Zipp
I had a pretty rough introduction to road biking, sustaining 4 flats in my first 3 rides. These tubes have not yet sustained a flat since I installed them 10 rides ago, but I don't want to give them too much credit there. I will give them credit for the best installation experience and the best valves I've used. Again, not much experience, but until someone shows me a reason to buy a different tube this fits my budget and I see no reason to change.
4/5 I like it, don't necessarily love it, though. 3/5 Reasonable price, probably 4 stars if you catch it on sale. Overall, the mount is nice if you use the beefy Sprint SL stem and actually want your device to be centered. OCD-ers rejoice. The actual mount arm piece is a bit thick, though. Not sure it needed to be. Also, the finish is matte alum, and while it doesn't really clash with the polished carbon stem, it doesn't exactly match either. Would love to see a polished version. Taking it out of the packaging, it feels "heavy" but once mounted you don't notice the few extra grams despite it's size as noted above.
I swore by cloth rim tape for years. However, I've found that my newer carbon rims are wider with a less deep channel in the center. What's that got to do with anything? Well, it has to do with mounting tight fitting tires and preventing pinch flats. This rim tape is just that much thinner than cloth rim tape that mounting tight tires to new carbon rims is a bit easier. I am relieved that in the process of mounting tight tires I won't accidentally scoot the cloth tape over so that a tiny sliver of spoke hole is exposed. This will lead to a flat (hopefully before you set out on ride). Also, when it is so difficult to mount a tire that you end up using a tire lever to pop that last four inches of bead over the rim, you increase the risk of pinching your tube - or worse yet, damaging your rim.
I've had these wheels for over a year now and couldn't be more pleased. I'm running them tubeless with Bontrager GR2 Team Issue 40c tires and they hold pressure with no leaks and I've had zero pinch flats. The rear hub design is easy to service without special tools. They've stayed true since day one despite taking a beating on rough gravel and singletrack. The freehub is also very quiet, Lightweight, spin up fast and roll easy. Great value, highly recommend.
