Tech news flash people. Zipp has just
released some new wheels. So always
exciting.
The NSW line and the Firecrest line are
now available tubeless ready and with
disc brakes. You can see now the dimples,
the famous Zipp dimples go all the way to
the edge of the rim now because there's
no need for a brake track because their
disc brake. The 202 and 303 rims are
wider than the 404 and the 808 because
they've been optimised for 28 millimetre
tyres for more comfort and grip so
they're aerodynamically optimised for
that wider tyre and now the 404 and 808
are also slightly wider in their disc
brake version and they're optimized for
25 millimetre tyres aerodynamically.
So that's the key thing and although the
wheels have gone wider Zipp are saying
that the weight is the same as the
previous generation of wheels too. And they
also have the axial clutch technology
and the cognition hub set there as well.
That's pretty cool... As a time trialing
bike nerd, this is really exciting for me
because I recently used Zipp 808s my
front wheel in my Project 49 TT feature.
However I wasn't able to run tubeless
which is faster it has a lower rolling
resistance and I would have done if I
could. And now Zipp make an 808
tubeless however unfortunately only
doing it in this brake at the moment.
So unfortunately we're still gonna have
to wait a little bit longer for a
tubeless 808 with a normal rim brake rim.
But you can now get the disc brake
version the availability they're saying
is gonna be in October of 2017. Are you a
diminutive cyclist? Well this might be
the wheel for you. It's Zipp's new 303 disc
brake specific tubeless ready 650b wheel
which
is great because there's increased
demand for smaller frames, particularly
amongst women, and Canyon have recognised
this and they're actually making bikes
designed around 650b wheels and this is
one from Zipp, a brand new one, so you can
have a disc brake bike with 650b wheels
and run these rather cool Zipp 303s.
So here we have Zipp's new tubeless tyre,
it's a 28 millimetre version of... Bloody
wasp! Wasps seem to just love Zipp tubeless tyres, bizarre! Anyway, so out of the box
the feel of the tyre, of the carcass is
considerably thicker than what we know
to be the fastest tyre at the moment
which is the Vitoria Corso Speed
tubeless which suggests to me that it might not
be faster but I look forward to testing it.
However Zipp has put considerable effort
into the fitting of these tyres to their
wheels and the compatibility of that and
that is often the downfall of tubeless -
setting them up can be a pain, so you
know,  if life is easier fitting
these and setting them up on a Zipp wheel
because it's a proprietary Zipp tyre then
that could be really, really great.
Just been out for a ride on the new Zipp
disc brake tubeless ready NSW wheels and,
yeah, they're pretty awesome. We tried the new
Zipp tubeless tyres as well and I
absolutely ragged them as much as I could I
was really putting them to the test and
no punctures and they've held up pretty
well really grippy in the corners as
well which is nice and the tyre
interface with the rim is really good. You can see by looking at it the way they
fit on. It's pretty aero and they feel
really fast. So I look forward to doing
some comparative testing and seeing just
how fast they are compared to other
leading wheels and tyres in the future.
But first impressions, yeah,
quick wheels, really quick wheels.
