless wheels to try and cut a bit of weight. But people have been finding there's a ah safety element with that as well, whereas head have stuck to their guns and said, no, we're going to, you know, they might be a few grams heavier because of this, but we're making a strong wheel that's going to work for a range of people.
00:29:59
Tom Budden
And it's going to ride really nicely, as I said before. That's the thing. It's taking all those elements and making a wheel that's yeah, rides really well and yeah, it feels great.
00:30:15
Scott Hill
I guess that engineering process there is they're deemed safer for doing that or that's their belief in that as well so it's athlete safety is coming to play there as well
00:30:22
Tom Budden
Yeah, definitely. um Yeah, I think, like you say, going the other way, if you're a lighter rider, then yeah, maybe there's a thing to be said. If you want a a slightly shallower wheel, it's going to weigh a bit less. But obviously, it depends on the kind of riding, again, that you're going to and the kind of races if you're racing.
00:30:41
Tom Budden
um hilly TTs or um you know going off to Nice or somewhere like that and having mountains. And you're probably not going to want to be 50, 60 kilogram rider and lugging a 90 mil wheel set around. You're going to notice it. But that's probably the only thing.
00:31:07
Tom Budden
Whereas if it was on the flat, then you're not going to, yeah, the weight doesn't really matter. And it's all about the aero.
00:31:15
Scott Hill
we've got Tour de France starting and in the coming days. um Are we going to see head wheels in the peloton anywhere?
00:31:21
Tom Budden
um No, no, unfortunately. No, i think um the last time that we saw them in the on the tour was when Mark Cavendish did his final final year when he was riding for Astana.
00:31:36
Tom Budden
And I'm not sure, actually, I've never spoken to Head about how that came about. I think that's purely Mark Cavendish was a a massive fan of Head wheels. And I think he was just like, right, those are the wheels I want to use for that. And the team had another wheel sponsor. And I don't know how it came about. But um I'm not sure Head are big enough as a company to be able to provide like you know the the amount of wheels that would have to go to a...
00:32:00
Tom Budden
a world tour team.
00:32:00
Scott Hill
tour.
00:32:02
Tom Budden
it's gonna You can't imagine it's going to truck loads of wheels. So yeah, um it would be nice. And I think it would be good for Head because like the customers I see are mostly triathletes because they you you know you see your your top triathletes, winner know Sam Laidlow won the world championships on the head wheels couple of years ago and you see a lot of the who have we got at the moment? um Martin Van Rie, isn't it? He's doing doing some good stuff.
00:32:32
Tom Budden
yeah It would be really nice to get get a few more road customers but unless I think Tade Bogaccia is riding them there, people are going to go and look for
Community Building and Market Challenges
00:32:45
Tom Budden
for those things.
00:32:46
Tom Budden
So yeah, getting getting getting the name out there a little bit more over here is yeah what I'm trying to do.
00:32:50
Scott Hill
Yeah. You mentioned Sam Lado there. Obviously, we've got quite a few triathletes that will be racing the Challenge Roth event that's coming up as well. I'm guessing we'll see see a few headwheels there with those pro triathletes doing that as well.
00:33:06
Scott Hill
I'm actually yet to see the... the one that he used in Kona there, the one centre behind you, actually in real, I've only ever seen it online, social media and stuff like that, never actually seen it in person, so it'll be good to see it at some point and see how that performs as well. But yeah, we'll definitely see that in Roth in the coming days as well. So although we may not see heading the Tour, we will see it us triathletes that follow that, we'll see in the sport this year, be it Roth or World Championships later on in the year.
00:33:34
Scott Hill
um
00:33:36
Scott Hill
let Let's say hypothetically then we had an athlete out there which was looking, they had £2,000 to spend on a wheel or wheels, you know, and they were a middle of the pack triathlete.
00:33:47
Scott Hill
What sort of wheel set would you advise for them to go for then if they had, if that was kind of their budget was £2,000, would you advise them
00:33:53
Tom Budden
Well, that's gonna that's already going to get you the probably the best best of the best as far as like come with the Vanquish wheels. Actually, I thought that was a Vanquish. It's not. Right, it's jet wheel.
00:34:04
Tom Budden
Grabbed it in a bit of a hurry. But um yeah, the Vanquish Pro Series, um there's a 62 mil deep version of that. And that's that would see you through pretty much all of your racing and training, you could pair that up with the the deeper 84 on the back. And that's gonna that would be yeah amazing. You're not going to get but for that sort of money. that says Yeah, you probably wouldn't stretch to the disc wheel, but whether you'd need that or not.
00:34:34
Scott Hill
I guess that could be an all round wheel as well. They could use that for flatter courses and for those who a bit more rolling.
00:34:38
Tom Budden
Yeah, exactly, yeah.
00:34:41
Scott Hill
Best bang for buck would be everything. So looking at that there for them. um We're looking, obviously yourself, you mentioned there that or you mentioned earlier on that you've actually started Sifvelo, Sifvecoast Velo up with a friend there, but he's off, otherwise occupied the minutes to do it himself. So what what is the future for yourself with Sifvecoast Velo? What are you trying to achieve? Are you looking to expand into other brands or are you looking to to expand head and see what you can do within that in the UK?
00:35:10
Tom Budden
Yeah, at the moment, just keep keep going as you are. And that that was sort of one of the reasons for having a chat with you today is just sort of get a little bit more awareness because I think, you know, people see, they'll go on the big websites and and see the wheels that are on offer and they see their next day delivery, but they might not think of head as ah as an option. So hopefully just try and push it a little bit more like that. And um yeah, it's... um
00:35:42
Scott Hill
I'm guessing with that, you're effectively avoiding, well guess if people are looking for now obviously Brexit, and we and Brexit always pops up, right? But if we look at Brexit and now people are ordering online and I've been caught out with this in the past, I think it was two years ago, I bought a cycle helmet from a website thinking it was cheaper. and i thought I'm going to get myself a good deal deal here but when i got it i also got a notification to say there's some import tax which actually made it more expensive than what it would have been if i'd actually gone and purchased it in the uk so i'm guessing if you're looking for head wheels and they're coming to um south coast velo they're actually avoiding that that's scary as well so they're not gonna okay yeah that's fine fantastic
00:36:09
Tom Budden
yeah
00:36:14
Tom Budden
m
00:36:21
Tom Budden
yeah Yeah, that's all taken into account with the price. And yeah, yeah I have to deal with it.
00:36:28
Scott Hill
Yeah, well, it's better that, isn't it? you know and And I'm sure there's many listeners out there who have been caught out by import tax for whatever products, be it wheels or anything else.
00:36:38
Scott Hill
But that's safety of mind, you peace of mind that they know that if they come to you for set wheels, they're not going to get that that import tax later on as well as what they see on your website or see by speaking
00:36:50
Tom Budden
Yeah.
00:36:51
Scott Hill
Then that's what they're going to pay, which is, I guess, a comforting thing. um thing to look at as well so that you're not quiet later on because it has changed things for people in uk that are personal stuff
00:37:04
Tom Budden
Yeah, I think, yeah, definitely people are a little bit more cautious about that sort of thing. I don't know if um maybe we've had being an American brand that that that might put other people off as well you know with what what's been going on in the world in the last few years.
00:37:18
Tom Budden
And I know that the tariff sort stuff doesn't really affect us or affect me directly.
00:37:20
Scott Hill
yeah
00:37:27
Tom Budden
But yeah, I think it's definitely something that people have think about. And yeah, it made things slightly more complicated, but I've got around it.
00:37:39
Scott Hill
And we've got the innovative designs of Jet as well, you know, we've we've we've spoken numerous times now about the one in the centre behind you there. And that kind of come from nowhere and kind of blew up in the triathlon community. Is there anything in the future that that we know about, you know about, that our head are working on? You know, is there anything more exciting products coming from them where they are looking to innovate and be a bit different and maybe come to the forefront of the market before someone else does?
00:38:04
Tom Budden
not that i know of they're pretty quiet with that sort of thing to be honest um yeah not not that i know of i know there might be a little tweak to the hubs that i heard um on the vanquish wheels just um saving a little bit of weight there i'm not sure if that's when that's coming in and um that like Even with they launched a couple of gravel wheels last year, which um I've yet to see myself, actually. um But yeah, I didn't hear about that until until the very last minute.
00:38:36
Tom Budden
And that was nice to see.
00:38:39
Scott Hill
with With the disc wheel, the disc wheel, obviously we've got the valve connection there, which is, you can see again, you can see it behind you with ah the hole where the valve sits. um When you buy a disc wheel, and and again, for wheels I've had, it never comes with anything to cover that hole.
00:38:56
Scott Hill
Do head off for something, a sticker for that.
00:38:58
Tom Budden
Yeah, they come with like ah like a sticker that goes over the top. And i think usually there's a pack of four or five in there. So see through a few years at least. And then obviously, if anyone, something we've got here. So if anyone, we've had customers that are looking for them, so just send them out.
00:39:15
Scott Hill
Yeah.
00:39:15
Tom Budden
But any sticker would do, really.
00:39:17
Scott Hill
Yeah. Okay. And obviously, think some people need to bear in mind that the valves are little bit awkward to
Tom's Personal Athletic Journey
00:39:23
Scott Hill
get to as well. So your generic pump might not fit, you may have to use the little adapter known as the crack pipe aye in cycling world, which adapts on to your your your normal pump, and then obviously it fits in there to fill onto the valve to pump the tire up.
00:39:38
Tom Budden
Yeah.
00:39:39
Scott Hill
unless the hole big enough to get pumping there but that one looks like a quite a small one yeah
00:39:44
Tom Budden
I don't think they're too bad to get into. They they recommend like a 50 mil um valve stem to go in there, which is obviously quite short.
00:39:51
Scott Hill
yeah and we're seeing more and more of the electric pumps now as well aren't we when people are charging them up easier to transport if you're going abroad or whatever else and obviously you get so many pumps out of them um
00:39:54
Tom Budden
So you've got you've got a fair amount of room there.
00:40:10
Scott Hill
You mentioned, obviously, you mentioned about your own yourself there earlier on at the very start and your your cycling, your background cycling, and then i'm I'm guessing it's not as a triathlete, more as a road cyclist, and you do gravel biking originally.
00:40:21
Tom Budden
i A bit of everything, actually. I started um mountain biking as a teenager through the 90s, did all like the sort of cross-country mountain bike racing when it was booming.
00:40:33
Tom Budden
Not particularly well, sort of mid-packer, but yeah, used to travel around. dad used to drive me around. And then um ah did I started triathlon in the late 90s as a junior.
00:40:45
Tom Budden
um had a PE teacher other that said, you should you should try it. And that actually went really well. So i went and sort of racing around the country as a junior um in the sort of late 90s, early 2000s against, I think, i ah first national championships with like Tim, Don, and those sort of guys.
00:41:08
Tom Budden
a standard distance. I did that for a few years.
00:41:10
Scott Hill
Yeah. Yeah.
00:41:11
Tom Budden
And then I had about 10 years where I was trying to pursue a music career and cycling and everything went out the window and then picked it back up 10, 12 years ago.
00:41:23
Tom Budden
Jumped back into standard distance triathlon and went and did all the um like age group things, so qualification for that. And I often did the world championships, European championships.
00:41:35
Tom Budden
and then hung my goggles up and decided I just want to do cycling. So I've i've spent the last 10 years just mostly going back to sort of my off-road routes with cross-country mountain biking and cyclocross. That's been a ah big goal the last few years.
00:41:52
Tom Budden
Until last year, I decided I want to run a marathon. So I've done two of them since then. since then And that's messed my cycling up altogether because i'm now like I don't really know what I want to do. so um sort trying to keep it all ticking over, but who knows.
00:42:08
Scott Hill
I always found cycling and keeps me grounded. it's It's my favorite discipline in triathlon. So I always revert back to that and I love just being on two wheels and being out.
00:42:17
Tom Budden
yeah I've really enjoyed doing the running, but it is' it's hard on the body, isn't it?
00:42:18
Scott Hill
It's fantastic.
00:42:22
Tom Budden
it's um actuallyley
00:42:23
Scott Hill
The aging body.
00:42:25
Tom Budden
yeah it's ah yeah It's just constant niggles. so like yeah Second, I did London Marathon this year, and it just one thing after after the other. And yeah, it didn't go as well because of that.
00:42:40
Tom Budden
But was all right.
00:42:41
Scott Hill
Fantastic. So I guess then obviously we're all listeners that are listening today. If they want to look at head wheels or want to know anything about head wheels, they just need to head over to your
Contact Information and Closing Remarks
00:42:50
Scott Hill
website. They can have a look at what you've got off of there.
00:42:52
Scott Hill
And if needs be, I'm guessing there's contact details on there. They can reach out and ask you a question.
00:42:57
Tom Budden
Yeah, or if you're on Instagram or Facebook, um on on the think South Coast Velo on Instagram, and we get a lot of people just message through there, and artist's it's just me on the other end, and I end up having a chat about wheels or or whatever.
00:43:11
Scott Hill
Yeah.
00:43:13
Tom Budden
And like I said before, it's been great. We have customers that will tag us in on their pictures of their time trials or triathlons. Yeah, really nice to see, which I guess you know you're not going to get with a If you're buying a set of wheels from an online shop, you're not going to get that level of um yeah customer service, I i guess. yeah or
00:43:38
Scott Hill
Great. Well, I'll say thanks very much for coming on the show and talking about head wheels and yourself, Tom for Sidecrest Velo. If anyone is listening and they're looking for sets of wheels and want to speak to anyone about what head has on offer, then please do reach out to Tom on those social media channels. He's mentioned, ping me a message and he'll gladly help you. If you're looking for gravel riding, mountain biking, time trial, or even triathlon, there's something there for everyone. So please do reach out and ask the question if you're unsure. And obviously take into account if you are purchasing head wheel that you don't have to pay import tax, albeit they are an American brand. If you buy from South Coast Velo, then you don't have that stamped you later on. It's included in the price.
00:44:20
Scott Hill
um Thanks again, Tom, for coming to speak to us. um Thanks to all the listeners for listening. And if anyone is looking for a triathlon coach, then I do have a few slots available. So head over to my own social media channels at TriWolfCoach. and i've got a couple slots available for triathlon coaching be it whatever position you're in if you new to sport or you're looking to podium and stuff like that as well i'm happy to answer any questions thanks again for listening everyone and look forward to the next episode