After two years of near-constant prototyping and refinement, Zipp carbon clinchers have arrived. Featuring a revolutionary aero rim shape and carbon materials found nowhere else in the world, the all-new 404 Carbon Clincher is the wheelset you've been waiting for.
Its Firecrest™ rim shape is the first deep-profile carbon clincher design to offer the superior aerodynamics, ride quality, strength, and handling of a wider rim body. Yet the 404 Carbon Clincher weighs just 1557 grams per wheelset, putting it among the lightest deep-profile carbon clinchers available. And like all Zipp carbon rims, the 404 Carbon Clincher is handmade in Speedway, Indiana.
To account for the differences in airflow patterns between clincher tires and tubulars, Firecrest employs a complex set of high-radius curves to adjust the width of the rim from 25.5mmm at the braking track to 27.5mm at the rim's widest point. This less tapered version of our proven hybrid-toroidal clincher rim shape particularly improves the aerodynamics of the rear wheel as it rotates within the frame. With Firecrest and Zipp's ABLC™ dimples, the 404 Carbon Clincher far exceeds the aero performance of any other clincher wheelset in its class.
As Zipp engineers have shown with designs like the Paris-Roubaix-winning 303 Tubular, a wider rim also increases lateral stiffness for sprinting and cornering yet offers greater vertical compliance for more control and comfort on rough surfaces. The same holds true for Firecrest rims with clincher tires. Because the hook beads are farther apart, the tire takes on a more stable shape. A shape that places more rubber on the road while cornering without adding rolling resistance. Increased air volume also reduces the likelihood of pinch flatting compared to narrower rims.
Heavy, continuous braking on carbon surfaces can cause spikes in rim temperature, and clincher tires are more susceptible to the effects than tubulars are. To solve this challenge, chemists and engin
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