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404clincher owners
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Do you use them full time or just for special occasions (races and birthdays)?

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law
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Re: 404clincher owners [Sweeney] [ In reply to ]
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You can't race on a 404 clincher. Tom said.

customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.
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Re: 404clincher owners [Sweeney] [ In reply to ]
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There's snow on the road (has been since I got them:-() so I have only had bit once chance to ride mine. but once the roads clear:P
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Re: 404clincher owners [Mr. Tibbs] [ In reply to ]
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We can go to races and use them...it's just not racing if you do. Just really expensive training.
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Re: 404clincher owners [Sweeney] [ In reply to ]
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I used my brothers 404 clinchers just for a race (and he only races on them) but I changed the tires from Continental GP 3000's to Michelin Pro Races. It is a damn good thing I didn't flat b/c to this day we have not been able to get the Pro Races off the rim. Zipps are far too valuable to train on plus you appreciate them when you ride regular wheels for training purposes.
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Re: 404clincher owners [Sweeney] [ In reply to ]
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Well, it is going to depend on how heartbroken you would be if you got in a bad enough crash to damage them in training. Realistically, those are pretty strong wheels. They are certainly durable enough for everyday use. The problem is, sock a sharp chuckhole edge at 30 mph on a $299 pair of Mavic Cosmos and you are out the price of a tire, tube, and a front wheel- probably about $180 total. do the same thing with you nice Zipp 404s and you are out over $500.

I any event, the Zipps are super nice and pretty darn durable. It's a shame to risk ruining them- but its more of a shame to not ride them.

Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com
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Re: 404clincher owners [Tom Demerly] [ In reply to ]
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Quote:
The problem is, sock a sharp chuckhole edge at 30 mph on a $299 pair of Mavic Cosmos and you are out the price of a tire, tube, and a front wheel- probably about $180 total. do the same thing with you nice Zipp 404s and you are out over $500.
Actually it comes out to about the same. I just did it with a wheel out of warranty and Zipp charged $200 something to rebuild it with a new rim.

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http://irondad06.blogspot.com/

http://irondad.blogspot.com/




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Re: 404clincher owners [Sweeney] [ In reply to ]
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They're probably the most durable race wheel to ride on training days, but why risk buggering up your race wheels? You could end up without them for your races whilst waiting for warranty/crash replacement.
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Re: 404clincher owners [bunnyman] [ In reply to ]
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I have Zipp 404 clincher's and have used them only on a couple of training rides, I use my Ksyriums for training. I did find that I am about 1 1/2 mph faster on the Zipp's at the same heart rate. They are great wheels.....




"You're guaranteed to miss 100% of the shots you never take" - Wayne Gretzky
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Re: 404clincher owners [IronDad] [ In reply to ]
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yeah, most of the high-end companies have great warranties, or customer service, or whatever else you wanna call it
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Re: 404clincher owners [Sweeney] [ In reply to ]
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Got them.

Rarely train on them. They are expensive to damage (from projectiles or mishaps). They are very stiff wheels (vertically, not necessarily laterally), so they are not super comfortable on rough roads. For daily riding, I far prefer a "beater" set of old clincher training wheels that I don't worry about, can slam into potholes with, can ride on dirt and gravel roads with, can use with an old and heavy cassette, and can put big fat training clincher tires onto with old, patched-up inner tubes. Then race day, I go to the Zipp 404s with narrow Continental tires, light tubes, and ultra-light cassette and skewers and fly....





Where would you want to swim ?
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Re: 404clincher owners [Sweeney] [ In reply to ]
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Contrary to what some have said, you CAN train and race 404s with no problem. They are NOT expensive to replace if you crash them, because Zipp has a great crash-replacement policy that might only cost half as much as a new wheel, at most. I can vouch for this, as I caught a derailleur jam in the rear wheel almost two years ago and it cost less than $200 to rebuild with new hub and spokes. I have been training and racing them for 2000+ miles and they are plenty dependable.

Why use two sets if one set of wheels will accomplish everything for you? Find some decent roads and be smart, and don't ride scared every day worrying about whether your wheels are tough enough to be ridden more than a few days per year. If your roads are that bad, any wheel you ride will break down at some point, but you'll spend just about as much to fix/replace them.



Keith
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Re: 404clincher owners [Sweeney] [ In reply to ]
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Races only. They are too nice a wheel set to risk ruining.

I should note that I have since switched to a set of 909's and from time to time, when I am riding a flat TT course for training, I'll toss on my rear 404 with a front bobo mavic, but otherwise I will not train on those.
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Re: 404clincher owners [Graz] [ In reply to ]
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Yeah, I've been riding them full time for over two years. They are tough. I had a crash that schredded the tire and didn't even knock the wheel out of true. I know they can take a beating, not that I beat them on purpose. The wheels a so light and responsive that I hate to leave them in the garage. I only race 5 or 6 times a year so I wouldn't get much use out of the wheels if they were only for races. And I might as well admit it I'm lazy, I don't like changing wheels. I'd rather just grab the bike and go. Once I get my new/old bike ready ( old frame; different set up) I'll try to give the Zipps some rest. The new one has Velocity Sarticus wheels, quite a bit heavier, so my "race wheels:" will feel light and fast (which they are). I also have a Renn disc and when I ride it, it changes the feel of the bicycle. I know that it is faster but the bike doesn't feel as responsive and accelleration is different. I hope that by riding the heavier Sparticus wheels I'll get used to the heavier feeling.

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law
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