Zipp's Firecrest wheel line (202, 303, 404, and 808) pioneered wider rim design along with the blunted aero shape that rivals have sought to emulate for its aerodynamic stability.
When the Indianapolis-designed-and-built wheelsets debuted, they genuinely raised the bar for performance carbon road wheels. While the Firecrest line is no longer the pinnacle of Zipp’s designs (that’s reserved for the 404 Firestrike, which is dimensionally identical but with improved materials), it’s still the series that new wheel designs are benchmarked against.
For 2016 the Firecrest line for caliper brakes has been revamped, following on from the introduction of the new disc hub earlier in 2015. The new 77/177 hub pairing (first seen on the Firestrike) features revised flange geometry and spoke hole attachment. This has optimised the torsional and lateral stiffness of the Sapim CX-Sprint spokes found throughout the range (bar the lightweight 202 Tubular which comes with lighter CX-Rays).
ADVERTISEMENT
The 202 tubular is the lightest wheelset in the Zipp range at 1180g a pair
The hub body is also reshaped with much more alloy cut away by CNC tooling – and plenty of polished alloy on show. The hubs have oversized 17mm axles to increase stiffness, plus an all-new quick release design to go with them. The bearing fitments have been reworked so they require no adjustment whatsoever, addressing a criticism levelled at the original Firecrest hubs.
You can read more at BikeRadar.com
via BikeRadar All the latest from BikeRadar.com http://ift.tt/1EhYsJ1
No comments:
Post a Comment