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Video: Zipp 454 NSW Inside Story

Written by Zach Overholt
Zipp 454 NSW wheels
27 Comments
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Yesterday, Zipp unveiled their newest innovation in aero rim design. The 454 NSW claims to be the fastest rim they’ve ever designed, but more noteworthy seems to be the shape which is based on “biomimicry.” To get a little more in depth on the development and the creation of the design (plus an explanation of that whole biomimicry thing), Zipp put together the video after the break which reveals exactly how they came to the conclusion of their fastest wheel yet…

zipp.com
Zach Overholt
5,759 articles

Zach Overholt is the Editor in Chief of Bikerumor. He has been writing about what’s new in the bicycle world for 12+ years. Prior to that, Zach spent many years in the back of a bicycle shop building and repairing nearly every type of bike, while figuring out how to (occasionally) ride them.

Based in Ohio, Zach is now slowly introducing a new generation to cycling and still trying to figure out how to fit the most rides into a busy schedule as a new dad.

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27 Comments
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RandoRandy
RandoRandy
8 years ago

MMMM……Aaaah! That’s some tasty Kool-Aide.

It looks like some folks did their homework, so racers rejoice. I ride. A lot. I don’t race. I get this is not for me, but still so much talk of speed (meh) and stability (cool), but nothing of comfort or much of durability…I don’t know. I guess I crawl over to some retrogrou-nab-quarterly-reader corner for my jollies.

Have fun!

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Kernel Flickitov
Kernel Flickitov
8 years ago

Taiwan or China will have a copy by the end of the year for half the price and better quality. The molds are being polished as we speak.

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LateSleeper
LateSleeper
8 years ago
Reply to  Kernel Flickitov

That’s why there are patent lawyers. If it were my company, I’d have filed both utility and design patents on this.

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Veganpotter
Veganpotter
8 years ago
Reply to  LateSleeper

That’s true but patents only go so far. They don’t need to copy this exactly, they may need only small trimmings or additions. Honestly, it may be better because they’ll be smart enough to make the wheel tubeless compatible. Maybe something better than the NSW which I’ve tried but in the rain, it still sucks, it’s just better than most.

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myke2241
myke2241
8 years ago
Reply to  Veganpotter

What a foolish statement. You imply that Zipp judgement is flawed because they choose to put tubeless ready branding on the these wheels. The intended market doesn’t care about tubeless. But maybe Zipp wanted to do more testing with tubeless but we are so impatient you go to knock offs!!!! Seriously wow!

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Veganpotter
Veganpotter
8 years ago
Reply to  myke2241

The intended market is people that want fast wheels. 4 of the 5 fastest clinchers are tubeless. You can run that fastest clincher on a tubeless or non-tubeless wheel. The exterior rim shape is what Zipp is focused on. Making these tubeless shouldn’t effect that…it didn’t with Enve, HED or Reynolds. By the way, they’ve already made tubeless ready rims.

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Colin
Colin
8 years ago
Reply to  LateSleeper

Yes, but they fighting the cases in China. Chinese judges are famous for dismissing cases against Chinese manufacturers who are blatantly in violation of patents. Pretty much the only way to go after it is to seize stuff as it come into the country. Which really pisses people off

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Lance
Lance
8 years ago
Reply to  Kernel Flickitov

Zipp wheels are manufactured in TAiwan.

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john
john
8 years ago
Reply to  Lance

That’s totally wrong; rims are manufactured and wheels are built in Indianapolis.

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Jami
Jami
8 years ago

Have to agree on the tubeless front. They’re not disc specific, and not tubeless. Same old clincher tech without any meaningful improvements.

understandably these are meant for pros, but why not invest in present/future tech?

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Veganpotter
Veganpotter
8 years ago
Reply to  Jami

If they were meant for pros, they’d really be tubulars. Outside of a small number of teams using clinchers for time trials, none of the world tour teams use clinchers. Clinchers have been faster than tubulars for years but they aren’t as great for flats when you’ve gotta stay in a group on the flats at 25-28mph(much of the time) I agree, tubeless is where its at but pros aren’t really using those either and in reality, few in the public are(no matter how hard you push) but the losses are non-existent compared to regular clinchers so why not?

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Ken
Ken
8 years ago
Reply to  Veganpotter

Why not, because double the price for one Improvement.

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Nash
Nash
8 years ago

A whale is gambling term for person who spends money extravagantly. Nice zipp has a dry sense of humor

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a
a
8 years ago

Watched most of the vid but tuned out near the end – maybe I missed something while they showed humpback whales. At any point does Zipp actually address whether these things have less drag in the wind tunnel at various yaw angles than other current rim shapes? Would seem to be one of the more relevant metrics, no?

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TheKaiser
TheKaiser
8 years ago
Reply to  a

I think the point is more to improve stability in crosswinds than to reduce drag, when compared to an equivalent depth standard rim . They are only quoting a 2 watt savings or something like that vs. the previous style equivalent.

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Woody
Woody
8 years ago

Needs more whale sounds

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Larry Falk
Larry Falk
8 years ago

I hope we see more wheels that take creative advantage of carbon’s properties instead of just modified Alu rims in carbon.

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therealgreenplease
therealgreenplease
8 years ago

The most significant thing in this video is right around 5 minutes in. Zipp accidentally showed off their “Aero Stick” which is likely to be an aero field testing tool. It appears to be a wind speed/yaw sensor and probably has an accelerometer in it as well. Combined with a power meter, all one has to do is go out and ride to find their CdA. Swap helmets, lower your bars, etc, until you find the most aero and efficient position and gear setup for yourself.

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Haverford
Haverford
8 years ago
Reply to  therealgreenplease

Argon 18 is developing just that product ( for consumers) Check back to the Eurobike & Interbike coverage (it isn’t too far off )

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isrequired
isrequired
8 years ago
Reply to  therealgreenplease

they mention it, and its shown as a main shot, not sure how thats accidental lol.. people are crazy.

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Conscience of a Conservative
Conscience of a Conservative
8 years ago

4k is a lot of money for wheels. would think money would be better spent on a new chain and cassette which might save more watts. For the typical rider a pair of Dura Ace wheels or Campagnola Neutrons offer far better value. No wheel is going to turn a slow rider into a Cat-1 racer.

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Veganpotter
Veganpotter
8 years ago
Reply to  Conscience of a Conservative

Ideally, you do everything. I don’t think Zipp expects to see people that run their chains past 5000miles to buy these. I’m a HED fan but I’m sure these are fast. The idea is that if you had their old wheels and you’re riding next to your physical twin but you have these wheels and they don’t, you’ll be faster and have more control in the wind. These can and will make a slow rider as less slow rider and a really fast rider a faster really fast rider.

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John
John
8 years ago

What’s the “inside story” on the narrow internal width and lack of tubeless compatibility?

New shape, same old Zipp.

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abikenerd
abikenerd
8 years ago

The primary focus here seems to be on stability in common crosswind conditions and not on outright drag reduction. You know a 404 is more aero, but a 303 will be better in crosswinds, but if the 454 was both, would you want it? Obviously the price tag makes that no more than a hypothetical exercise…I’d just get 303s.

I do wonder about the lack of tubulars, though more teams are going towards clinchers. None of their NSW wheels (with Cognition hubs) are currently offered as a disc-brake model; perhaps one is coming but the design of the hub (front especially) may limit them to rim brakes.

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Mark V
Mark V
8 years ago

Shhhh! I’ve been running Zipp 202 FC tubeless for three years without a single issue. I suppose that means they are “tubeless ready?” or at least “tubeless compatible”.

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Speed_51
Speed_51
8 years ago

If the front and rear rims have a different number of ‘HyperFoils’, how does the differing angular velocity affect the flow attachment and downstream characteristics? At what velocity (ω) do the the wheels achieve increased flow attachment and how sensitive is that attachment?

It’s interesting that through exhaustive tunnel-testing and CFD aided ‘design optimization’ (in what looks to have been static, or non rotational testing conditions), that the number of HyperFoils ends up being 18 on the front and 24 on the rear. I’d like to see the white paper on these findings.

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speedy73
speedy73
8 years ago

“ So the Zipp 454 Design was inspired from a whale…….” yet the whale is not even in the top 10 ranked fastest fish in the world…….

I would rather my carbon wheel inspired from the Marlin or Tuna…..not the Lumbering Whale.

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