Zipp Super 9 Disc Rear Carbon Clincher

The disc wheel and Zipp go hand in hand. In fact, the disc was Zipp's first product in the late '80s, jumping straight into the spotlight as a serious wheel that could cheat wind unlike anything that the cycling world had seen before. Today, through pro rider feedback think Tony Martin's silver in London, the use of advanced composite technologies, and extensive wind tunnel testing, Zipp continues its mission of building the fastest disc wheels on the planet. And with the introduction of the Super 9 Disc Rear Carbon Clincher, Zipp's Super line continues, marking its fastest wheel to date. Through extensive wind tunnel testing, dubbed the carbon clincher project, Zipp's engineers discovered that, aerodynamically speaking, clinchers are significantly faster than tubulars. The transition from the tire surface to the rim surface allows for the airflow to stay attached over the wheel, accordingly providing a reduction in pressure drag. As Zipp puts it, this could only be achieved using a carbon clincher design. Why' Well, in comparison to tubulars, the clinchers' carefully molded brake track more closely follows the contour of the tire. In other words, the reshaped brake tracks actually tips inward slightly, rather than aligning parallel. So, this shape places the disc's widest point just below the braking surface. This keeps the clincher tucked down into the relatively wide, 26. 42mm tire bed. Or, in even more simpler terms, the Super 9 eliminates balloon effect. And besides providing an aerodynamic advantage, the added width between the clincher hook beads increases air volume in the tire, which means a lower chance of pinch flatting. The Super 9 carbon clincher still features the dimpling pattern that's found on the 900 and the Firecrest models, which effectively smooths air flow in order to minimize drag. Zipp calls this its Aerodynamic Boundary Layer Control ABLC. Essentially, this is a treatment to the carbon fiber, where the surface is embossed with o...