We love the HED Ardennes wheels at the Cycling House. All the models are lightweight durable alloy-clincher wheels: great for roads, gravel grinding, and cyclocross. Our favorite this last year was the Ardennes SL Plus for its quality vs cost ratio. With the release of the HED Black wheels, the entire Ardennes line is restructured for 2015, and our favorite SL (SL stands for Standard Version) now has more options in what is called the ‘SL Series’.

It seems like HED is trying to push the SL as the go-to option for just about any non-professional rider who wants one do-it-all wheel. The basic 25mm clincher wheel still exists and is available with a PowerTap G3 hub in the rear wheel, or in stallion build for riders in the 225-250lbs range, or in a 650b size. This is the original SL we fell in love with, but with more build options.

The SL is also now available in a disc brake option to keep up with the cyclocross trend towards discs. This is still the Plus version of the rim and has a thru-axel option, 650b option, and is designed to fit cyclocross tires 25mm or larger. Look for the Cycling House to be on this wheel for this fall cx season.

The last option is one of its kind in the Ardennes line. The 2015 Ardennes SL now comes in a tubular option! This is only available with the disc brake build so will be the perfect cyclocross wheel. This is also available with a thru-axel option.

HED has done a lot of re-structuring of product lines for 2015 and the Ardennes SL+ is a change we can get behind. If you have more questions on the Ardennes SL or any other wheel, please contact us.