Zipp Speed Weaponry 303 Tubular

Price Paid:  $800.00 at ebay

Favorite Ride:
where there's no traffic

Bike Setup:
depends what discipline. Currently dura ace litespeed vortex.

Summary:
Ultra light but dissapointing areo n efficiency issues. Look cool but wish I'd tried the 404's.
Zipp have service issues also.

Strengths:
weight,

Weaknesses:
expensive n relatively unresponsive.

Similar Products Used:
fir antara, ultegra, discs and tri spokes

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
This review is about my warranty experience. My wife and I both ride ZIPPs for training as well as racing. We've hit plenty of minor bumps and potholes without a problem. But a few weeks ago I finally managed to trash a rim -- but not while riding. I was trying to get a worn tire off the tim (Tufo rim tape really works), when my hand slipped and I ended up smashing the side of the rim really hard against the sharp corner of a concrete block that was lying beside me. It put a small crack in the rim. It was totally my fault -- you'd never expect a carbon rim to stand up to that kind of weird impact. My LBS sent it back to ZIPP and they warrantied it 100%, no questions asked!!!! Phenomenal service! All I had to pay was $50 to ship the rim to ZIPP -- ZIPP even paid the return shipping. I just about fell out of my chair when the shop told me. Since there was absolutely no manufacturing defect, I would have been delighted with even a half price warranty. From reading other reviews I know that not everyone has had the same level of warranty service, but all I can say is THANK YOU ZIPP!!!!

Price Paid:  $1500.00 at with bike

Favorite Ride:
SF to Mt. Tam and back

Bike Setup:
Cervelo R3 with SRam, zero gravity and a bunch of other carbon stuff

Summary:
Beautiful, smooth, light, light light. Unbelievably light. Put about 1000 miles of training on them. Trashed the front rim hitting a rock. It was a big rock but I think my Ksyrium's could take it. Crash replacement policy was $650 or $550 for a rebuild. Yow. When I get the cash I'll rebuild it and only use them for races.

Strengths:
Light, light, light.
I suppose they're aero but I know they're light.

Weaknesses:
Wicked expensive, can't take a stiff lick. Not really an everyday wheel.
Not as comfortable on long rides as my Ksyrium's.

Similar Products Used:
Mavic K's, Mavic Open Pro's, Easton

Price Paid:  $1800.00 at LBS

Favorite Ride:
Hills

Bike Setup:
Custom built Viner V107 alloy. Full Dura Ace 10, Keywin pedals, ITM bars and stem, Deda magic stick carbon post (transformed the comfort of the bike), San Marco Aspide saddle.

Also have a Specialized Roubaix with DA 9 as a training bike.

Summary:
I got these wheels built up on DA hubs as the Zipp hubs on my 404's are junk. 24 spokes front and rear. I've done about 3,000 km road racing on them.

The 303's are beautiful wheels - they are amazingly light, spin beautifully, are quite stiff and nicely aero while not being too upset by crosswinds. Catastrophes aside, they stay straight and true. They provide a good ride quality on Vittoria CX tubulars. I use them as race wheels only.

BUT I have now through bad luck destroyed two 303 rims. This despite being only 74kg and usually very easy on gear. In 25y of cycling, these are the only rims I've totalled.

How did these tragedies happen. The first was my fault - I hit a marker sign with my front wheel while cornering wide in the middle of a large bunch. The sign took a chunk out of the side of the rim, which went gently thud thud thud for the remaining 5km of the race. After I finished that part of the rim pretty much fell to bits when I took the tubular off.

The second was just bad luck. Coming down a gradual hill at about 60km/h in the middle of a bunch of 30 or so a large stone flicked up and I ran over it fair and square with my rear wheel. Whup whup whup went the tubular; bang it went 5k later. When I got back to the car and took the tire off, I was pretty disgusted to find that the side of the rim had detached from the centre gluing surface for about 10cm. The local composites guy said it was stuffed, so there was another 303 rim totalled.

Would I have destroyed an aluminuim rim in the same circumstances. The answer in the first instance is no, but the stone I hit in the second case must have been pretty big and I think a light alloy rim would also have been totalled.

I still think these are fantastic wheels - I'm just a bit leery about riding on them in case I destroy another rim. I have heard occasional instances of other riders destroying 404's in large potholes and the like, but lots of people locally use Zipps for racing with no problems at all.

Strengths:
Astonishly light and fast wheels
Reasonably stiff and stay true
Spin beautifully on DA hubs
Wonderful climbing wheels
Great all purpose road racing wheels on hilly courses.

Weaknesses:
Fragile when stressed (bit like me really)
Sketchy downhill braking (I have tried the Zipp brake blocks but they offer little improvement over standard DA)
Standard hubs are rubbish - get a good shop to build them up on DA or Campy rims and you won't regret it.

Similar Products Used:
Zipp 404 tubular - faster on flat courses but edgy in strong x-winds
Bontrager Race X-Lite (nice, all purpose race wheels)
Rolf Seistriere (good front wheel but broke too many spokes in rear)

Price Paid:  $1000.00 at LBS

Favorite Ride:
Tyren

Bike Setup:
De Rosa King with full Campy Record, M2 racer parts, carbon, carbon carbon. 6,3 kilograms total.

Summary:
Fantastic! Would have sworn that you could not actually feel the aero hype, but have to give in - they are truly cutting through the air. Surprisingly comfy with Vittoria Evo CX 21 - 700c tubular.

Strengths:
Weight, Looks (the 2006 dimples are way cool, Performance

Weaknesses:
None that I can think of