ZIPP Owns The Wheel Count of Kona 2024

Triathlon Forum
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Originally published at: ZIPP Owns The Wheel Count of Kona 2024 - Slowtwitch News

It’s that fun time of year again when we get to count up the results of the Kona count, share the data, and put our opinions next to it.

Once again, Zipp owns the most significant piece of the wheel count pie. And they did it with very little help from others.

Here is the data for wheels from the 2024 Kona bike count.

Wheels Count
Zipp 562
DT Swiss 415
HED 164
Bontrager 128
Enve 110
Roval 92
Swiss Side 80
Reynolds 66
Alloy 52
Reserve 39
Cadex 36
Mavic/Cosmic 32
Princeton 27
Flo 26
Vision 26
Hunt 16
FFWD 15
Giant 14
Campagnolo 11
Ku 10
Newman 10
Profile Design 9
Shimano 9
Corima 8
Fulcrum 8
Lightweight 7

This count gives us a total of 1972 wheels that were countable from our expert counters. The missing wheels are 100% non-identifiable wheels and the fifty-ish pros that we do not put into the count. I would like to note that the two superstar ladies who counted wheels are the best in the business. So if the two of them couldn’t figure out the wheel as it went by… well, it is what it is.

Now, with that disclaimer, we can all probably agree that with the law of averages, the count is what it is, and if you disagree. Please let me know if you would like to help next time we really do have a great time.

Here are my quick thoughts on the data. DT Swiss, who came in 2nd place, has made the intelligent choice to attach themselves to Canyon and others. These OEM partnerships paid huge dividends by putting wheels on bikes. But it also tells me that customers like the wheels, because as we know: the dudes spend big money on bikes. Just look at ZIPP. They have minimal OEM partnerships with Triathlon bike brands and continue to lead, so people continue replacing OEM specs with ZIPP wheels, although that lead is shrinking from years past.

HED had massive success with the count this year, and much of that is due to the continued success of the rear “Non-disc,” but almost a disc Hed Jet 180. The wheel was brought to life within 2 months of the 2022 two-day Kona race and, in 2024, there were 48 riders using the 180. That total alone is better than 17 of the wheel companies present. The wheel also set the new Kona Bike course record under Sam Laidlow in 3:57:22. Looking at this wheel, I’m starting to think the rule of no discs at Kona is time for a revisit.

Bontrager was in the mix in 4th, but it surprises me as we had 338 Treks, and considering they currently only spec Bontrager wheels and have for a while, this means the Speed Concepts are either older, many guys are jumping ship for other wheel brands, or they are buying frames alone and building up their own components.

ENVE rounded out the World Championship podium in 5th. The company lost a lot of its OEM business and volume numbers when it went into the bike manufacturer business years ago. However, it is on its way back to a healthy return to its roots in triathlon and rebuilding its D-to-C and OEM wheel business. We have more stories about that coming up. We shall see what happens with its efforts in the coming years. Having had many conversations with the brand, I can say that they are committed to the cause.

The biggest loser of the day was Shimano, which I find sad. Mainly because they genuinely have a better product than most people ahead of them. But when you turn your back on marketing to the people, sales, or the lack thereof, starts to follow. This also could be that Shimano has yet to bring wheels into the D to C market like most of these other companies, and with the triathlon market going heavily D to C, this may be something for them to really consider as dealers aren’t helping. Still, with all the nay sayers with hookless, they are one of the very few large companies making pure hooked carbon fiber wheels. It’s a little odd that a company with such a large market cap is neck and neck with Profile Design in the wheel department.

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You mention that it’s smart for DT to attach itself to Canyon and that Zipp does it without this OEM advantage… yet nearly all Sram Speedmax models sold come with Zipp (DT on Shimano bikes).

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Taking from the USA website right now all 4 Speedmax models are specced with DT Swiss. Shimano and SRAM. Yes most are out of stock.

Yes canyon offers zipp but that’s the exception not the norm.

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I would rather agree with the first response. Canyon is likely more present in Europe than US, and there all SRAM edition are/were(?) fitted with zipp wheels.

Anyways one could do such analysis if the counts are not released separately but allow for correlations. (depending on how it’s taken)

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I’ve bought Speedmax with SRAM Rival last year in Europe… with DT Swiss :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:. ZIPPs are only in highest models of bikes.

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That’s because Sram doesn’t have a 3rd tier wheel at 404/808 depth like DT does with the ARC1600.

CFR and SLX (Red/Force) have been Zipp (NSW/Firecrest) with Sram. CF level (Rival) doesn’t for the reason above. Canyon seems to align frame, groupset, and wheel levels this way for most of their bikes.

The US is a separate entity much smaller than their global operation and always seems to be low on stock. Using today’s snapshot of the US website stock is less than poor representation of their global sales over a model’s lifecycle anyway.

Edit: Many other brands also spec Zipp as OEM on their Sram bikes at the higher end. Sram owns Zipp so it makes sense they’d push for their wheels to be specced on Sram bikes.

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Here you have Force with DT Swiss.

I’m referring to that, that bikes with SRAM are equipped with ZIPPs. It’s not true, at least for this and last year models.

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I’m more with BigBoy on this one. There’ve been more DT Swiss models overall but still there’ve been plenty of Zipp wheel options on CFR and SLX models.

Tier-ing of Speedmaxes has generally been the following:

  • CFR with Shimano Dura Ace and DT Swiss 1100 or CFR with Sram Red (offered 1x and 2x) and 858
  • CF SLX 8 with Shimano Ultegra and DT Swiss 1400 or CF SLX 8 with Sram Force and 404/808 (offered 1x and 2x)
  • CF SLX 7 (now discontinued) with Sram Rival and DT Swiss 1600
  • CF SL 8 with Shimano Ultegra and DT Swiss 1400
  • CF SL 7 with Sram Rival / Shimano 105 and DT Swiss 1600

Similar ratio and offer for Canyon Aeroad and Ultimate.

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Surprised that forum favorite Aerocoach didn’t make the count at all. What gives?

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Just a theory :
Aerocoach does well in the TT world, less in tri. There is some cross over but not a huge amount
I would bet go to worlds TT champs, that wheel count distribution would be very different

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i guess one of the things is that the dt swiss and the swiss side seem to test faster than the zipps by not an insignificant margin
so at least in europe they are perceived a better wheel and zipp hub issues in the past did not help them i would say .
and would you be surprised if hookless also plays a part …

also for kona with more yaw the dt swiss seem to be best as high yaw

i am pretty sure zipp not long ago was over 1000 in the wheel count and more than 50 percent of the wheels in t1

have to agree with the shimano wheels most people know they are very good quality but thats it aero at the lower end and price wise no that great and if you use it as a race wheel only boombproof is not a key selctor.

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2017
WHEELS
Zipp 1896
Enve 354
Hed 259
Reynolds 235
Mavic Carbon 200
Bontrager 160
Roval 124
Shimano Carbon 106
Flo 79
Vision 75
FastFWD 65
Profile Design 60
DT Swiss 56
Campagnolo 49
Easton 41
Lightweight 40
Mavic Aluminum 40
Giant 34
Xentis 33
Airtstream 28
SwissSide 27
Corima 25
Rolf 23
Oval 22
Knight 20
Planet X 18
Token 17
Felt 16
SRAM 16
Fulcrum 16
EDCO 16
3T 15
Williams 7
American Classic 7
Boyd 7
Flashpoint 5
Aluminum 95
Carbon Other 287
Other 347

HOWEVER, I suspect this year’s is pairs, previous year individual and combined men/women

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2022

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I think people are becoming more and more aware that zipp’s aren’t the fastest wheels out there. And people are able to find faster wheels at a lesser price.

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I said “little help” I didnt say “without”

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cheers for digging out both wheel counts .

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I am sitting at my desk doing something I don’t want to do. So I peak at ST…and go “hmmmm I wonder if…”, Next thing you know

image
image1188×844 66.6 KB

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This is why I made mention that the lead is shrinking…

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yep. 100%

this is why I always mention ST is a gold mine of information of the past

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Hopefully for the future too :slight_smile: We will try to never let you down :slight_smile:

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