Making up about 50% of your total race time, the bike portion of a triathlon is where equipment choices can make the difference between first and fifth. And no other equipment choice will save you more time than a disc wheel. While traditionally-shaped disc wheels are faster than their spoked counterparts, the 321 disc turns conventional design on its head, creating the fastest wheel available.

Disc wheels often fall into two categoriesa completely flat shape, with structure coming from carbon fiber and a honeycomb-foam filling, or a spoked wheel that's been faired with a carbon fiber cover. In our quest to break traditions, the 321 uses a single layer of 1k carbon fiber on each side of the wheel, and it all comes together at the brake track bridge. This kind of carbon fiber is rarely used in bicycle components due to its high manufacturing cost, but it offers a bevy of performance benefits. This coveted carbon is much lighter than other layups, like 3k and 12k, and it can only be laid by the most skilled of carbon fiber craftsmen. It's complicated, but the payout is worth it, as it delivers a supple ride and one of the lightest disc wheels available. And in the real world, this means that it'll spin-up quickly and reduce fatigue over the long haul.

Stiffness is often the hot-topic in the disc wheel world, but we think it's an interesting conversation. It's long been thought that efficient power transfer and high stiffness are directly correlated, but through extensive field testing, we've determined that this isn't the case at all. In fact, our initial disc was so stiff that, under power, it wouldn't flex with the frame and this caused brake rub. This wrongly creates the perception of a flexy wheel, when really, the wheel is actually too stiff. In order to solve the brake rub problem, we first designed our optimal aero shape and then worked on our internal stiffness targets to fit within what we consider to be a desirable frame stiffness.

• Rim Type: Carbon clincher, 2Bliss Ready
• Rim Material: Carbon
• Braking Surface: Carbon Fiber
• Brake Track Height: 12mm
• Rim Depth: Solid Disc
• Rim Width: 19mm internal, 27.3mm external (at brake track)
• Rear Hub: Roval Disc, CeramicSpeed bearings, DT Swiss 240 internals, 11-speed
• Assembly Method: Handmade
• Extras: Roval padded wheel bag, Roval steel quick-release, Roval tubeless valve, SwissStop Black Prince brake pads, Roval valve pocket covers
• Weight: 1000g