For those of you who may be interested in zipp wheels, I think they work pretty well, they are very light, and they are one of the fastest designs out there. HOWEVER, zipp is FAR from perfect. If my experience is any indication, they have a ways to go.
For example, in 2002-03, our household bought 4 zipp wheels (all 404s). None of the wheels came with the level of trueness that I would expect in a $1,200 wheelset. Over time all 4 (!) had to be sent back to zipp for warranty work. Within a season (the warranty period is 1 year) 3 out 4 of the rims developed large or small cracks near spoke holes and near a valve stem hole. And this was just from short tri races, minimal mileage, and light riders. Both of the rear hubs had initial problems (curable): one had an overly tight cassette and the other had a loose bearing/axle assembly. And then one of the rear wheels came brand-new WAY out of dish because zipp built it on a rig that was maladjusted (so I was told by them).
After calling them with these issues, zipp was generally helpful. However, they wouldn’t just replace the wheel if it had been ridden (it had in our cases). No, we had to ship the entire wheel back, they then dissassembled the thing, used the old hub and old spokes and re-built the wheel with a new rim and new spoke nipples. Not bad, but this took longer than simple wheel replacement. I had to race several races with a heavy beater wheel because of this.
Now, the wheels seem to work fine. But, wow, what a journey and a pain it was to get wheels that work. Zipp took care of the problems, but I would suggest they improve their quality control. With all the work they had to do for us, they sure didn’t make any money.
Good and valid observations. I am going to come to Zipp’s defense here a bit- not to in any way discredit or discount your valid concerns. I believe your concerns are (were) valid and your reporting of them fair and accurate.
That said:
Zipp wheels are racing equipment. They are inherently fragile. In general when consumers buy race wheels durability is a minimal concern. They want light weight and aerodynamics. My experience has been that trying to sell durability at the cost of weight is of reduced interest to consumers.
When customers ascribe traditional retail purchase values to racing equipment, they set themselves up for disappointment. It is the difference between buying a Ford Focus- a commodity consumer transaction, and buying a Formula 1 racing car, an optimized for perfromance, no compromise race car with all the attendant problems.
We sell a lot of Zipp wheels and are accustomed to how they need to be prepared and maintained. Consequently, we don;t have any problems. Some customers we direct away from the product to something else becasue we feel they may not have a good ownership experience and may enjoy something else more.
I don;t want this to have any ring of being condescending, but Zipp wheels are optimized for racing and racing only. Trueness and durability are secondary concerns. Based on my experience (acknowledging yours may be completely different) every pair of Zipps that has come out of the box at our store has been true enough to race with no problems. While a wheel has to be reasonably true, it needn’t be absolutely perfect. Most composite wheel manufacturers have the “run-out” or amount the wheel is out of true engraved inside the rim somewhere. It is pretty typical to see some degree of the wheel not being 100% true.
And finally, It is worth restating that you presented your experience in a fair and pretty objective way. Becasue of that, I think what you have to say is valuable.
Tom, I’ll quibble a bit with your choice of language for your first point. I wouldn’t say that durability is a “minimal concern” for typical consumers. I’d say, rather, that in terms of priority, durability comes in third to weight and aerodynamics. After all, unlike a pro athlete who can expect to have the wheels replaced every so often. . .a typical consumer expects these wheels to last many seasons. How many lime-green Zipp wheels do you still see in the transition area? That makes them at least 10 years old at this point.
I understand what you are saying–that the wheels are not meant to take the abuse daily riding. But that was part of my point, as we just used them for short races (bike legs a max of 40km) and minimal, ‘warm up’ rides.
The wheels’ trueness was the least of the issues. If that was the only ‘problem’ with them, I don’t think I would have found the wheels to be such a pain (in any case, they all could have come truer–when I got them and put them on a park wheel stand, I got them to be dead-on straight with only a little time).
But formula1 or no formula1, rims cracking in half is still a problem in my book. Anyway, I am glad that at least somebody is getting zipps that are passable in quality.
let me start by saying zipp is an admirred company to me. they make some beautiful stuff. i think they value durability higher then you think. if a zipp, a hed, a corima or a renn wheel goes south it is usually during a race. a race that the customers has perhaps spend thousands of dollars to get to. this is what i dread and i’m sure these companies dread this as well. i tell my guys that prep the rims, “prep it like it’s going to the olympics”.
There’s no minimizing that this is a serious failure.
Your’re right. We haven’t experienced that here. Three years ago in an epic crash at a local bicycle road race a Zipp rim broke into a number of pieces during a very severe and unusual impact. I beleive almost every wheel may have failed under those circumstances.
What you seem to be describing- cracks forming under normal use- is unusal to me (
Since we are talking about carbon rims, what are your thoughts on the Bontrager/Trek carbon rims? I realize that you are not a trek authorized dealer, but have you seen any at any of the tri’s in your area? What is the feedback so far? Any help would be great. Thanks.
"How many lime-green Zipp wheels do you still see in the transition area? That makes them at least 10 years old at this point. "
How do you go about determining the age or date of manufacture for the Zipp 400. This set is performing beautifully. The front wheel we bought with the bike (used). Only thing we’ve done to the front is replace the tire. The rear wheel was once a 7spd that we bought used, got a new Ultegra hub and had Jimmy at InsideOut Sports rebuild for us to accept an 8spd cassette.
