NEW KIT

£3500 › Aero wheels inspired by nature

Mavic’s popular Carbon Cosmic Exalith wheels get a wider-rim makeover, while Zipp’s bank accountemptying 454 NSWs take their inspiration from marine life. SRAM has launched its Red eTap WiFli upgrade kit with wider cassette and longer mech. Plus: Otto’s app-based gear-tuning system; Bont’s Vaypor+ shoes add Kangaroo leather to the mix; more wheels, this time from DT Swiss; not forgetting 1x chainrings from Superstar and SRAM and half-a-dozen multi-tools. Phew…

ZIPP’S RADICALLY DIFFERENT 454S ARE a huge departure for the Indianapolis based aerofocused wheel brand. Instead of the Firecrest shape - wide, deep and a blunted edge – the 454 retains the width but has introduced a ‘hyperfoil’ inner shape, inspired by the tubercles – the shaped bumps – on the pectoral fins of the humpback whale.

The theory is that this shaping, along with the new SawTooth pattern of Zipp’s surface dimples, generates small vortexes, so the stall point, where gains turn to drag, happens much later. Regulating pressure on the side of the rims makes them far more controllable in adverse conditions.

Our test pair weighed 712g (f) and 866g (r), including rim tape, plus an additional 86g for the skewers. They’re just 28g heavier than our test 404 NSWs (Nest Speed Weaponry – Nest being the nickname of Zipp’s development lab), which weigh 700 and 850g respectively, but are 92g lighter than the non-NSW 404.

Braking from the 454’s Showstopper brake track, which combines a deeper section with a siped pattern, is the same as the 404, and equally impressive. It offers progressive stopping power in the dry, and wet-weather performance outstrips most of the competition.

The rear freehub, carried over from the 404 NSW, uses Zipp’s magnetic clutch, which eliminates mechanical drag when freewheeling, and is brilliant. Conventional freehubs use a spring and pawl ratchet mechanism, which generates friction when coasting, and acts like a drum brake to slow you down. The new design disengages the ratchet mechanism when you’re coasting, making it effectively friction-free, so you’ll hold precious speed for longer.

The ‘Axial clutch’ has a lower profile than a standard setup, which means you can switch the freehub body to an XD driver should you want to use SRAM’s wide-ranging 1x gears. The new hubs feature factory-set preload bearings, which require no adjustment and are lighter than previous versions, the front weighing a claimed 110g and the rear 225g. Wheel stiffness is also impressive, feeling even more rigid than the 404 on back-toback comparison test rides. During test rides that saw weather warnings for high winds of 25-33mph, the 454s were markedly more controllable than the 404s. Yes, you still experience some forces acting on you, but there was an improvement in the way our test bike handled. On calmer days, it felt like we were riding with smallerdepth rims, such is the ease in which you can change direction or correct lines mid-corner. The 454 rides and feels like its shallower cousin, the 303, yet you get the added aerodynamic gains from the deeper rim. But compared to the alreadyexcellent 404 NSW, we just aren’t sure that the extra £1350 premium is quite worth it.