Rode them today.... love them! Here is my short review...
I know what you mean.... Zipp's are over hyped and over priced, but you have to admit that they make some good quality stuff. Even more so since SRAM is running things. I still compare them to Edge and Reynolds which are just as good quality and possibly better value. But, there are some of us out there that do like Zipp's. To each his own.
With that all said, I have just returned from a great team ride and I put in 75 miles on the wheels now. I can sum the wheels up in one word for ride quality and looks.... Awesome!
The first thing that you will notice about the wheels is that they feel thicker than the earlier Zipp's. They did the same thing as their 303's. They are super stout and super stiff!! I hammered them on the road, on the hills, and just about anywhere that I could. They are not the lightest out there, but they did spin up pretty nice for the hard accelerations.
There were sections on the road that were a little bumpy and crappy in sections, plus there were several hard railroad crossing sections. I just hit those section as I normally would. Don't get me wrong, I was still prudent to some extent, but I wanted to see how the wheels would respond to hard bumps or things in the road. They felt great! No issues or a sense of uneasiness at all.
Due to the wider profile of the rim that made for a better feeling wheel going into tight turns. The wheels are stiff and I felt like I was riding on rails. The wheels and tires just hooked up. As far as tires go, I am running Continental GP 4000's and they did well.
One of you asked about the braking surface and braking in general. Well, I am running Swiss Stop yellow brake pads and at first I was thinking that they felt a little different then my Zipp 404 tubulars when it came to braking. There was a difference and I felt like the braking on the carbon clinchers was lacking some. However, I will say this... we were bombing down a serious downhill section of road. I was not familiar with the road nor was I familiar with what was at the bottom, which was a 4 way stop. I was third wheel and just hauling when all of a sudden I realized that I needed to stop and stop quickly. I immediately got a handful of brake and started to modulate. I did not lock up the wheels, but the bike came to a good stop within a fairly short distance. Ok, I was now a good believer in that the initial feeling was just something of not. I have complete faith in the wheels when I need to brake hard. Also, there was no pulsating or weird noises or anything out of the braking whether it was a hard brake or modulation or whatever. Things worked just great. And quite honestly, the braking on my 404 tubulars is a little more noisy... go figure.
The wheels are just plain awesome. I am very happy to have them and they are quite the looker on the bike. I kept getting lots of compliments from my team and some were quite jealous.
These wheels are now my go to wheels for anything and everything. Quality wheels for racing, training, or whatever.
Plus, it appears that the nipples are actually drilled right this time where the nipples are truly at an angle and are not straight like they normally are.
If you have the means and just need to try out a set, I would definitely say go for it. As stated earlier, there is always Edge and Reynolds, which also makes great stuff, but Zipp has really improved the design and performance of the new 404 carbon clincher and the new 303, which I hope to be able to get for CX season this year.
Let me know if you have any further questions.
