Pretty much all the race wheel companies out there make a nice product, and I do sell them all here. That said, I would suggest that Zipp is the absolute premium brand. Here are a few reasons why:
- Among the lightest in their class for every type wheel, usually significantly lighter than competing wheels.
- More durable than you would imagine. While these are certainly lightweight racing equipment and not meant for abuse, they are more than up to the task of everyday racing.
- Fast. I've done 3 Ironmans and about 80 triathlons of the 200 I've done on Zipps. I cannot quantify that they are faster than othe race wheels, but I think they are because of good hub design and good rim construction.
- The Zipp rim has been used by many other wheel builders such as Ritchey, Velomax, Easton, American Classic and others for a carbon fiber, deep section rim. To a degree, this is a testimony to their validity as a race wheel and their domination of the category.
- The disk is incredibly light while maintaining amazing durability.
- The service we've received from Zipp is outstanding.
- They have consistently refined their product to make it even better- they are not "beyond" improving an already good product.
As I mentioned, there a lot of nice wheels out there: Renn, Hed, Easton, etc. My favorite is Zipp though, and that is what I race on.
Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com