73Steff
E*POWAH Master
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Product name: Zipp 3Moto Carbon rims
Price paid: see review
Score (out of 10): 12
Review: Been riding a set of Zipp 3 Zero Moto carbon rims recently and must say mightily impressive.
As a back story I’m not overly fond of carbon rims, had them come standard on a few bikes over the years, even speced up some nice wheelsets but always found them too stiff and obviously an expensive option.
Recently I have just been riding alloy rims, some stock wheelsets and some custom built but choosing nice hubs.
The nail in my carbon rim dislike I’m afraid to say was a set of Enves I borrowed to test.....life time warrenty and shiny King hubs were a temptation.
But again I came away not really feeling any performance benefits other than the obvious weight saving and for the £££££ I just decided they are not for me.
Then a set of these Zipp 3moto’s came up......my local shop MB Cyclery had a loan set so why not.
Did my online research, compliance was the key word, along with ‘ankle flex’ which is just dumb arse term imo but I’ll come back to that.
Out of the box and riding up the trail there was an immediate feeling of silence and smoothness, all I’ve changed here are the wheels, same tyres, same pressures, same rotors, same cassette, but they roll smoother for sure.
Entered a few low speed turns, into fast shallow unsuported corners and nothing special, again they ‘feel’ smooth so maybe that compliance is the key and the selling point.
Then I hit some tight & loose loam tracks with a couple of corners that I struggle to get right (maybe 1 out of 3 times I hit it cleanly) these rail around without a care!
Hit it again, same, and again, did about 10 laps and every time I hit this problem corner spot on.
Now I could be having a good day, it could be the new Push shock? (although rode same trail on alloy rims day before and cocked it up plenty) It could be the conditions? So I called it a day and came back later in the week.
After another day on same trail I came to the conclusion these things rail corners like nothing else I’ve ridden (admittedly I’ve not tested not all the wheels out there but owned a good few both carbon and alloy).
So ‘ankle flex’ might just be a thing, it basically means the single wall, flatter cross section rim can flex laterally, just like a runners ankle flexes when running around a corner keeping foot planted onto the floor, hence give more traction. I’ve added a link or two to some reviews with better explanations.
Personally I’m converted, definitely the carbon weight saving is there, not that ridiculously priced as some carbon rims (rims £650-700 each, wheels sets from £2k odd) and will out perform your current rims from a traction point of view.
If you have a local supplier test out a set, if not MB Cyclery-Haslemere-Surrey will have a set once I have my own set is built and I give these back....not until then please??
Product name: Zipp 3Moto Carbon rims
Price paid: see review
Score (out of 10): 12
Review: Been riding a set of Zipp 3 Zero Moto carbon rims recently and must say mightily impressive.
As a back story I’m not overly fond of carbon rims, had them come standard on a few bikes over the years, even speced up some nice wheelsets but always found them too stiff and obviously an expensive option.
Recently I have just been riding alloy rims, some stock wheelsets and some custom built but choosing nice hubs.
The nail in my carbon rim dislike I’m afraid to say was a set of Enves I borrowed to test.....life time warrenty and shiny King hubs were a temptation.
But again I came away not really feeling any performance benefits other than the obvious weight saving and for the £££££ I just decided they are not for me.
Then a set of these Zipp 3moto’s came up......my local shop MB Cyclery had a loan set so why not.
Did my online research, compliance was the key word, along with ‘ankle flex’ which is just dumb arse term imo but I’ll come back to that.
Out of the box and riding up the trail there was an immediate feeling of silence and smoothness, all I’ve changed here are the wheels, same tyres, same pressures, same rotors, same cassette, but they roll smoother for sure.
Entered a few low speed turns, into fast shallow unsuported corners and nothing special, again they ‘feel’ smooth so maybe that compliance is the key and the selling point.
Then I hit some tight & loose loam tracks with a couple of corners that I struggle to get right (maybe 1 out of 3 times I hit it cleanly) these rail around without a care!
Hit it again, same, and again, did about 10 laps and every time I hit this problem corner spot on.
Now I could be having a good day, it could be the new Push shock? (although rode same trail on alloy rims day before and cocked it up plenty) It could be the conditions? So I called it a day and came back later in the week.
After another day on same trail I came to the conclusion these things rail corners like nothing else I’ve ridden (admittedly I’ve not tested not all the wheels out there but owned a good few both carbon and alloy).
So ‘ankle flex’ might just be a thing, it basically means the single wall, flatter cross section rim can flex laterally, just like a runners ankle flexes when running around a corner keeping foot planted onto the floor, hence give more traction. I’ve added a link or two to some reviews with better explanations.
Personally I’m converted, definitely the carbon weight saving is there, not that ridiculously priced as some carbon rims (rims £650-700 each, wheels sets from £2k odd) and will out perform your current rims from a traction point of view.
If you have a local supplier test out a set, if not MB Cyclery-Haslemere-Surrey will have a set once I have my own set is built and I give these back....not until then please??
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