by Alex Hoffman
The line between 29er and gravel/cyclocross specific wheels continues to disappear as wheel companies develop wider, stronger and tubeless-compatible technology for the not-so-new trend of gravel-grinding and all-road bikes. Admittedly a little late to the game, Zipp unveiled a much anticipated tubeless upgrade to their popular 303 Firecrest disc-clincher wheelset which is being touted as the new standard for carbon tubeless rims.
In addition to the release of a new tubeless wheelset for the 2017 model year, the 202 Firecrest tubular (dubbed the Cross King) gets a disc-specific makeover. Borrowing aerodynamic and layup technology from the familiar 303 firecrest tubular rim, the newly-designed 202 Firecrest disc-specific tubular rim was made shallower, wider and lighter than its 303 counterpart.
The new Zipp 202 tubular disc brake wheel
The difference in weight and width culminate to make the newly designed 202 tubular rim an ideal choice for competitive cyclocross racers. In fact, with the ruling earlier this year that would allow disc brakes in UCI road races, the new 202 tubular will likely be seen in the pro peloton as well.
Undoubtedly, the biggest news of this recent press release from Eurobike is the debut of Zipp’s first carbon-tubeless-specific clincher wheelset.
The new Zipp 303 tubeless rim
The new 303 Firecrest rims feature an intentionally tubeless layup which Zipp says incorporates “a rim bed made with internal ridges to lock the tire’s bead in place,” ensuring tire retention when being run at low pressure. Manufacturers use varied techniques to keep tires in place and prevent burps, whether it’s the wide shoulders of NoTubes rims, or the effective bead barbs on American Classic rims, but given our success with Zipp Course 30 wheels, we suspect the Zipp 303 to do well with low-pressure tubeless tires.
The new Zipp 303 tubeless wheelset coming in late 2016
The new rim layup also has an upgraded internal width of 21mm and external of 29.9mm made to idealize wider tires commonly used on current gravel and all-road builds without aerodynamic penalty.
The new Zipp 303 tubeless rim profile, 21mm wide internally
The rim shares the same 45mm depth as previous iterations of the 303 and Zipp’s ABLCTM dimple etching all-around the rim as well as the 77/177D hubs we’ve seen on their disc-specific rims in the past. Additionally, the utilization of these hubs essentially “future-proofs” the 303’s due to the ability to switch axle type and size with easy, tool-free end cap adaptors for thru-axle or quick release platforms and its XDR driver compatibility.
When we first looked at the 77/177D hubs on Zipp’s 202 and 303 rims last year, riders were hard pressed to find XD compatible drop bar shifters, making their utilization for the modern gravel cyclist reminiscent of a “flat bar Frankenbike.” With SRAM’s more recent long-cage Force1 and Rival1 clutch derailleurs, the 177D hubs can now be effectively used with larger XX1 and XO1 cassettes–making the new 303’s an ideal choice for a high-end grave/all-road wheelset.
The Zipp 77/177 disc hubset, with caps that switch between QR and thru axle
The re-design of the 303 carbon rim, which allows for it to be run tubeless, unfortunately disenfranchises rim-brake users as the new layup makes the rim exclusively disc-brake compatible.
Zipp 303 Firecrest Tubeless-disc Specs:
- Weight: 1645 grams total weight – 760 grams front / 885 grams rear
- Rim Width: 21mm internal/ 29.9mm external/ 45mm depth
- Spokes: Sapim Cx-Ray, 24 rear/24 front spoke count
- Nipples: Sapim Aluminum Secure-lock
- Hubset: 77/177D
- Cassette body: 10/11 Speed XDR compatible
- Axle: QR/ 12x100mm and 15x100mm front thru-axles/ 12x135mm and 12x142mm rear thru-axles
- MSRP: $2300
- Retail availability: December 2016
Zipp 202 Firecrest Tubular-disc Specs:
- Weight: 1330 grams total weight – 615 grams front / 715 grams rear
- Rim Width: 25.4mm max/ 32mm depth
- Spokes: Sapim Cx-Ray, 24 rear/24 front spoke count
- Nipples: Sapim Aluminum Secure-lock
- Hubset: 77/177D
- Cassette body: 10/11 Speed XDR compatible
- Axle: QR/ 12x100mm and 15x100mm front thru-axles/ 12x135mm and 12x142mm rear thru-axles
- MSRP: $2300
- Retail availability: October 2016
