I BROKE a Zipp 303 Firecrest Carbon Wheel....Just Riding Along. 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@tombola4046]

Had a 303 firecrest crack at the valve, applied for a warranty replacement through zipp and received a new wheel 1 week later, great service

[@Bikes-guitars]

I have also found Zipp to be superb with warranty claims, I was involved in a crash which damaged a spoke on my front 404 Firecrest, I expected them to just replace the spoke, however they asked fir the wheel to be returned through my dealer, one week later I had a brand new 404 Firecrest, amazing service and customer care 👍

[@craigpaterson5085]

In my experience Zipp warranty process is also excellent. Crashed and very badly damaged my rear 303s rim, which I delivered to the bike shop I bought them from soon after the incident, for them to deal with the warranty claim. Within two weeks I got a call from the bike shop saying the wheel was ready to collect and I had a shiny new wheel no questions asked. Very pleased with the service and would suspect the process would of been even faster in mainland Europe, not having to deal with sending things to the UK.

[@gplama]

Great to hear from another happy owner! 👌🏼

[@AG17_1]

As a bike mechanic I see many broken parts and experience many companies warranty policies. They are not all equal and some will do seaming anything to wiggle out of a replacement. Without doubt, the best service has been from Enve. Yes their stuff is expensive but they are brilliant for warranty replacements.

[@gplama]

Seems to be par for the course for companies who do charge premium rates for their hardware.

[@tim8992]

As someone who works in a bike shop I agree. Other great brands for warranty, in my experience are Zipp, DT Swiss and Bontrager. The latter also a bit cheaper than some other premium brands and still offer great quality wheels.

[@leslie7922]

Probably a 400% mark up price so they can supply four rims over the course of your lifetime lol

[@ProfessorSteez]

Enve just got rid of their lifetime warranty with the release of their new rims, otherwise I’d agree. They’re not $900 better than Zipp’s performance or warranty in my experience, and Enve make the best wheels I’ve ever owned!

[@MrFornicater]

As they should...speaking from experience, quality of Enve products has to be one of the worst in the premium end of the market.

[@NewPolishScientist]

Fair Play to Zipp. I prefer to use aluminium wheels on gravel - I have crankbrother zinc and they super strong

[@zed625]

Honestly it seemed like a lot of work both before and after warranty replacement; like there's no way I'd make an account and register my wheelset with zipp, and I often don't have a camera on me when I ride. Aluminum is great because it's not $950 a rim, and this kind of failure seems unacceptable to me given I don't expect to place in the top half of most races I enter

[@vincem5]

i have had a great experience also with Zipp . no questions asked other than proof of purchase and very quickly taken care of via Ormond Giant. super happy with outcome and service from both companies.

[@galenkehler]

Makes sense, if you charge 3x for the wheels then you can be much more lenient on warranty :)

[@pe3117]

Don’t cry if you can’t pay carbon wheels

[@galenkehler]

@@pe3117 haha I can, and with the money I saved not buying zipps I bought 2 more sets

[@neilbuckley5796]

Ha, I got a mention. It was me that suggested that. I still can’t get away from that thought of it being a eminent cyclist and commentator would make it in Zipp’s interest. Glad it was painless for you though.

[@jasonm3699]

Loved the "coffee fixes everything" - more cafes should promote its application for leak detection.

[@user-nu5fx6en9h]

Zipp is really good, easy process of the warranty and got back my wheel within a month

[@samslichter3566]

Trek/Bontrager has basically the best warranty policy, they’re effectively no-questions-asked whether that be from the shop discovering a problem or a customer complaining. Cannondale and their wheels tend to be one of the worst, mainly because of lack of stock of certain items or just insane warranty times.

[@rgjdk]

I've had a front wheel from Hunt Wheels fail due to an impact. No idea where or when, since I haven't had any flats. But Hunt doesn't replace broken wheels which isn't a manufacturing defect. Buying their €69 lifetime crash replacement service would have been a good investment, but this is the first, and hopefully the last time I've ever smashed a carbon rim. They're my wheels for climbing, so they've only done around 1500km total. My DT Swiss ARC which I use here on the flat roads in Denmark have done 20.000km without any problems.

[@dpstrial]

I have been using the Hunt 30 road/gravel carbon wheels for three years, so far without any issues, despite hitting some rather nasty potholes.

[@rgjdk]

Mine are the 35mm carbon aero disc. I'm disappointed that they're broken. Especially since I didn't even feel when it happened. Doesn't help that they then send me the wrong rim when ordering a new one with crash replacement discount.

[@dpstrial]

@@rgjdk I suppose Hunt wheels are cheaper than many others, because they compromise on customer service.

[@seanrequiredfieldcannotbel1362]

@@dpstrial I don't think so. Reach out to Hunt and they respond right away. I think they're cheap because they source open mold rims from Taiwan. They want you to get H care, too. Crash replacement v. material defect. That's not bad customer service, it just means they aren't bending over backwards.

[@turboplopp]

Me too! My 303 Firecrest had a ≈3cm crack at the valve whole (spoke side). I didn't notice it until checking the air the next day. Was riding road/pavement only. Zipp replaced the wheel for free through the dealer, took about 3 weeks in Germany. The wheel was about 8 weeks old, I never tightened the pre-installed tubeless valve or used a mini pump or did anything else that could have caused such a crack. I asked my lbc how this could have happened and the answer was: most likely manufacturing flaw.

[@combfilter]

I've actually had the opposite experience with my brand new firecrest warranty. I had them 5mo, rear hub start making clicking sounds and skipping. Took it apart water was all inside and rotted the internals. Had to order all new internals via the shop/sram/zipp 160.00 later I have basically a new hub. 2mo later the exact same thing. Mind you I live in TX with very very little rain, and I don't ride in the rain when it does. Replaced all the bearings and stuff again, sent the wheel back to zipp where they said "tell customer to not get the wheel wet, stop washing my bike". That was literally their notes on the QC check. Then they said I must be submerging my bike or using the bike in harsh CX conditions. We informed zipp again I live in one of the driest states there is, and it's on my road bike not CX. Go fwd 3 more months, and the hub is doing it again. I am just going to buy a DT 240 and be done with it. Their smart ass "tell the customer not to get the wheel wet comment" really pissed me off..The sad thing is I have the 303S on my gravel bike and those are solid as a rock. It's these more expensive firecrest that are a joke. So by the end of this on my brand new firecrest I will be out 160.00 plus the 40.00 to send zipp the wheel the 2nd time it happened, and then again 300.00 to replace their POS rear hub with a DT240... Fun Times.

[@northkyt]

"tell customer to not get the wheel wet". That is ridiculous LOL :)

[@pedalpatrol]

Same here but with a different german brand, under warenty spoke broke -> your fault ridden to hard... they get creative when they dont want to pay

[@brendanschiemer1276]

I reckon this is very good advice. Look into the warranty AND the crash replacement policy. Another well known (locally) Ballarat rider recently had a nail go through a Roval wheel. I was astonished their warranty covered it, but it was a no questions asked scenario. I was thinking of buying some carbon wheels online that would have been AUD 1000. Instead I paid the AUD 1600 for the peace of mind that comes with the Roval wheels. Got to love a lifetime warranty. Similarly I recently smashed myself into the ground (properly- 2 days in hospital & four weeks before back to work normal hours). I’m the process I cracked my Lauf Grit SL forks. Half price replacement under crash replacement policy. Pretty happy with that too.

[@james5150]

Agree 🙂, Specialized and Roval have fantastic warranty (and Specialized Australia has exceptional customer service). The bikes and wheels aren't cheap, but the qualty and support is top notch.

[@brendanschiemer1276]

Great discipline with the expletives. Not sure I’d pass that test. 😄

[@hockysa]

good tips, thanks for outlining the process. a lot of people are quick to say manufacturers never want to honour warranty claims but also fail to do the due diligence on their side.

[@kawabus]

Surprising that such a light gravel road would do that much damage. I wonder if the wheel had a stress fracture from a previous ride that may have caused the crack. Glad Zipp got it sorted for you.

[@tailwindtanya6596]

My thoughts exactly. It was a pretty benign and normal gravel road!

[@secularist1969]

They replaced a week old 404 Firecrest that was my fault…overinflated a tubeless tire for the hot day outside. Blew the tire off the rim which then slightly gouged the edges in a couple spots. Sent pics, explained my stupidity and it was covered. Pretty soon after I bought a pair of 303 Firecrests for gravel. I’ll pay for good service.

[@ArchangelWeapons]

Work in a shop and have had two customers jack up rear wheels, one was a 303 firecrest and another a 303S and sram took care of both of them in a weeks time.

[@Tethysmeer]

I have some fairly cheep elite gravel wheels and they took the hardest beating without any problems for a year. I still hope that they are not too cheap, but so far so good.

[@briandarnell1809]

Timely video for me. I purchased Enve 5.6 wheels two years ago in part because of their lifetime warranty. Last week Enve announced another change to their lineup of wheels and dropped the 5.6 and all rim brakes. They now say they'll honor warranties on these wheels for just two more years. I guess their definition of lifetime is different than mine.

[@andrewsteavpack9079]

Lifetime warranties are for the “expected lifetime of the product as defined by the manufacturer” so it could be like 5-10 years depending on the product but would say on the user manual typically. I think it’s pretty misleading, especially if they change from full lifetime to a defined product lifetime.

[@cliffsangelsphotography]

I've kept my stock Marin alloy wheels on my Gestalt with WTB Riddlers. It's gone through everything, even steep technical DH single-track. Alloy for life 💪

[@robp3431]

Recently rode home about 10 miles of gravel on a dead rear flat on a much-less expensive carbon wheel, no issue, except extremely slow and tiring while standing the entire way with weight on the handle bars. But, I had a tire liner..........the tire liner saved me, and was even re-usable, but did have to install fresh rim tape.

[@nedt]

Just jumped on and registered my 303s. Thanks!

[@zaoralj]

I have good experience with Zipp as well. Cracked 303 firecrest rear wheel on road bike, no idea when it happen because it didn't leak. Just founded when changing tire. I've send it back and got a new wheel in about 2 weeks. Based on this experience I've bought another set for my gravel bike.

[@northkyt]

Wow, that gravel road did not look very bad to me at all. I'm surprised the rim cracked liked it did, and it doesn't give me a lot of confidence in carbon wheelsets for the type of gravel riding I do. That is a typical road for what I ride and I also use 40mm tires, but I'm using aluminum rims. They have some tiny dents in them but they won't crack like this. Even if a wheel gets warranteed you still have to send it back and you don't have anything to ride on in the meantime. I think I'll stick with the alloy rims.

[@spicy_mint]

freak accidents can happen, know someone who snapped an otherwise fine aluminum rim going over a particularly steep speed bump lol

[@donschloth5785]

Thanks Lama! I’ve got the same wheels and so far so good!

[@strouja]

Thanks Shane for taking the time and effort to document and share. I agree with support from a vendor, that is huge when you need it. I saw your powers numbers when you were in shape and that could have been a factor… that you wore the wheels out 😀. Take care

[@gplama]

hahaha, no watt bombs were dropped in the making of this video! 🤣

[@diracflux]

Damn, that’s a nice bike setup.

[@TheConfusedCyclist]

I broke a new 404 firecrest in a road race hitting a pot hole. Zipp replaced the rear wheel in 2 weeks and now im dealing with a hub issue in the replacement wheel. I think zipps build quality has gone down over the last few years and will probably sell them and just ride my ENVEs.

[@johntrussell7228]

Zipp and SRAM have always been amazing with customer service. This is why I have used them exclusively for years and all of my current bikes have AXS on them.

[@tobiasbouma4071]

I respectfully disagree on the SRAM part (never dealt with Zipp). Bought a TT shifter with a shop that went bankrupt during covid. The TT shifter was barely used since my TT bike was barely used (about 3000k's) and it was still within warranty. The shop was no longer a "SRAM official retailer" at the time of the warranty claim so they rejected the claim. This means I would have to start a law suit over a 100 euro piece to get it replaced. I still ride SRAM but I consider them criminals until they give me reason to think otherwise.

[@KOL630]

Not tried Zipp but I use DT Swiss GRC 1400 and I’ve ridden them to sh*t on all sorts of brutal terrain large rocks and flint and really heavy descents and had no punctures or anything so far 🤞🏻 I’m not a heavy guy which I think helps and I do think these carbon wheels are only so strong depending on the weight of the rider. Can’t fault the DT’s so far then. Good advice though and glad you got it sorted thanks.

[@lindysbabylon]

It’s fun the day you posted this I just finished ordering some Zipp S 303’s Nice to see the warranty process worked out for you 👍. Just me hope if anything were to go wrong

[@durianriders]

I bought a big name brand bike new from the store that came stock with Zipp 202 disc and dura ace. Store warned me the Zipp disc hubs were 'utter garbage and could explode'. Said I should replace the hubs before I rode the bike again.I was naive and listened to the Zipp marketing hype vs the experienced mechanic. Surely wheels with such an insane RRP would be engineered safely? What was that mechanic smoking to suggest I should swap my near new Zipp hubs out?? Im just doing road riding not dirt jumping. Sure enough the Zipp rear hub flange did explode sending spokes flying and chipping into the carbon rear stays. Frame destroyed cosmetically. Sent back to Zipp Australia and they said 'sorry warranty expired' and shipped it back after about a month. Zipp rim, spokes and broken Zipp hub still sitting there in my shed. The squad of Daddy long legs use it as a toilet. They overtly crap on it. Seriously. Good to hear you got sorted though Shane. I can't believe it cracked SO easy though! Imagine if you were in race etc you travelled to. No way those Zipp wheels would be good for a bike tour or epic ride far from the start. Good for loops only IMO. Buy Zipp if you want hassles. Look at all the recalls they have had. IMO they dont test their products enough and let the customer be the beta testing.

[@BoxsterPB]

I've had the internals on 3 rear Zipp hubs fail, not current generation, but was enough to put me off the brand.

[@aliancemd]

I see A Lot of people saying here that they've had all kinds of different issues(talking about their customer experience) with Zipp wheels - I regret ordering these wheels now... I've had DT E1850 that come with the cheap Canyon Endurance and those have zero issues after a big pothole at ~50 km/h and even having the back tire hit by a car ~40 km/h from the left side - it didn't bend even a little.

[@Designandrew]

Did you end up liking the wheels?

[@aliancemd]

​@@Designandrew Yes, especially on gravel. I have DT Swiss GRC1400 on a different bike now and I must say that I like my Zipp 303 Firecrest more because these eat more of the road buzz. I have not had any issue with my Zipp 303 Firecrest up to this point and I use these a lot on gravel. The only issue I've had with Zipp 303 Firecrest is the hub which has more freewheeling resistance than the DT Swiss hub - their Zipp 353 NSW has better hubs from this point of view.

[@n22pdf]

Great service from Zipp :)

[@mitch7331]

Same experience with these wheels, but not even sure it happened on gravel. Noticed it when replacing a tire and saw the finishing layer flaking near the lip. Took off the tire and saw the rim was cracked vertically through the beadwall and then diagonally across the rim bed. It should take a pretty big impact do do that. But I've got only three light gravel rides on these wheels; nothing chunky like this. Mainly ride them on pavement, never crashed, never pinched, never even patched. Let's see what Zipp does. But I don't have a good feeling about these wheels. This never happened in 10+ years of riding rim brake zipp firecrests on bad roads or for cross and gravel on worse surfaces than this. I'm not convinced it's just a rare manufacturing defect. I have a feeling they have underspec'd/oversold these for gravel and are going to have to start walking back their warranties.

[@matthewnormand2041]

Killed both of my new (bought in December) Zipp 303 Firecrest wheels on my gravel bike doing a race on some techie terrain. Think it happened when I squared up on a tree root. Thought I just burped them and had to stop to put some air in a few minutes later. It held somewhat but was slowly leaking down. Tubeless setup was doing all it could do to seal. Able to finish but I had to limp it for the final bit. Didn't see that the lip on the front wheel was smashed until after washing the bike the next day. Also saw the rear wheel had a less damaged but still cracked lip. Brought the wheels to the shop I bought them at for warranty. They're handling the claim. Apparently, Zipp is going to rehoop the wheels. We'll see how long that will take. Two weeks so far. LBS says it's generally less than a month turnaround. Such a shame as they are great gravel wheels.

[@Silidons91]

Aluminium wheels for gravel for me....

[@bioches]

Good to know

[@Silidons91]

@D. W. A lot less common than carbon.

[@DenHvideHund]

Good company who stands by their product. I'm sure we would have heard if anyone didn't get that treatment you did. Thumbs up.

[@daveward6098]

I had the same service with Mavic a few years ago. Registered new wheels online, about nine months later returned rear wheel to LBS after a spoke pulled out of the hub damaging the hub, new wheel collected a week later.

[@pe3117]

That’s why I bought 10 days ago a pair of brand new 303s ✨

[@russgordon5399]

Have you thought about using a tire insert to help protect the 303 rims? Something like the Vittoria Air-liner Gravel, Air-liner Road, or similar from a competitor might have prevented the rim melt down. The road was far from rough and the 303 rim really should be able to withstand such a hit without breaking.

[@bernderler2713]

Thanks #GPlama, the first thing I did today on my computer was registration of my Zipp 3030 S wheeels. just in case

[@matteo.ceriotti]

Well done Zipp but also when they receive a warranty request from Mr Shane Miller, what do you think they'd do? 😆

[@jonathanzappala]

New finish line sealant? I am a fan of the original. No spikes mess in the tire it will all wash out. It’s always worked for my punctures, except the last one where I had not added any to the tire in way too long. But it was such a small hole I got buy just topping up a couple times out of the same co2.

[@LukeRichardson1981]

It's stories like these that make me continually leery of carbon fibre, either for wheels or frames. I'm not a weight weenie so I'm perfectly happy with my aluminum frame, fork, and rims. Good to see they replaced them quickly and no questions asked, though I would not be surprised if they did replace them faster given your large audience (though obviously no way to test that in your case given the wheels were registered under your real name).

[@JMcLeodKC711]

I will see your carbon fibre and raise you tubeless. I am not a fan of tubeless either. Just not sure the juice is worth the squeeze

[@Jean-jk4zv]

I bought two carbon bikes recently (gravel and xc) and I kind of regret it, every time I have to lay them down or transport them it's stressfull, I went back to an al xc bike and will never go back to carbon again for peace of mind.

[@markc17]

Aluminium forks are a disaster waiting to happen. The impacts of riding will eventually result in a high risk of failure.

[@zer0534]

Cool that Zipp's customer service is so good but this would sway towards not buying a Zipp wheel as opposed to buying one if it can't handle a small rock in the road

[@aliancemd]

The comments section is filled with people explaining how their Zipp wheels cracked... Some after barely a month, on regular road...

[@CptMooney]

That tiny little pebble did that? Ill stick with my aluminum wheels thank you.

[@CB-ld8no]

I have both my bikes with Al and carbon wheels 700x40mm tires. Will make the habit of carrying a tube even when I set the tubeless ready tires/wheels to tubeless.

[@euhm]

A Zipp wheel that breaks, that's new... not. Good on them for being so easy in warranty. Not all manufactures work like that.

[@DJJPlus4]

It truly amazes me how people are still so loyal to carbon fibre. Recently saw a bike fall and it cracked the frame. I could never pay that kind of money for that kind of frailty. I cringed at 02:52 when he pressed on the rim and it was so soft and pliable. I have slightly heavier aluminum wheels that I couldn't destroy if i tried.

[@Ropetable]

carbon fiber is incredibly strong, my mountainbike has so little material, it only weighs 6.79kg yet it is strong as hell. But Mountainbikes have much bigger tires. If one has carbon wheels it makes sense to use that weight saving to invest in a rideable tire inserts. damage almost impossible and can even ride home on a flat.

[@DJJPlus4]

@@Ropetable Totally agree, it is strong, but can be weak in withstanding a centralized simple impact. For instance in this case, a simple rock strike. A friend of mine's bike fell and struck the corner of his pickup's tailgate and cracked the top tube. I saw another guy on KZbin completely destroy a bike while trying to put a press fit bottom bracket in a carbon frame. I guess I just don't understand why so many people are willing to pay good money for a bike or parts that could be destroyed so easily.

[@Ropetable]

@@DJJPlus4 yeah one wrong move or crash and the carbon frame is toast. i fell once but luckily i was clipped in so my body took the impact 😂. Aluminium and steel does fatigue though, so the lifespan of a carbon bike can be greater than an alloy bike. but i personally would never buy a carbon trail bike. road and crosscountry bikes make sense. gravel i guess not because of crash chances and rock strikes.

[@hornet224]

You may be so lucky next time. I'll stay with my aluminum alloy wheels. They don't crack because aluminum is not brittle.

[@lechprotean]

I think, as they were only used a year, it must have been some manufacturing defect that finally surfaced after stressing that part of the rim. I am super stoked that Zipp/SRAM have such good warranty, but almost any other wheel would have been covered under the standard (in Europe) 2 year warranty. I have gone the budget route and bought some local wheels built from Chinese rims and frankly even if I had to buy one or two replacement ones out of my own pocket, I'd still be ahead financially. So the nice warranty is nice but you pay so much extra for it that you could have a spare set of wheels at the ready for the same price (without a week's wait).

[@DaveCM]

Not good. That road is very, very tame compared to some of the gravel of occasionally ride. And I ride with 38 and 40 mm, 700c tires. Good on them for covering it.

[@glennoc8585]

Some of the aluminium rims by fulcrum like the zero and from Easton are pretty close to the carbon versions in weight. Need a tube even with hookless it should get you home.

[@zap...]

I'm going to register all of my bike parts under GP Lama.

[@gplama]

Now that's good thinking! 🤣

[@saynotothegreatreset]

Good job they are still under warranty !!

[@gplama]

Which then raises the question - Who's life is a lifetime warranty referring to if the warranty is only valid for the original owner? 🤔

[@fergusdenoon1255]

@@gplama it's not the owner, its the lifespan of the wheels, if Zip decide these wheels should last 5 years, that's the lifetime the warranty covers.

[@Christopher.483]

Got to add I sent back a wheels that looked a bit suspicious for a warranty claim less than a week later I had a new wheel. Can’t fault the warranty so far!

[@solitaryrefinement6787]

My ICAN Aero 50's haven't failed me yet and I've taken them on singletrack trails.

[@5ch4cht3l7]

With a sample size of one, results will vary

[@Digi20]

For this kind of terrain a 40mm tire is definitely not enough (had similar experiences in the past). you hit one rock out a million in a wrong angle, its kicked up against the rim and voila, an AL rim gets a big dent and a carbon one cracks. the problem actually gets worse with newer wider and taller rims like the 303, because the tire cant protect the rim anymore if it only sticks out 5mm at each side. i havent had problems since switching to 2.1" mtb tires. i mean they are there for a reason and made for this kind of terrain. the lower possible pressure also helps to more glide above the rocks and not throw them off under the wheel. I wonder how many similar warranty claims are around there and when manufacturers will start to limit the warranty in some way.

[@WordupG]

Their profit margins on these wheels are so insane, I doubt the occasional legit warranty claim is worth limiting the warranty offer in comparison to their competitors.

[@lexington476]

Busted wheel, you know what this is a great time to call your sister and have her come pick you up 🙂. It's even more fun if she is like out of town or on the other side of the country 😀...

[@cameronwood9385]

The rim looks to have some manufacturing defects visible on the inner surface of the rim right around where you broke it. Probably contributes to why the incident that broke it seemed so innocuous.

[@andreaslandixus64]

Are you sure that was the correct Rock? The one before looks evil, too. I love gravel rides, because it's rocks 😊. I hope thee bike gets well soon. N1 video 📹

[@gplama]

Yep. Rim cracked on the right side. That was it.

[@paul_hd1875]

CLEARLY... the aero helmet, whilst gravel riding, was the culprit...LOL

[@gplama]

🤣

[@TheUnrevealer]

New Hambini roast incomming? :)

[@yamatoSVK]

I had similar damage on my Yoeleo SAT C58 DB PRO, probably hit a hole too hard and the rim got damaged, I have messaged them with the rim damage pictures and after providing them with the serial number they are just sending me a new rim to replace only for the shipping cost ... it's from china, so it's taking a while, but still

[@alumal]

I’m looking for a Zipp 303 Firecrest for my road bike and I’m looking forward about the lifetime warranty. However I’d like to see if Zipp Brazil will do the same attention like in the US. 🤔

[@carstengambal7257]

My experience for 5x claims on Zipp303S with bearing defects are not that good. Between 6 weeks and 6 month are the waiting time for repair.

[@Dragos02]

We would like a review of Zipp wheels vs Hunt. They're both in the same range price.

[@taff3935]

That happened to me but on a tarmac road. Zipp just replaced it. However it does worry me that they’re not that robust

[@Mike0]

Did you have low tyre pressure and the tyre bottom out or just a bad rim?

[@taff3935]

@@Mike0 I think just a bad rim, it just cracked. I didn't notice it for quite a while. I run tubeless at about 60

[@bobdobalina798]

Race face used to be awesome on warranty with crash replacement...used to be

[@Hunttherider]

You’ve been easy on Zipp by focusing on their warranty process, which clearly is robust, however a warranty alone wouldn’t give me comfort with this wheel set - their failure in that manner is of concern to any gravel rider. On a set of 2016 Derby carbon CX rims I’ve smacked into similar and worse objects on an almost ride by ride basis and they are still going strong.

[@gplama]

Being ‘easy on them’ would have been not posting this at all, or any Instagram stories. This rock strike was one of those things that’d have broken/bent any kind of rim. It was a pretty solid knock. This part is outside of their control. Honouring the lifetime warranty is 100% in their control.

[@Hunttherider]

@@gplama Thanks for engaging, it was a nice surprise to get your reply. I realise this is sample size of 1 (although a very public one) so it could well be an outlier, but from my experience a wheel fit for proper gravel has to be able to account for impacts like this - my home gravel is Costa Rican style, and it's full of rock strikes, heavy ones too, and frequent, and while tyres often come back worse for wear, so far in 6 yrs my rims have not flinched. Combine this with the reality that once outside N.America/Europe/Aus the warranty process is months, not days, dependable, reliable bike components become king, and your experiences will very much be influencing my purchasing decisions. That's a rather long way of saying great work, thanks and keep up the great content.

[@NathanBudd]

Interesting video. I find it particularly useful knowing the actual tire width on those rims. Now... where can I find a fruit Danish?!

[@jamesrowe4861]

Hi Shane, have you tried the Pirelli Mixed terrain tyres? Imo just as quick rolling, far superior grip, longevity and durability are out of this world. I live in Bendigo, so pretty tough terrain. Cheers.

[@gplama]

Nope. Just their hard-pack version at the moment. I'll have to venture further north east and check out some of the Bendigo area grav one day. 👌🏼

[@jamesrowe4861]

Feel free to have a look at some of the loops we’ve done, some absolute crackers with heaps of variation. 👍🏻 We’ve gone in all directions from Bendigo and then expanded the range with the start point been upto a max 1 hour drive.

[@geelongorthotics]

They Wouldn’t last a nano second in the Grampians or high plans. That looks like tarmac in comparison. So glad I had cheap mavic rims on mine when I bent the side wall that bent out with a spanner

[@power2trimultisport361]

Thanks for the walk thru... I hadn't registered my wheels, will be today. Question though... what setup do you have that has the TyreWiz sitting directly on the rim? I went stock with mine and the body of the unit is about an inch and a half off the rim. Your setup is much cleaner.

[@FaiscaaaH]

Now imagine doing MTB rides with carbon wheels ;) For MTB users that kind of "road surface" is a highway, and yet Zipp wheels can't handle it :\ something is wrong. Never had any issues with my DT Swiss wheels or Roval and both carbon. Shane leave the Gravel vibe and if you wanna play some go MTB :P

[@galenkehler]

Mtb rims are likely built stronger, 303 are road rims fundamentally speaking

[@FaiscaaaH]

@@galenkehler exactly, they are road wheels 😉 If you want to ride on the woods just go MTB Gravel it's a marketing vibe, that's it.

[@jbratt]

I’m thinking those Vittoria run flat internal liners (sorry can’t think of athe name of them) would have saved the rim.

[@gavinmaloney6773]

Good job ZIPP 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@aliancemd]

Good job Zipp, filling this entire comment section with people explaining how after a few weeks, their Zipp 303 cracked and how that is a good experience.

[@osian4182]

Bought a set of Farsports Feder 45mm wheels a few months back and got them a couple weeks ago. On my first 2.5 hour ride the rear rim was cracked at the rim bead perfectly inline with the valve hole. Not sure what could have caused this as I was super attentive in regards to road debris and potholes, I am also way below the max rated weight and pressure. After many a message back and forth with Farsports, I got literally nothing other than to just fob out another £250 to have a rim sent out (same cost as if a new customer) which I'll then need to pay someone to build. None of this helped by the lack of full English proficiency by their aftersales team(single person?). Pretty underwhelming after I heard good things about farsports products; the less than caring aftersales when compared to western brands has definitely impacted my belief in them My stock carbon wheels have endured far tougher terrain and awful knocks yet are still in one piece, so yeah, what rotten luck I guess...

[@abedfo88]

As a fellow buyer of things directly from the far east i feel your pain. However you just have to expect this sort of thing every once in a while. You cant have everything for cheap

[@Grunge_Cycling]

I've had a different experience than you. Crashed my front wheel into a high curb at full speed and destroyed the wheel and everyone's eardrums (my bad). Sent them $200 and they sent me back a brand new front wheel.

[@osian4182]

@@abedfo88 the thing is, they aren't cheap cheap like say elite wheels stuff. I paid ~£800 for the wheelset with DT240 hubs which, while being a good deal, is not typical Chinese cheap. Could put a lot of the savings down to them being the manufacturer themselves. Maybe Winspace was the better option in hindsight

[@osian4182]

@@Grunge_Cycling Was that a Farsports wheel? If so, now I have no clue why they're being so reluctant. The box did arrive in a fairly poor state with a large dent into the side, but they dismissed it as a potential cause as it didn't match the position of the wheel. Surely it is too coincidental to risk lowered reputation over something that may have been damaged in shipping. The shipping company would be liable as it should never arrive in such a state.

[@chiefwarmpaws]

I had the previous gen wheelset crack like that inside the 2 Year Warranty period - twice the prices of these newer versions - and they told me to PO. I will never buy a Zipp or SRAM product ever again, if at all possible ... why would I give them another chance?

[@saltycycling]

This might be a controversial opinion, but as a mechanical engineer, I would suspect that at least to some degree this is due to the rim being hookless - i.e. the side walls being more flimsy (less horizontal rigidity) due to lack of the hook.

[@MW-df2fm]

@Shane Miller - GPLama how happy are you wit the prologo Dimension saddle? :) was thinking about trying this one

[@gplama]

Loving it. Not looking to change it any time soon.

[@paulatkinson6844]

I have 2 pairs of this wheelset. First pair on my Addict Road bike with 28mm Scwalbe One.Both wheels cracked around the valve hole one in 11months the second 6 months later. I'm a 65 year old leisure cyclist so haven't hammered them. Am I alone in thinking these wheels have a serious safety defect?

[@andreiivashkevich1847]

How did you submit the claim online? It looks like Zipp asking you to visit the local authorized dealer in order to submit claim through them... which kind of inconvenient

[@tecnociclista5342]

Not sure if you mentioned it and I missed it...but what pressure were you running when this happened?

[@gplama]

~32PSI

[@tecnociclista5342]

@@gplama wow, that's not so low, you must have hit that rock at a very weird angle :)

[@CentristRN]

Have ridden Zipps for many years. Premium product Premium company. I have no doubt they treat every legitimate warranty claim the same regardless of the name of the owner.

[@cs8sz]

Wow that's really good and bloody awful! Great for the warranty, however there is no way they should have failed for such a minor rock. Awesome video as per usual.

[@thebrowns5337]

But how do you expect such a brittle material to withstand it's side being wedged apart by a solid rock? Aluminium would bend. Plastic, not so much. The plastic limit is different.

[@scubascott1098]

I have a pair or 303 firecrests. Within 2 weeks a spoke pulled through the rim on the rear. Took 10 months to get the replacement. Now the front has some delamination and another spoke pulling through. Good thing for the warranty, but I won't buy Zipps again.

[@thatguy9051]

New Phrase "Pinch Crack" instead of Pinch Flat.....what pressure were you running if you don't mind me asking........thank you.

[@richardglazer7813]

I think your name did help, at least in part. Also your demonstration video played a big part too. Were they questioning you at all? I'm sure a regular Joe like me would be questioned and the company would be looking for a way out not to compensate.

[@monkeymerv]

I've now broken 2 x firecrest wheels, a front and rear, both cracked either side of a spoke. Both times were on the road bike and no major impact, although the UK tarmac isn't great. Zipp replaced both wheels without question, although replacement of the rear wheel took three months, due to supply issues in the UK.

[@jaylumbago559]

That video leaves me worried. I have the same wheels, use them for gravel, too. I thought the hookless rims are stronger.

[@gplama]

Nobody survives The Rock™️. I suspect this was just a 'shit happens'. ~8000kms and this is the only blip.

[@duckmanduckfairy8010]

Do you think if it had been a hooked rim this would not have happened? The hookless wheels are lighter but it seems the thinner sides may be a problem for gravel and rough terrain!

[@gplama]

Impossible to tell without smashing a hooked rim on the same Dwayne Johnson.

[@duckmanduckfairy8010]

@@gplama in my experience hooked rims are usually 1-2 mil thicker at the bead area and the shape would have prevented the leak also

[@NickelExpressCycling]

i really want some dished CF road wheels because they look cool. but im to paranoid to go with CF wheels on my normal bike because things like this would make me paranoid.

[@gplama]

YOLO! Ride nice equipment. Break nice equipment! :)

[@kevinjamotte6355]

Damnnn, which day did you break yours? broke mine on 20th of may! Sent the wheel back to the online seller, waiting for an answer from them

[@dpuhrmann]

Did either your old or replacement 303 Firecrests have drainage holes in the side? Mine do not, but I have seen others post on the web that theirs do, when I contacted Zipp, they said that they should have the holes and to send them in. I am debating how beneficial the drainage holes are as I don't want to be without wheels for a week just to get them drilled into my rims...

[@gplama]

Yes, both sides just above the serial number sticker.

[@bboystretch7788]

My Enve warranty is taking weeks to even get a reply. I’m done with Enve.