How Fragile are Zipps

dario28

Looking for some Aero wheels and am looking at a few brands but Zipps seem to come top in most reviews ( the 404's)

I'd be using them for tri's and open racing , with 2 long term goals in mind , to get a gold medal time in the etape and do an Ironman

Are they fragile , i currently have cosmic carbones which have taken a fair few pot holes and still in perfect shape ?

Are they going to be an advantage in etape ?

Junior

I got a secondhand set from Quigs here on the forum, I've road them up and down Ireland for the last 2 seasons, racing, training, sportives etc and I reckon they are bomb proof. Early on I did replace the bearings in them as preventative maintenance and they've not skipped a beat. Bearings and fitting cost me €100 in the LBS.

Beasty

Tried out a pair of 303s in a race over the weekend - hit a couple of nasty holes - I flinched far more than the wheels did

slow

I've had a 404 front tubular for 6 years without any problems. In that period, I broke 4 rear 404 rims. I gave up on buying them and got a Chinese rim built up on the hub instead. I'm 75kg.

slow

The Firecrest rims are wider, more aerodynamic and look stronger though.

crashoveroid

I had two sets broke all 4 rims switched to Fast Forward never had any problems the fast forwards are cheaper and allot more bomb proof.

Junior

Oh yeah I'm about 80/82kg so I'm no light climber either..

dario28

crashoveroid wrote: »

I had two sets broke all 4 rims switched to Fast Forward never had any problems the fast forwards are cheaper and allot more bomb proof.

compared to the 404's would they come out on top in a review ?

thebionicdude

It depends what era 404 we are talking about. They beefed up the carbon rims on the tubs in more recent years (likely owing to the rim failures they were having from the earlier models). I think Cancellara won Paris-Roubaix in 2010 on 303 Firecrest.

The durability of wheels is a problem for any open-racer for two reasons; 1) if pot-holes are not called by the bunch it's so easy to go straight into them, 2) crashes can apply forces to carbon from directions it was not designed to withstand.

Having said that, neither of these issues are a major concernwhere an IM or an Etape are concerned since you can see where you are going and are racing on better quality roads.

morana

I use the 404's for years never an issue and I was 90kg race weight!

Great wheel.

Junior

morana wrote: »

I use the 404's for years never an issue and I was 90kg race weight!

Great wheel.

That race weight, did that include hair ?