i am thinking of buying used zipps 404 tubular; is there an average life expectancy on these wheels…ie years or mileage?
from what i’ve seen on ebay and local craigslist some 2007/2008 are about $1K (tires but no cassette) …is that a fair price given age, likely mileage and normal use?
i hope this does not breach any protocols, but i have never bought second hand wheels.
if it does i’ll delete post, but any pointers would be appreciated.
Normally I figure 1/2 of MSRP as soon as something is “used.” Add in legacy considerations - i.e. the 2009 Zipps are quite different from 07/08 - and the price drops further. $1k for a pair seems reasonable to me for a pair in good shape.
There are too many factors to say that a certain wheelset should last x miles or y years.
The average life of a 404?
It starts out at the ZIPP factory as a brand new fancy, shiny, perfectly true wheel. It goes into a box and waits in inventory till it gets shipped to a retailer. It doesn’t know where it is going, and when the delivery truck comes to a final halt, it has high hopes that it will soon be rolling, rolling, rolling under some (probably) middle aged age group athlete, knowing it is probably too good for its owner, but eager to please nonetheless. But then it realizes no, such is not to be. And it again waits for that special day when a very special buyer (one with too much money), clicks on “add to cart”.
After another round of travel (in the darkness of its box), LIGHT! Awesome, excellent LIGHT!!! as it is removed from its box. YES, it knows. It knows it is about to breathe fresh air at somewhere between 15-25mph.
WHOA! WTF! WAIT! STOP! It sees a screwdriver in the hands of its new owner as it attempts to mount a tire. NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
to be continued.
To attest to the durability of a Zipp wheel i’ll share my 404 story.
I got done with my ride, took the front 404 off and proped it against the back of my car, loaded the bike on the roof, got in the car and you know the story from there. I backed up which knocked the wheel on its side then proceeded to run over the rim. After hearing loud POPs and CRACKs I sat in the car not wanting to face reality. Eventually I got out found the wheel with 2 broken spokes, extremely taco’ed and a scratched braking surface. I figured the wheel was toast. I took it to my mechenic and he replaced the 2 spokes, trued it and it has been fine ever since.
I really think this shows the durability of Zipp wheels. I ran over the rim and it didn’t crack…to my knowledge. Obviously I can’t legitimately confirm that the wheel is A-OK but it has performed flawlessly for the last 2 years. Of course that doesn’t mean it won’t explode on my next ride.
The average life of a 404?
It starts out at the ZIPP factory as a brand new fancy, shiny, perfectly true wheel. It goes into a box and waits in inventory till it gets shipped to a retailer. It doesn’t know where it is going, and when the delivery truck comes to a final halt, it has high hopes that it will soon be rolling, rolling, rolling under some (probably) middle aged age group athlete, knowing it is probably too good for its owner, but eager to please nonetheless. But then it realizes no, such is not to be. And it again waits for that special day when a very special buyer (one with too much money), clicks on “add to cart”.
After another round of travel (in the darkness of its box), LIGHT! Awesome, excellent LIGHT!!! as it is removed from its box. YES, it knows. It knows it is about to breathe fresh air at somewhere between 15-25mph.
WHOA! WTF! WAIT! STOP! It sees a screwdriver in the hands of its new owner as it attempts to mount a tire. NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
to be continued.[/reply
That is great.
I look forward to episode two where while trying to recover from the dramatic screwdriver incident, out hero, Zippfourohfour, enjoys the air of a brief ride designed to settle the offending reverse mounted directional tire in place and calibrate the magnet which has been ruthlessly torqued down upon his spoke…
These are the days of our Zipps.
FWIW… I have a 440 (about 1992 to 1994) front wheel and a 440 (1998, non dimpled 404) that are running great. I got them on ebay for about 250 bucks total, and have been so-far-so-good.
People use 404’s in cyclocross, so my feeling is that their are stronger than they get credit for.
Totally n=1, though.
My experience: Six years, about 8000 miles, only wheels (train and race), total bike + rider weight = 175 #, only repair has been a weak spoke this year, never gone out of true. I even use these in the winter on my trainer.
Or “As the Wheel Turns”
Thanks for all responses.
My wife has a set of older 650c 440 tubies that she bought used and are still going strong. A friend of mine cracked the rim on a 404.
You pay your money and take your chances.