HED Cycling: Four Decades of Innovation, From Championship Wheels to Women's Health

HED Cycling Products
1735 Terrace Dr
Roseville, MN 55113
(888) 246-3639

Roseville-based HED Cycling Products has helped transform the modern cycling industry for more than 40 years. HED wheels have carried athletes to Olympic gold medals, Ironman course records, world championship titles, and professional road racing victories. 

Leaning into that same spirit of innovation, company founder Anne Hed is attempting to spin off a new business this time to reshape an important preventive medical screening: mammograms.   

Anne and her late husband, Steve Hed, founded HED Cycling in 1984 with a goal of building faster, more aerodynamic bicycle wheels. Today, the company designs and hand-builds high-performance wheels for road cyclists, triathletes, gravel racers, track cyclists, and recreational riders. Every wheel is manufactured at HED's Roseville headquarters. 

The company's story began in 1983 when Anne, then a professional triathlete, met Steve, who owned a bicycle shop in St. Paul. 

"He gave me a bike and paid my entry fee," Anne recalled of her Hawaiian Ironman sponsorship. 

The pair soon launched HED Cycling, using a car Anne won in a triathlon as collateral for their startup loan. 

Steve's expertise in composites and aerodynamics led to innovations that transformed bicycle wheel design. HED now holds more than 20 patents and pioneered technologies—including toroidal-shaped aerodynamic rims, deep-section carbon wheels, and wider rim profiles—that have become industry standards. 

"He reinvented the wheel," Anne said. "We've invented many of the technologies that set the standards for the bike industry today." 

Following Steve's passing in 2014, Anne continued leading the company alongside their son, Andrew Hed. Today, HED employs 30 people at its 24,000-square-foot Roseville manufacturing facility. 

"It's very rare to find carbon molding anywhere in the U.S.," Anne said. "I'd estimate that 95 percent of all bike products are made overseas. My goal is to keep manufacturing here, pay a livable wage, offer great benefits, and continue building products in Minnesota." 

That expertise with carbon fiber unexpectedly led Anne into medical innovation. 

After experiencing the discomfort of a routine mammogram in 2023, she realized the carbon used in mammography equipment was similar to the material HED uses in its bicycle wheels. 

"I had an 'aha' moment," Anne said. "Why does it hurt? Why doesn't it curve?" 

She developed the B Rest, a curved carbon-fiber panel that attaches to existing mammography machines. Anne has secured a patent and trademark for the device and is partnering with the Allina Foundation on clinical trials. 

Her goal is twofold: improve patient comfort and potentially capture more breast tissue during screenings. 

"Many women skip mammograms because they're painful," Anne said. "If we can make the experience more comfortable while improving screening, that's a win." 

Unlike bicycle wheels, which HED has taken from concept to championship competition in as little as 45 days, developing a medical device has required years of testing and regulatory work. 

Anne says Roseville has been an ideal home for both ventures. 

"I love the location because my employees come from all over the metro, and many even ride their bikes to work," she said. 

Whether building championship-winning bicycle wheels or developing technology that could improve women's healthcare, HED Cycling continues to demonstrate how Minnesota manufacturing and innovation can have a global impact.