(intro music)
- GCN Unboxing is back and we're on the crest of a wave.
Little joke there for you.
Bit subtle perhaps.
But anyway, we have got a mega unboxing for you this week.
I can't imagine there is a single person out there
that would not want these.
And if there is then they might want to seek help.
As always with GCN Unboxing,
we are giving you the opportunity to win as well.
(applause)
I'll tell you how you can enter a little bit later on.
But for now, brace yourself
(drum roll)
for these.
(drum roll)
(sighs in amazement)
Zipp's brand new 404 Firecrest wheels,
the latest incarnation of the venerable 404.
Apparently Zipp's best-selling wheel.
It's not hard to see why really.
It's kind of like the goldilocks.
It's light enough to be able to climb with the best,
and yet it's still mega aero to boot.
And these ones have just got even better as well because
technology from the flagship NSW range has migrated over
on to Firecrest.
Ha, that's a little joke there.
I said migrate, because a firecrest is a bird apparently.
Anyway, the 404 can be considered a mid-depth wheel.
It's 58 mm high in profile and I think it is important
to remember that when the Firecrest shape was launched back
in 2010 it was somewhat of a game changer
from a performance perspective.
It ushered in a new era of stability in cross winds
as well as having impressive straight-line speed.
But actually at the time, its look
was so striking there were a few people that
struggled to get on board with it because
here was an aerodynamic wheel that didn't look
like what aerodynamic should do because it was really blunt
at this edge here.
But there was a very good reason for that and it was
because Zipp had actually refocused their thinking,
they said, from the leading edge of the wheel,
so the one that strikes that went first,
to the trailing edge of the wheel.
So effectively what they did was try and make it aerodynamic
both times the rim strikes the wind.
These new ones have now been optimized for 25 mm-wide tires
and so in order to do that the overall width of the rim
has been beefed upsize.
So it is now 26.4 mm wide and also 17 mm wide internally.
So what that means is the all-important transition
from tire to wheel, and then also wheel to tire, is much,
much smoother and that is incredibly important
when it comes to the overall aerodynamic performance
of the whole wheel set.
Now what then about those big changes that come from
the NSW line?
They are pretty striking, I'm not going to lie.
Firstly, I need my front wheel to demonstrate.
Those traditional, familiar Zipp dimples have now evolved
into the ABLC sawtooth pattern which is designed
similarly to improve the stability of
the wheel in crosswinds and it works in a really clever way.
So, traditionally, when wind hits a wheel from the side
pressure begins to build up until your wheel twitches,
the pressure is released,
and then the whole thing starts over again.
And that is kind of why, traditionally, you would find a
normal deep-section wheel would be a little bit
uncomfortable to ride in windy conditions.
But with these, the dimples actually start aerodynamic
sheering at higher frequency so it makes lots of little
pressure releases as opposed to one big one.
You'd think of it a little bit like aero farts.
Although Zipp would probably rather that you thought
about it in terms of a small sheet of vortices that
operate at low magnitude but high frequency
thus decreasing that laminar bubble effect that builds
up on the aerodynamic shielded side of the rim profile.
Yes, so you could basically run these wheels in more
conditions, more of the time.
The next bit of tech to migrate over from NSW
is the showstopper brake tracks so that dramatically
improves brake performance, particularly in the wet.
And when you look at the rim closely, you will see that
there is loads of little grooves embedded onto
the brake track.
I counted, there's actually 317 and it's the same on each
side of the wheel, funnily enough, and the same
front and back.
And what they do, effectively, as well as increasing
the surface area in the roughness of the brake track,
they also act as siphons to channel water away from
the brake surface.
You do, of course, as with all carbon wheels, need to use
the right pads.
And, there they are, Zipp brake pads.
But also with this, interestingly, you need to remember
to put your front wheel in the right direction and there
is an arrow on there somewhere to tell you
exactly, what, ah there you go, ta da!
Also, worth noting that it makes an incredibly
cool noise when you apply the brakes.
Ah right, now one thing that isn't talked about so much
anymore, with carbon clinchers, but should be, because
it's incredibly important is the resistance to heat build up
under braking because historically it's been incredibly
tough to engineer carbon clinchers to actually withstand
that kind of braking power.
Except that Zipp have an incredible track record
when it comes to that.
In fact, they say they have never had a carbon clincher rim
fail due to heat build up.
And bear in mind that they started selling
carbon clincher wheels back in 2010.
And of the many reasons that go in to that heat resistance
I think possibly the coolest one for me,
is the fact that they work with their supplier of resin
to actually develop their own heat-resistant resin.
Which is kind of cool.
Easy to gloss over but super important.
And when you look actually, full stop, into the development
of carbon wheels at Zipp it's an absolutely fascinating
story, particularly the bit about where they got
the first victory at Parua Bay for a carbon wheel.
Apparently, the development behind that wheel actually
was what ushered in the Firecrest shape in the first place.
That kind of strength and resilience comes from numerous
different things like the shape and the lay-up and the
materials used but also, a not insignificant part comes down
to the quality control.
So, Zipp carbon rims are made in-house at their Indianapolis
headquarters.
And making stuff out of carbon is a really labor-intensive
process and there are numerous quality controls in there
that means that each wheel that rolls off the
production line meets the same exacting requirements.
Yeah, alright. I'll get off my soap box for now.
But having been banging on about safety, I'm actually
pleased to be able to tell you that the new 404
is 75 grams lighter than its predecessor.
It's now just 1615 grams for the pair.
And bearing in mind, they're 58 ml deep and they're
carbon clinchers...
Now we've been talking about the rims for quite some time
but what about the hubs?
These are the tried and tested 77 upfront
and 177 at the back laced via 18 spokes radially
in the front wheel and 24 in the back.
And, you'll probably want to hear the free hub?
Yeah, of course you do.
(wheel spinning)
That's a spinner, isn't it?
I'll stop it there.
Interestingly, you can very easily and quickly swap out the
free hub body for a Sram XD driver if you want.
So those are the ones where you can get a
super small 10-tooth sprocket and then a massive
42-tooth to set on there as well.
Yeah. I'm talking about 1x drivetrains.
It's the future!
Well, it's a future, but still, I think it's
quite an exciting one.
Right, the only other point I would like to
draw your attention to really is the logo because I have a
sneaky suspicion that the Zipp logo could well be
the fastest logo in all of cycling.
I mean, it looks kind of fast even when it's standing still.
But, it looks like a rocket ship even when you're
going really slowly.
Brilliant! Who wouldn't want that?
The other bits that come in the box.
I have already mentioned the brake pads.
We've got then, there is, of course, a quick-release skewer,
front and back, there we go.
And, valve extenders, because now you've gone for
58 ml-deep wheels, you need to think about having
the right length valve.
There you go. The new Zipp 404 Firecrest.
What's that, you want to know how to enter?
Course you do!
It's very simple.
In the description beneath this video, there is a link,
that link will take you straight through to the
competition page where you can enter your details
and then keep your fingers firmly crossed.
We will announce the winners in a forthcoming GCN tech show.
You won't have to wait all that long so make sure
you get in quick.
Right, if you want to watch another video now,
then I think a really interesting one actually,
another Zipp video, this was from when they first
launched the 808 NSW.
We did a cheeky little test about the difference
in speed you get between a standard box-section
aluminum wheel and a Super aero 808.
Not a fair test perhaps, but a very interesting one.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
Feel like a (beep) firecrest (bird clucking).
For these.
Zipp's brand new 404.
(laughing)