Safe. You will NOT notice anything different. (I can barely to see any damage from your photo.)

what is the worst thing that could happen if i ride on it?

The *worst* that could happen is that you would crash and kill yourself... and it would cause a massive pileup, killing a bunch more people, including little children who were spectating and their cuddly puppies. Actually I can imagine a chain events that would lead to the extinction of all life, but that is enough for now...

But I wouldn't worry about it. If I owned that I'd get some nice looking carbon cloth and some epoxy and patch it up when I got a chance. But I've seen people riding on disks that looked a lot worse.

Wow... that thing is porked, done, gone, an accident waiting to happen.

I've always wanted to make a Zipp Disk clock for my garage. I'll give you 50 bucks for it, tomorrow, in cash.

If you are racing soon, race on it.

But I would replace ASAP

If there's any similarity between the internal structure of Zipp and Lightweight discs, you'll be fine. An airline basically put a hole halfway through my friend's Autobahn and he didn't have a problem at Age Group Nationals.

Although I would recommend getting a new disc at some point. That won't hold up forever.

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Justin Clark | Catalyst Cycling | Twitter | Facebook

Seriously. No big deal and probably never will be. There is so much structural support in those disc you will never even know. I seen and ridden way worse. Hell I raced half a road season on old zipp 404's that were jb welded and the braking surface. I think we went through about dozen Zipp rims that season. (2001)

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Heath Dotson
HD Coaching:Website |Twitter: 140 Characters or Less|Facebook:Follow us on Facebook

If it brings you any comfort, I have Zipp Sub 9 disc that had a hole in it about 3" long and 1" wide. I patched it with the some carbon and have been racing on it without any issues at all for 3 years. Your wheel looks mint compared to mine.

...and if my wheel explodes and I die at least no one will say I wasn't aero.

New tagline - "Die aero." :)

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Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
http://www.zentriathlon.com

Thanks, folks!

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@adamwfurlong

If I saw that on my wheel, my concern would be for the resale value of the wheel. I'm not sure the possibility of failure would even cross my mind. Have a great race!

The worst ?
-You may crash and injure yourself and other people near you badly….
- From your photo, it does not look that bad, but you should know better than all those of us who look at it in a photo.

What should you do?
-I would ASAP, get in touch with SRAM/ZIPP to see if they stand behind their quality. I suppose this was not caused by any accident, right?
- My experience with SRAM/ZIPP stand regarding their warranty and quality, is the worst of all I have experienced in the bike/triathlon world, and everywhere as a matter of fact. They simply have no respect for customers…
I had a ZIPP crankset that would not work, right from day one, and they would not stand by it. After years of writing and calling they exchanged it for a SRAM crankset, a $350 fro the $1,250 value of the ZIPP crankset. Then, a year later, they offered $500 additional…. but I am still waiting and arguing that they should reimburse 100% of it.
Not very honest attitude!
-My view, is that they ought to change your disc for a new one, if it is established that you did not cause the problem… Let us know, how they treated you…I am curious.
As I said in earlier comments in ST, they make very good products until they break down…. then try to get them honor the warranty! So, I would rather buy another brand, than having to pray that I am not the one getting a lemon…. If it does happen most probably my investment will go down the drain….

Think about it, they cut out a big-ass hole in the carbon for the valve stem cutout. You'll be fine.

Are all disk wheels full foam cores? [I thought I read the new generation Zipps were not] You could have a disk which is hollow inside and because there is a hole for the valve, the laminate is augmented in that area to accommodate the stress concentration of the hole.

Look at the fuselage skin thickness next time you get on an airliner. Do you really think the airplane would fly if the skin was *that* thick everywhere? Of course not, the skin is built up to handle the stresses caused by putting - as you put it - a big-ass hole in the fuselage.

I agree, generally, with your assessment but the substantiation could use some polish