I am looking for a deeper dish pair of wheels, and the ones that seemed more interesting to me were either getting a zipp 404 (used or almost new) or something akin to a superteam one. Found this zipp 404s for "modestly cheap" ($650) in comparison to another (newer?) 404 firecrest ($1420). Dunno if they're worth that value or what model they even are, heard that the older models aren't as great. other options are a superteam 55mm pair for $1271.
by simpuru_clk
5 Comments
FYI the one i don’t know the model is the first one.
Zipps are ultralight, and the first set is ultra old. Nothing lasts forever. You can see the buckles in the carbon rim on the front wheel at the 10:30 and 1:30 positions. Imagine what you would discover upon a closer inspection.
The second set is at least from this decade. The picture is too blurry for an inspection, but those are a much better choice.
First ones are fake zipps. Look at the carbon layup. Zipp never really made them like that
The first one is ancient.
Do you want tubular wheels (glued on tires)? They are usually lighter and stronger than clincher wheels, but the Firecrests are newer and have more development put in to them, especially when it comes to braking.
Firecrest wheels will be more aerodynamic, I can’t tell if the 404FCs are clincher or not from the picture. Usually the Gatorskin Tubulars have a “handmade in Germany” stamp (like the ones in the first picture).
If you have an early 2000s bike and want to make a “period-correct” build, the cheaper zipps are cool. But the FCs are probably a better choice.
Big caveat: it all depends on the condition of the braking surface. If one is worn out, forget about it.
First pair is either fake or some first gen zipps from a long time ago…like 20+ years ago, but I’ve literally never seen a pair that had those type of decals or carbon weave, so I’m like 70% sure it’s fake. It’s also ridiculously overpriced even if it’s legit. They’re tubulars, you can see the dried out glue spewing out of the sidewalls, everyone here locally is trying to get rid of their tubular wheelsets for absolutely dirt cheap…I’m talking like $200 for some early 2000s-2010 zipp tubulars.
The second pair, the zipp 404 firecrests are great wheels if you don’t mind rim brakes still, which make them technically consumables versus a disc brake wheelset that can technically last a very very long time, far far longer than rim brake wheels as long as there are no crashes and they’re maintained. The textured molded braking track did improve the braking on these quite a lot, much better than some other full carbon rim brake wheels. Having said that, that’s extremely overpriced still. I sold my pair of zipp 303 firecrests last year for $650 and it took like two weeks to sell here and they were in amazing condition too… They were like $2500 in the mid 2010s, considering bikes from that era have gone down easily 5x from msrp, it’s safe to say these consumable wheels should go down that much too if not more.