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Found: Performance Bike Wheelhouse carbon clinchers made by Zipp

Written by Tyler Benedict
33 Comments
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Performance Bike Wheelhouse 45 Carbon Clinchers road bike wheels built by Zipp

Performance Bike is no stranger to collaborations, but often it’s with exclusive colorways or styles for apparel. Now, they’ve partnered with Zipp for a custom, handbuilt carbon clincher wheelset that’s made at Zipp’s Indiana HQ.

The Performance Bike Wheelhouse 45 uses a 45mm deep carbon clincher rim made by Zipp using most of their tech, including braking surface, high temp resins and aero rim profiles. It’s very similar in shape to the Firecrest 303, but without the exact Firecrest profile and without the dimpled surface. Those are laced to DT Swiss 350 straight pull hubs using Sapim CX-Ray bladed spokes and come with Zipp skewers. Retail is $1,899 (on sale as of this post for $1,399). Pics and more below…

Performance Bike Wheelhouse 45 Carbon Clinchers road bike wheels built by Zipp

The wheels come with Zipp’s Tangente Pro brake pads, plus rim tape and Zipp valve extenders.

Performance Bike Wheelhouse 45 Carbon Clinchers road bike wheels built by Zipp

Claimed weight is 1,575g. Check ’em out here.
Tyler Benedict
11,282 articles

Tyler Benedict is the Founder of Bikerumor.com, where he’s been writing about the latest bikes, components, and cycling technology for almost two decades. Prior to that, Tyler launched and built multiple sports nutrition brands and consumer goods companies, mostly as an excuse to travel and ride in new places.

Based in North Carolina, Tyler also loves the Vanlife & family adventure travel and is always on the lookout for the next shiny new part and off-grid adventure.

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33 Comments
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jbt
jbt
8 years ago

I would expect these to remain permanently “on sale,” because at their regular “retail” price, you might as well spend $300 more and just get 303 Firecrests.

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Russell Lewis
Russell Lewis
8 years ago
Reply to  jbt

i’m pretty sure $1399 is for the set, not per wheel.

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crackedframe
crackedframe
8 years ago

No disc? No sale.

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mateo
mateo
8 years ago
Reply to  crackedframe

Stan’s Avion Disc is $1729. 1610g, 41mm deep, tubeless ready,

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Cheese
Cheese
8 years ago
Reply to  mateo

But definitely not made in Indiana.

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Six3Too
Six3Too
8 years ago

No matter how rad you think they are, you’re still buying almost $2000 wheels from the Home Depot of bike shops, and therefore should be ashamed and embarrassed.

#supportyourlbs

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JBikes
JBikes
8 years ago
Reply to  Six3Too

What do I do if my local bike shop becomes the next home depot of bike shops? At what size point do they lose their hipster local cred? At what price point should I say they are too cheap, and should I then pay them more for propriety. Or, should I find someone charging more for the same thing and do business with them? Should any of my decisions be based on whether the shop has good coffee on hand and personnel have nicely groomed facial hair, yet otherwise appear disheveled, yet purposely so? Does a shop lady who is good looking, but “one of the guys” count for even more in my decision? Is it good or bad if they are slightly rude and condescending?

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Rider7
Rider7
8 years ago
Reply to  JBikes

I do not think the size of the bike shop has anything to do with if it is the home depot vs. hipster street cred. It comes down to the service and personal touch you receive from the shop. I have been to the “home depot” a couple times. I have never felt that I received the same quality service or personal touch that I get from my local bike shop. I also tend to shy away from the shop that has employees spending more effort sculpting their facial hair than helping their customers.

I don’t mind spending a few extra bucks if the smaller local shop can offer the better service. I want them to be around, so that if I am really in a bind and need advice I can have someone enthusiastically willing to help me. Good coffee never hurts either!

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JBikes
JBikes
8 years ago
Reply to  Rider7

Well that’s an answer I can accept. I just get sick and tired of the support your LBS just because they are a LBS.

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mac
mac
8 years ago
Reply to  Six3Too

Lol. My local home depot of bike shops is home to ALL of the knowledgeable salespeople in the county. Probably because you can actually cash your paychecks from them and get access to things like health insurance. But keep on with that “performance is evil” BS.

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Yeti_Rider
Yeti_Rider
8 years ago
Reply to  Six3Too

Do you always support your local fish market, butcher, bakery, fruit and vege store, tailor and cobbler?

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MW
MW
7 years ago
Reply to  Six3Too

Yeah! How dare you..
In wanting to save money!
You should be shunned! Tarred and feathered!
Also don’t forget to buy the 9.00 candy bar when you go to the movies!

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nightfend
nightfend
8 years ago

What? Budget carbon wheels that are not re-branded taiwanese/chinese rims? Amazing!

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Veganpotter
Veganpotter
8 years ago

These are barely budget wheels at MSRP but don’t fret, they’ll never be sold for MSRP Get some Hed Jet Plus wheels. Mostly all the independent tests show they’re faster than the faster Zipps and ENVE wheels when ACTUALLY mounted to a bike

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Jimmy
Jimmy
8 years ago

Man, this is a tough crowd.
At the sale price — with the 10 percent kickback from Performance — and DT Swiss hubs rather than the sometimes suspect Zipp ones make this is actually a pretty decent deal.
Performance is what it is, and regardless of snobbish ideas about shopping there, they can be a great source for many things I use all the time and have put a bunch of consumer-level cyclists on bikes who otherwise wouldn’t be on them.
Off and on, they have really good pricing on dura ace and ultegra stuff. I wouldn’t buy clothes there… but cassettes, chains, sometimes contis when they’re on sale… great deal on a flatcar Fuji for the wife, yeah I shop there.

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edge
edge
8 years ago

I could care less if they are branded Performance. Do they work??? Good Price??? then yes!!!

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therealgreenplease
therealgreenplease
8 years ago

Any chance of just buying a front wheel?

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Corey
Corey
8 years ago

BTW…a quick search shows that these are lighter wheels than the 303 clinchers…

And for the haters, I buy most of my bike tools at an actual Home Depot.

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Steve
Steve
8 years ago

They better stay “on sale” or nobody will buy them. Full retail Zipp 404 Firecrests are only ~$200 more.

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Dave
Dave
8 years ago

I like this wheelset.

And I agree with the peanut gallery… death to Performance for helping to make cycling slightly more affordable and accessible to those for whom riding isn’t the defining characteristic of their being.

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dan
dan
8 years ago

I have a Performance in town and it’s staffed with great people who ride hard and race often. Never an attitude. PB has a great return policy and no store in town can touch that except Bontrager’s 30 Day policy and some of Specialized’s warranty that the Speci employees do NOT want anyone to know about. I get 10% back in PB store credit (but I pay 6% tax) and when I buy through activejunky.com sometime’s it’s 6% to 10% in cash. If I was in the market for this type of wheelset it’d definitely come from wherever had the best price, not the best coffee.

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Practical Cynic
Practical Cynic
8 years ago

Performance may be a corporate shop, and definitely concerned about their bottom line- but what business isn’t?! They have great prices on the limited product they carry and offer an unmatched return/guarantee policy.
That and they do have genuine bike guys/gals there sometimes- like any shop. Only the best of the best don’t have fat to trim.
As for the PRODUCT, not really a fan of ZIPP, but this does address the primary gripes I have: Junk hubs and a premium price for something I won’t really benefit from(dimples.)
I’m not an aero-engineer, but as a BME, I have taken enough fluid dynamics to know that I don’t want to pay for dimples.

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Kernel Flickitov
Kernel Flickitov
8 years ago

Zipp; another record setting recall waiting to happen. Caveat emptor.

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Robin
Robin
8 years ago
Reply to  Kernel Flickitov

I realize your comment is probably more snarky than serious, but this seems like it ought to be a good wheel set. The latest generation or two or three of Zipp rims seems to be more hardy than previous gens (At least I haven’t loads of complaints about the rims).

This wheel set seems like a pretty darned solid deal: Zipp made rims (US made for those that value that), CX-Ray spokes, and DT 350 hubs. The weight, at a claimed 1575g, is decent. If the wheels stay at or often priced at their current sale price, you’ve got a deal that is at least comparable to the best deals out there on deepish CF aero wheels. I can’t really see a downside.

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Larry Falk
Larry Falk
8 years ago

Whether you like the wheels or not, whether you like Zipp or not, more choice, more competition, more potential customers for the bike industry is a good thing.

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gino
gino
8 years ago

I’m not saying this is a bad thing, but are we sure that these wheels are made by Zipp in the way we are assuming? Looking at the pics, no were on the wheels does it say Zipp except for the qr skewers, valve extenders, and brake pads. SRAM is a company known for overseas production. I would place a bet that the rims are made overseas (if even made by SRAM/Zipp) and the “handcrafted by Zipp” used on the Performance page refers to the lacing/building of the wheels. Zipp’s aluminum wheels come from overseas. Once again, I’m not saying this is bad, but I do think it would mark an intentionally misleading turn of phrase by Performance. Several comments have mentioned made in the USA, and I also wonder if BIkerumor made this same assumption from the description on Performance’s listing. If Bikerumor received an actual press release stating that the rims are also made in Indiana then please disregard my comment, but I doubt it.

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David S
David S
8 years ago

Hey Gino, thanks for the feedback. This is David, the social media manager for Performance Bicycle. To be 100% clear, the actual production (from raw carbon) of the carbon rims for these wheels is done in Indianapolis, in the same factory as other Zipp wheels. The wheels are then assembled in the Zipp factory as well. So we do mean that they are handcrafted in the USA. If you have any other questions, feel free to send me a note here at Performance: davidswan@performanceinc.com

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Thomas Busselle
Thomas Busselle
7 years ago
Reply to  David S

Can these be setup tubeless?

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Pit
Pit
8 years ago

Never heard of performance, who cares the shop? I just buy whatever I need from whoever has it cheapest. These wheels look fine to me. Alternative to Reynolds assault, price range.

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JH Aberschmidt
JH Aberschmidt
8 years ago

what on earth made Zipp think this partnership was a good idea?

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Dinger
Dinger
8 years ago
Reply to  JH Aberschmidt

Math?

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Hellafaster
Hellafaster
8 years ago

I’m a “fast” 220 pound rider punishing these wheels on Houston streets that third world countries would be ashamed of. They are fast and durable. They are a great all around choice for the Clyde. This is my everyday Wheelset and I’m happy with them. When you consider the price there a solid deal.

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JL Old Guy
JL Old Guy
7 years ago

I am a 210lb rider this whole year, and these are great wheels. Wide and durable on pavement and my local occasional gravel excursions. Fast, fast, fast.

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