This past Tuesday the J&A staff had the opportunity to meet with Steve Jolly, our local Zipp/SRAM rep, and Brian Gavette, the director of sales/marketing for Zipp. We met at Austin Java to go over SRAM and to go over the 2009 changes to Zipp wheels. Initially, I thought the meeting was going to be all technical and more for the shop mechanics but I was pleasantly surprised!As many of you may know I work the sales floor more often than I use to. So for me the whole session was a learning experience. Hopefully, I can now answer more customer questions regarding wheels. One segment we covered that I really enjoyed was reviewing what makes Zipp Wheels stand out from the rest as an excellent race wheel and also the 2009 improvements to those wheels. First, Zipp's headquarters are based out of Indiana, just down the street Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The technology used for Speedway racing is also applied to Zipp Wheels. The majority of Zipp engineers have a background in F1 & Indy car racing. Their expertise is aerodynamics and speed! Zipp's are also a great race wheel choice because they are all dimpled. Zipp has run many tests to find that a dimpled carbon wheel is more aerodynamic than a non dimpled wheel.
Some improvements you will see with the 2009 line is a redesign of the rim shape for improved aerodynamics. If you look closely you will see the rim is slightly more bowed-out creating less wind resistance. One big improvement you will see in the 2009 line is the reduction in lateral wheel movement while under load. This improvement is more noticeable for heavier riders. Another great improvement is the reduced spoke count in both the front and rear wheels. The durability of Zipp wheels also improved this year. Kevlar strips were placed on the top portion of the rim increasing strength in that area.
For those of you wanting a more custom look, the Zedtech is the way to go...you can design your own colors without jeopordizing weight or aerodynamics.
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