ok, so i’m putting air in the tire and i notice a crack on the side of my rear 404. it starts at a spoke and works itself about halfway to the outside of the wheel. i don’t normally ride this wheel- i’ve used it about 3 times, all in races. it’s got less than 200 miles on it. needless to say, i’m a little disappointed, considering what that thing cost. there is absolutely no way i can afford to buy a new one. i’m sure it’s not a good idea to keep riding it. my question is this- can these things be fixed? i’ve seen people riding carbon wheels before that looked like they had some kind of carbon tape on them…
zipp’s got a 1 year warranty, they are pretty helpful.
Fixed? No
Replaced? Yes
Do you buy them from a Zipp Dealer? If so, inquire about crash replacement.
Make sure you tell them “I was just riding along…and then”
Just had that happen. Zipp is pretty good with it. You can get a crash replacement rim, they didnt even ask me what year it was. I think it was 350$, could be wrong though.
yup, call zipp, crash replacement policy. You have to remember that they are performance race wheels, they’ll take a LOT LESS abuse than a normal wheel but are a)aero, b)light, c)resultantly fast
If you are worried about breakage you might want to check out their clydesdale/cross setup which is only like 40g more per wheel or something.
If you hit a bump hard enough with a 404 it’ll crack for sure, whether that happens the day after buy them or 4+ years down the road (my 404 has at least 1,000miles on it) is just a matter of luck.
Only one year? Jeez.
I cracked a Zipp 808 with less then 200 miles on it last year. Replacement cost was around $350 from Zipp.
Note: It was not the wheels. I went over several cement blocks.
thanks for the good advice. i’ll check into the crash replacement and see what happens…
Sounds like a defective product to me. Shouldn’t wheels be able to handle normal road conditions and riding without cracking. Hell if this happened on any car with a resultant crash, people would be up in arms about this shit. Just look at that Bridgestone tire case, or the Ford Pinto or Suzuki Samari roll over case. Wheels even aero ones should be designed to handle normal road conditions with normal riding.
Tai’s post is spot on, these wheels are not designed for everyday use.
FWIW, I have had the same thing happen to me with a Zipp 303. I use 303’s on one of my bikes for everyday riding and training on some pretty horrific Alaska roads and got away with about 10,000 miles on a rear 303 before it developed a crack near a spoke hole. The wheel was over 5 years old and I got a crash replacement wheel for $400. I was told that if the wheel is over 5 years old then they do not honor the crash replacement. I bought the wheels and bike from HI-Tec so they really stepped up to the plate on getting me a replacement.
Don’t expect mediocrity from products. If you drop close to $2000 on a set of wheels, they should hold up to normal every day riding. I don’t recall seeing any product insert or instructions that came with my wheels that indicated that Zipps would break on routine rides. Seems completely bogus. You wouldn’t expect the same thing from your car whether it be a Ferrari or Honda Civic. Nor would you accept defective products from other goods. Why accept them because it is a bicycle.
You wouldn’t expect the same thing from your car whether it be a Ferrari or Honda Civic.
I’m with you re: the Honda but can you really say that a performance-oriented machine like a Ferrari (pick your model) isn’t going to be a bit tempermental as a daily driver? When I was in HS my friend’s dad had a 1983 308GTS 
and he said that it was like an Italian girlfriend; wild, tempermental, fussy, expensive to maintain, incredible to drive and worth every penny. I’m not a car guy but I’m guessing if you talk to people that are they’d say ultra-exotic machinery is not meant to be driven day in and day out. It’s light and fast (kinda like some pieces of cycling equipment) and designed to be used when there is a timing clock around. FTR, I drove a Honda in college and the only thing I ever did was change the oil on that bad boy, it was bulletproof.
Sounds like a defective product to me. Shouldn’t wheels be able to handle normal road conditions and riding without cracking.
I don’t agree. Yes, they are expensive but you are paying for technology not durability. If you are spending 2k on wheels, you need to do your homework. Furthermore, if you hang out on ST you get more than enough info on this subject.
Whoa, I did not say that these wheels will not hold up to everyday use. I was surprised that my 303’s held up as long as they did for the conditions that I ride in. I am not expecting mediocrity from this product but I also know that these wheels intended use are for racing. So what if the manufacturer says they can be used for everyday use. I know what the track record is on these wheels so if I have a problem with them during everyday use then it is my own fault. They are lightweight race wheels, and I choose to use them to train with.
Longboarder hit the nail on the head saying that you are paying for technology not durability.
This arguement will go on forever… but to add to the fire…
Coming from a design engineer standpoint (you know before I started this crazy graphics thing…), when you design for performance you make a lot of tradeoffs and on a wheelset like the Zipps you trade off a bit of durability and slim that factor of safety waaay down and in return you drop some major weight. The aerodynamics aren’t really in the equation as you could just do a solid steel deep dish rim and stay super aero but the durability/weight trade off is the major tipping point.
I worked in a carbon/nanotech lab in grad school and we’d do carbon parts, machined al parts and the like all the time. The question would be do we add another ply or two here, an extra stiffening rib here which might only add 40g or do we just cut it a bit closer as we already new we had the required strength and we wanted to keep weight to a minimum. As a designer you decide where you draw that line between strength/durability and weight. In the high performance wheel world what sells is aero and weight. You need a wheel which isn’t going to blow up on every other ride but you knowingly give up a bit of long term durability when you shave that last 50 grams.
Zipp has a more durable wheel, the 404 cross wheels are only like 40g heavier and something like 3x stronger in impact failure (that’s off the top of my head). Why the hell we don’t buy them I have no idea but 40g to us weight weenies just seems like a bit to much of a penalty I guess:P Under normal racing and maybe light training Zipps (and other super light performance wheels) hold up great. Hit a big pothole, a crack, a dog (hey it happens right;) and the chances of them failing is a good bit higher than your normal training wheels. This arguement carries all the way over to normal training wheels. Most roadies will ride a nice 32 spoke box rim for training as they know that it’s durable, pretty damn to break a spoke on and who gives a damn about how aero or light they are while training anyways. These represent the polar opposite to what a race wheel is supposed to be. Both do their job extremely well, the 32 spoke trainers are durable as hell and say screw the weight and drag factors. Zipps (Lightweights, whatever) concentrate on weight and drag and give up a good bit in durability.
aaah, I give up on this one. Anyways, it’s just like people who buy 800g carbon frames and expect them to hold up as an everyday training bike. Or stronglight cranks and are surprised when occasionally they fail. You pay a price to be light and that price is in both $$$ and durability.
Zipp has a more durable wheel, the 404 cross wheels are only like 40g heavier and something like 3x stronger in impact failure (that’s off the top of my head). Why the hell we don’t buy them I have no idea but 40g to us weight weenies just seems like a bit to much of a penalty I guess:P
Coming from a current design engineer standpoint, all I have to say is…yep. 40g is a tiny price to pay for substantially increased strength, especially when 40g of weight means absolutely nothing in terms of measurable performance. Of course, I have about 3-4000 miles on my Hed Jet60s and haven’t even had to true them.
Zipp has a more durable wheel, the 404 cross wheels are only like 40g heavier and something like 3x stronger in impact failure (that’s off the top of my head). Why the hell we don’t buy them
Tai
Good point. That said, I have 808’s on my tri bike(racing only) and Easton accent II on my Litespeed. Your right I bought into the weight thing. I could of bought 808 clyesdale and Easton Orion, both same wheels (I think) just stronger. My racing wt the last seven years was 143 lb(148 now, another story). So I though I could get away with the lighter wheels.
Part of my point yesterday about doing your homework was: If you want a training/racing wheel go for the slight wt penalty and gain durability. To tell you the truth if I wanted a two trick pony I would go for the H3C.
Very informative post, thanks.
Wait, I thought the quote (Bontrager?) was “light, strong, cheap, pick two”. Now most here are saying we can only pick one!
Wait, I thought the quote (Bontrager?) was “light, strong, cheap, pick two”. Now most here are saying we can only pick one!
Add “aero” - then you can pick two!
Hey Bob,
wow, I’m surprised you liked my post, after I hit submit I was like “man that was a jumbled response…”
Sorry, this just comes up all the time and is a pet peeve of mine;) Here’s a better arguement:
-my racing flats, i love those babies, light fast, cushy, not cheap and they wear out super duper uper fast and I’ve torn the last two uppers…
-my 2XU super elite tri suit, i love this suit, fits like a second skin, light, breathable, very very not cheap, again awesome fit, is wearing out damn fast…
-my Vittoria tubies, faaaaaaaast, light, smooooooooth and they get sliced and diced by glass waaay to often
there is quite a bit of “race only,” or maybe better yet “race designed” stuff out there. That’s what makes the sport so fun, pushing the limits!
That being said I’ve got a set of H3Cs on the way=) Plus seriously, how boring would it be if “race stuff” lasted forever!?! We’d never get to buy new stuff and that would be sooo no fun;)