Zipp tubs: 202's or 303's? (Or neither?)

Kboddy

Purpose: Road Racing

Currently have Mavic CC and Mavic Ksyrium so no experience at the 'top end' of road wheels. Although the current wheels aren't exactly too shabby!

Thoughts on the Zipp's please?

Tom Dean

they look shyte

Kboddy

Hmm, helpful. I shan't bother buying them now. Thanks so much.

For future posts I'm kind of looking for performance based feedback from people who have experience with the wheels.

mamba80

The few Zipp riders i know have had issues with them, cracking, but they have been the older models.
Can you afford to crash and wipe them out? when you are in a bunch any areo effect is very limited so are planning on some solo break aways? that will stick.
I have some decent carbon tubs and have found i use them in Sportives mainly and some cheaper wheels for RR.
For this season i ve some Ambrosio Crono F2 tubs on ultegra hubs, cheap ish, durable and stiff.. personaly, save your money unless you ve another use for them as well.

napoleond

I had a 606 tubular set.
They were excellent.
Stiff, light for the depth and FAST.
The only issue I had was that preloading the rear bearings was a very fine line between play and reducing rolling resistance, once the balance was right they were fabulous.
I once got some grit in the rear hub though and it sounded like bag of spanners. Simple fix and no damage done but embarrassing on a group ride.
202 are probably too flexy for me, at my racing weight of 85kg.

However, I ended up racing on shallow rims (powertap/open pro rear, wheelsmith handbuilt front) because I found the benefit of the powermeter far exceeded the aero benefit and I was always worried about crash replacement cost. I then tended to use the 404 for TTs.



Proof that I raced on the shallow handbuilts-

Kboddy

mamba80 wrote:

The few Zipp riders i know have had issues with them, cracking, but they have been the older models.
Can you afford to crash and wipe them out? when you are in a bunch any areo effect is very limited so are planning on some solo break aways? that will stick.
I have some decent carbon tubs and have found i use them in Sportives mainly and some cheaper wheels for RR.
For this season i ve some Ambrosio Crono F2 tubs on ultegra hubs, cheap ish, durable and stiff.. personaly, save your money unless you ve another use for them as well.

Thanks for response. I would insure the wheels. Tbh wasn't looking for aero, more just light wheels which have good rolling resistance. I thought perhaps I could use my mavic Cc for aero and some 202 for hilly road races.

Sort of have another use for them: my other half and I re unlikely to RR on the same day and we'd share them so in my it's only half the cost!! Notsure he's looking at it that way! Thanks again, will defo consider other wheels still. Not rushing it.

Kboddy

Thanks nepoloean. Well it would be 54kg on the wheels when I use it and 57kg when my BF uses them so the fact they may not be great if you're a powerhouse isn't too much of an issue! But good to know. Thanks again

napoleond

Some 202s in that case would be a very nice option.

peejay78

i've been using a really old set of 314s. they are very light, i got them cheap (like, £200) and they spin well. i think i need to get them relaced fairly sharpish, but have been very pleased indeed. even used them in the national hill climb championship last year.

Monty Dog

If you check over on Weightweenies, their recommendation would likely be Enve rims and Chris King, DT Swiss or Tune hubs with CX Ray spokes.

Lion-O

buy some mavic cosmic ssc sls! ive raced em for years cant fault them they climb well and are great in rr and tts! ive seen my team mates break spokes on the zipps and ive only trued my mavics once (i crased into a ditch) just my experience

Neil Buckley

Tom Dean wrote:

they look shyte

Thats a helpful comment....I have a set of 303 clinchers and they are excellent, I also have a set of 404's a 900 disk and a 808 front, only thing I had go wrong was 1 bearing go in the freehub thats it, tbh it was proberly my own fault because I just put them in and forgot about them from new. The 303 was designed to be a lot more robust because it was for Paris Roubaix and I certainly can vouch for the wheels robustness and ride quality.

Monty Dog

In road races durability is a big factor as you often have no choice of line in the middle of a pack and therefore find yourself hitting potholes etc - I wrecked my front wheel this year. Plenty of more durable wheels than Zipp IME e.g. Boras/fulcrum or Corima. A clubmate who is a reknown bike wrecker (ex-weighlifter and national TT champ) loves Mavic SLRs because he can't break them.

Squeakz

I have a set of the zip 404 firecrests and think they are really good, not had any issues with them at all