Zipp 30 Course Tubular Disc-Brake Rear Wheel

Zipp 30 Course Tubular Disc-Brake Rear Wheel Info

Zipp’s carbon-rimmed disc brake wheels have been crushing it at the elite level. Not only has Jeremy Powers taken them to the top of the domestic heap, but the Cannondale cyclocross team has been using them to nip at Powers’ heels and leave the rest of the cyclocross competition behind. The Zipp 30 Corse Tubular Disc-Brake Wheel is their first aluminum-rimmed disc-brake tubular, and it is for anyone who wants sew-ups but isn’t ready for the cost of carbon.

This wheel works on road bikes, adventure bikes, cyclocross bikes, and even 29ers. Anywhere you have disc brakes and want a strong, light, aero, reliable, aluminum  tubular rim to hold up and shape your tires.

The rim possesses a bead shape that makes the wheel tubeless-ready. The shape, with a 25mm exterior width and 26mm depth takes its shape cues from Zipp’s 202 Firecrest Carbon Clincher. The depth is paired with the width for increased air volume inside the tire, which means you can run lower pressure for greater comfort and still net out lower rolling resistance. When the rim cuts through the wind, it does so with very little effort, and the depth has little effect on crosswind stability.

The hub set found  here, called 77/177D, are already found on Zipp 202 and 303 Firecrest disc-brake wheels. The hubs are designed to be versatile. They have six-bolt mounting for rotors. They come with a disc-brake specific quick release, but the skewer and the hub end caps can easily be pulled by hand and swapped for thru-axle endcaps. Thus you can run either 12x100mm or 15x100mm in front and either 12x135mm or 12x142mm in the back. The axle itself has a 17mm diameter. Because of these needs, Zipp eliminated bearing pre-load and also improved the bearing shielding. These hubs take less work to maintain and roll just fine after your epic muddy cx race. All the same, the spokes are Sapim’s CX-Ray, which are the most aero spokes around, and will save you time every second of the ride.

The wheels are sold separately. Each wheels comes with quick release hub end caps, thru-axle hub end caps, and Zipp skewer. When you buy the rear wheel version, it comes with either a Campagnolo-compatible 9/10/11-speed cassette body or a Shimano/SRAM-compatible cassette body with a 1.85mm spacer to run nine- or ten-speed cassettes. These can be swapped without re-dishing the wheel, and both can be pulled in favor of a SRAM XD driver body for even wider range of gearing.

The 30 Course Tubular Disc-Brake is Zipp’s do-it-all tubular wheelset.