This is a quick follow-up to the saga of the Zipps. As I mentioned in my last post the Zipps are the premo climbing wheel. However they have some drawbacks for the amateur rider. The Zipps are tubular only, which means they take a certain type of tire that is glued to the rim. I emailed several biker friends and asked what their opinions were of the zipps. I said, " My heart says go for it, but my head says are you nuts?"
One response was; "go for it; tubulars are great." The other response was a little less positive. "Well the tubulars are hard to change and if you get a flat you may have to abandon the ride. etc etc etc."
Well here is what happened. My heart won and I unwrapped the Zipps and slapped them on my new racing bike and went for a ride. I thought, what the hell, I am going to ride a pro wheel even if I am a poser. I rode about a mile and I felt a slight jerking when I applied the brakes. I then sped up and braked again and felt the rhythmic pulsing of a wheel out of true. These wheels were suppose to be new and they looked new so the pulsing was a giant red flag. I dismounted and looked at the rear wheel. The wheel looked true but when I rotated it the wheel grabbed and the section what was rubbing was 2 inches long. At that point I decided to return the wheels. Carbon fiber is amazingly stiff but has some play, about 3%. However once carbon exceeds its give the carbon will fail catastrophically, meaning the wheel will blow apart. Because the Zipp was out of true I was not sure how it was treated and I did not want the wheel to fail while I was descending at 50mph. That was a very scary thought.
So where am I now? I decided to wait and not buy anymore wheels until the spring. I have also sworn off EBay for a while. Now I am back on my ksyriums riding happily and because it is cold outside look for me on the computrainer; see you on the road in the spring.
