New Zipp NSW Wheels - Showstopper any good?

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thumper88
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Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2012 7:27 pm

by thumper88

The showstopper brakes are quite good, though I have inly tried them in the dry it seems likely, based on the amount of bite, that they will be more or less as advertised in wet.
Also, I weighed before installing, and they were lighter than I expected, 1505 grams for the set, without the skewers.

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ryanw
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by ryanw

Just got my normal 404s and they have a claimed weight of 1690g, but weighed in at 1670g.

Very happy with that!
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thumper88
Posts: 178
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2012 7:27 pm

by thumper88

ryanw wrote:Just got my normal 404s and they have a claimed weight of 1690g, but weighed in at 1670g.

Very happy with that!


That's odd. I moved a firecrest set to make way for NSWs and they were right on 1605, and I had maybe two or three extra loops of rim strip on for latex protection.

thumper88
Posts: 178
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2012 7:27 pm

by thumper88

ryanw wrote:Just got my normal 404s and they have a claimed weight of 1690g, but weighed in at 1670g.

Very happy with that!


Come to think of it, maybe the newer ones are heavier for some reason? but this had older hub on back, new one on front from recall.

gospastic
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by gospastic

The 2016 Firecrests come with CX-Sprint spokes, so they are heavier than previous year's wheels.

pamountainbiker
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by pamountainbiker

Velonews just did a comparo of NSW 404 versus Firecrest 404. Their results, while completely anecdotal seem to back up Mavic's results on braking in general. The 404 is better is the dry (compared to regular carbon rims and to the regular 404) but not that much better in the wet. I've been considering a new wheelset and I think I'm going to go the Mavic route as their new carbon clincher seems pretty good in all conditions and is quite a bit cheaper, and should be bombproof, or I'm going Enve 4.5 rims laced to my existing White Ind hubs.

The $3100 premium for NSW 404 braking doesn't seem worth it, and I don't see a lot of benefits in their new hub design. Aero-wise I'm not going to extract the benefits that the NSW 404 provides over other wide format 40mm rims.

MRM
Posts: 532
Joined: Sun Jun 14, 2015 8:15 pm

by MRM

Seems weird as well for a mainstream publication to make no mention of the hubset issues Zipp has been having (especially when speaking about the introduction of a new hubset). Those issues are quite the elephant in the room. They don't need to get on the hate bandwagon, but completely ignoring it isn't fulfilling their information responsibilities.

mulletmaster
Posts: 58
Joined: Sun Feb 16, 2014 1:10 pm

by mulletmaster

thumper88 wrote:
ryanw wrote:Just got my normal 404s and they have a claimed weight of 1690g, but weighed in at 1670g.

Very happy with that!


That's odd. I moved a firecrest set to make way for NSWs and they were right on 1605, and I had maybe two or three extra loops of rim strip on for latex protection.
is that needed for latex? I never bothered up until now. Can you use heavier cloth rim tape instead?

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ryanw
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by ryanw

My 404s just came with one fairly thick cotton rim band (sewn together).

Very hard to stretch over but does the job just fine.

Only had one quick blast on the wheels and have been very happy with their performance.

Going hard on them to see how the hubs hold up. I'm 104kg so they'll be getting a pounding!
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Nefarious86
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by Nefarious86

pamountainbiker wrote:Velonews just did a comparo of NSW 404 versus Firecrest 404. Their results, while completely anecdotal seem to back up Mavic's results on braking in general. The 404 is better is the dry (compared to regular carbon rims and to the regular 404) but not that much better in the wet. I've been considering a new wheelset and I think I'm going to go the Mavic route as their new carbon clincher seems pretty good in all conditions and is quite a bit cheaper, and should be bombproof, or I'm going Enve 4.5 rims laced to my existing White Ind hubs.

The $3100 premium for NSW 404 braking doesn't seem worth it, and I don't see a lot of benefits in their new hub design. Aero-wise I'm not going to extract the benefits that the NSW 404 provides over other wide format 40mm rims.

Gen 2 3.4 on WI hubs ftw ;)
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mulletmaster
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Joined: Sun Feb 16, 2014 1:10 pm

by mulletmaster

Never mind the brake surface I hole they've finally sorted the hubs out on these!!

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