What say the ST knowledge base??
I’d say the enve 6.7s… They are a much deeper rim than zipp 404s… I don’t know enough about the new 404 width etc to comment on additional structural differences… I do know the enve ses line have been designed by Simon smart the f1 aerodynamics dude…
A better comparison would be zipp 404s vs enve 4.5s or 3.4s.
Are you thinking about buying one or the other?
I’d say the enve 6.7s… They are a much deeper rim than zipp 404s… I don’t know enough about the new 404 width etc to comment on additional structural differences… I do know the enve ses line have been designed by Simon smart the f1 aerodynamics dude…
A better comparison would be zipp 404s vs enve 4.5s or 3.4s.
Are you thinking about buying one or the other?
Thking of buying the 6.7’s…
I’d say the enve 6.7s… They are a much deeper rim than zipp 404s… I don’t know enough about the new 404 width etc to comment on additional structural differences… I do know the enve ses line have been designed by Simon smart the f1 aerodynamics dude…
A better comparison would be zipp 404s vs enve 4.5s or 3.4s.
Are you thinking about buying one or the other?
Thking of buying the 6.7’s…
You are probably splitting hairs. Fwiw, the 404 FC is my favorite handling front wheel of all times. It just feels incredibly fast and confidence inspiring.
I’ve had the 6.7 Envelope Smart wheels and now went to a 90(95?) rear. Simply awesome handling wheels. Used them on slick roads in the rain at Knoxville and they really were amazing. I’d go with Enve in a heartbeat, no question!
I can say I have been extremely happy with my 6.7’s, (built up with a powertap hub), and would buy them all over again. I’ve had them a couple of years with no issues whatsoever. They are the one set of wheels I use everywhere. I use them for racing and training on both my road and tri bikes and also on my trainer, (to make use of power meter). They have held up beautifully. My wife and I are down in the Greenville area at the moment and on our last ride today before the loooong drive home, I hit a brutal pothole crossing a bridge and they were totally fine, (I weigh 137lbs though so that could be a factor).
I can’t say how they are relative to zipp but they feel fast to me and are extremely durable and I intend to ride the crap out of them and enjoy them.
I would guess you’d be very happy with either though so best of luck with whatever you choose.
You are splitting hairs in terms of aero. Tire choice and how the wheel interacts with the frame are probably bigger determining factors for aero performance than specific difference in the rim shape.
You probably need to look at other factors.
-
Structural integrity at high temperatures. Zipp probably wins this one. They spent a ton of time making sure brake track heat would not cause failures.
-
Brake performance. Probably Zipp. Same as above.
-
Hubs. Enve. Zipp has had problems here and ENVE sourced some of the best.
-
Warranty. ENVE’s 5 year warranty wins here. Zipp will, however, rebuild and upgrade just about any of their older wheels. No idea what ENVE does after 5 years and 1 day.
-
Cross-wind performance. There seems to be a major difference between the Firecrest and Firestrike wheels. The latter rules in a cross wind. I don’t think ENVE can claim to be nearly as good.
-
Tire width. I don’t know what the dimensions are for any of these wheels, but if you are looking to ride 25 or wider tires you should check which wheels have the widest internal channel width. The FC and ENVE were designed before the real move to 25s, so I would guess the Firestrike would certainly be a better choice (or a Jet+).
I have owned both, sold the firecrests and ride the enve 6.7s. I didn’t like the rear hub play in the zipp hubs, but I think that issue is fixed. Really diggin the enve wheels. Had them up to 62 mph and wasn’t freaked out with their stability during wind bursts. Using specialized turbo 24/26 tires with vittoria latex with good results. Will probably road race on turbo cottons next year on this set.
I had a set of zipp firecrest rims and a few sets of bontrager Aeolus rims…
I got a good deal on a set of enve rims (3.4s) and was so happy with them that I sold my zipp and bontrager wheels to buy a set of 6.7s…
Have been incredibly happy with both sets of wheels… The craftmenship on them seems to me to be on another level.
I can’t comment on zipps new line of wheels but I am sure they are nice too…
Before buying I spent a lot of time reading about enve wheels, how they are built etc and was impressed.
I have about 4000km on the 3.4s so far and I can’t say a bad word about them… They have Chris king hubs. The 6.7s have dt240 hubs… I personally like the Chris king hubs better, though both are great hubs…
I heard a rumor that enve will be bringing out a disc wheel in the future and I will be selling whatever I need to to buy one of those.
Let me know if you have any further questions mate…
Happy to answer any…
Jeremy
I too have a set of the Enve 3.4 carbon clinchers with a G3 Powertap rear. Not the deepest wheels for tri’s but they climb awesome and are really stable with wind bursts. Prior to this I was riding an older set of Bontrager Aeolus tubies about 44mm deep. And before that I had a set of 2003 Zipp 404’s tubies that I raced on for almost 9 years. I would say the Enve’s are the best out of the three sets. Currently I have a set a GP4000’s 25mm tires and the ride is nice and smooth over rough roads. I have been decreasing the PSI a little each time I ride since I was used to having my tubies at a much higher PSI. I really like the Enve’s.
I’ve ridden both and I have no idea of the exact aero advantage of either. Enve’s 5 year warranty and that fact that Enve’s are American made (Ogden Utah) are the reason I ride them 100% of the time on my TT bike - all training rides and all races. I’m not exactly petite (6’1", 180lbs) and they have been fantastic in winds of all direction and all speeds.
Ian