I just got back from IMCanada and thought I would give a heads up on a potential problem. After having to stop to unravel my chain from the drivetrain 3 times during the bike leg, I finally realized my freewheel would not stop spinning when I stopped pedalling, so I would have to pedal non-stop the entire 112(not fun, I can assure you). Cost me about 10 minutes, but I guess it could have been worse. I discussed the problem afterwards w/ a friend and he told me the same thing happened w/ Lovato @ IM Utah w/his 2003 disc and that there was a spring in the hub that was prone to breakage, causing the problem. I phoned Zipp and they confirmed what my friend said, telling me that a batch of 2003 discs accidently went out with springs that weren’t properly treated. Apparently if this spring breaks, you either cannot coast or are stuck with a single speed(thankfully I didn’t have the latter problem).
I am not bashing Zipp. They are aware of the problem and are sending me new parts. I just thought I would let those of you know who have a 2003 disc so that you can possibly determine whether you have a bad spring before you’re 5 miles into an IM bikeleg. We rarely ride these in training and you’d hate to be stuck w/ a singlespeed at say, Lake Placid.
This is excellent information. However, to put this in perspective, we (Bikesport, Dearborn) have sold 20+ Zipp discs this race season and have not had a single problem. I think a detailed inspection of a suspect wheel will reveal the problem. You do make an excellent point: People usually don’t ride their race wheels much before an event, so your advice to check them out (regardless of brand) is a good one, especially with Wisconsin next week.
I have no idea what percentage of 2003’s have the untreated spring(hopefully a very small one) but apparently it’s happened to more than a few people. As soon as I began explaining my problem, I was interrupted by the CS rep who said, “we know what the problem is, let me get the man who can help you.”
The wheel was in no way suspect. I had ridden the day before the race w/ no problem, including the ride to turn my bike in, so apparently it happened at the start of the bike leg. It’s not the kind of thing you’re going to check for under normal circumstances. I know I don’t go into the hub of a new wheel unless there’s a problem. I’m sure that in the grand scheme of things, a very small group is affected. But try to explain that to the guy who has to DNF the IM he’s been training for for 6 months due to a mechanical…
Just curious, are you sure no one has had a problem? Are you positive they would contact their LBS rather than going straight to the source as I did?-In which case, you would probably never find out.
I don’t mean this to sound confrontational. I agree with your post. Just thought I’d let those know who are the preventative type rather than the cross-your-fingers type that they might want to get instructions from Zipp on how to tell the untreated springs from the treated ones and to pop their hubs open and check.
Good to see you back on the forum(back to fulltime)? Tri-season must be ending.
Hmmm, well, you do make an interesting point: We haven’t had any come back here that we sold. Also, when we found out about the problem we began checking them in our store. The rpoblem is, unless the spring has already failed, you can’t really tell if it will fail.
Again, though, in fairness- we aren;t see a widespread problem at our level as a retailer. You are absolutely correct in saying that one wheel failing is one too many. Race wheels are like space shuttle parts. There is no margin for error.
You cant see a heat treat on that tiny clip…also…how many customer wheels do you tear the cassette body down on and why? Verify that there are 3 pauls?
Okay, god knows I love Zipp and love their wheels and I like all of the people out there in Speedway. I will not race any wheels other than my Zipps (909, 404 and 303’s). But…(and you knew there was a but)…
1 - 909 Wheels with ShimaNO bodies on them had a “bad batch” where no cogs would even fit on them…
2 - I had less than 400 Miles on my 909 and the standard grade bearings were shot…I paid $165.00 for new ABEC5 bearings at a local bearing shop. Zipp did offer to ship me new bearings at a cost…I do not think that less than 400 miles (and one year) on a wheel is due time for a bearing to be replaced at ANY cost to the consumer.
3 - Zipp has had a “bad batch” of front hubs…
I would like to know when the bad batches are going to be up? Where is QC? I am not so comfortable any longer telling everyone that asks me about my wheels and asking if I would suggest them. (and there are allot of people who say WOW when looking at any Zipp wheel - and ask)
I think that Zipp needs to step up to the plate on this one and if there is an issue put a GIANT banner on their site and let the consumer know…before we find out the hard way. It will only make them look better in the end.
