Tested

ZIPP 3ZERO MOTO WHEELSET

£1,875

SPECIFICATION Wheel size: 27.5 or 29in • Internal rim width: 30mm • Freehub engagement: 6.9° • Weight (29in): 891g front, 1,019g rear • Contact: zyrofisher.co.uk

Carbon wheels were once touted as the saviour of 29ers, their reduced rotational weight offsetting the sluggish acceleration inherent with bigger wheels. But as manufacturers quickly discovered, lightweight carbon 29in wheels don’t hold up to the rigours of regular trail riding. As such, extra carbon had to be added to the rims, making them stronger, stiffer and ultimately heavier. Today, the weight difference between the best carbon and alloy wheels is marginal, even if there’s still a gulf in price.

So if a robust carbon rim isn’t much lighter than an alloy one, what advantages do they offer other than being stiffer, less prone to buckling, and cracking rather than denting? Until the Zipp 3Zero Moto wheelset arrived, the short answer was not very much.

And what’s most interesting about the 3Zero Moto carbon rim is that weight-saving is a secondary concern; it’s performance that headlines this class act. Most carbon rims are, well, carbon copies of alloy rims and use the same box-section construction. But Zipp has flipped this process on its head, borrowing a concept straight from motocross.

By using a low-profile single-wall rim, Zipp has been able to engineer the carbon to flex locally around the spoke bed. This allows the section of the rim just above the contact patch of the tyre to flex under load. Zipp has coined the term ‘ankle-flex’ to better describe the concept, because just as your ankles articulate to keep your foot firmly planted on the ground as you run round a corner, the lower part of the rim flexes to align the contact patch of the tyre with the terrain.

It works. And it’s