Zipp 101 XPLR Tubeless Disc Front Wheel - 650b

The Zipp 101 XPLR Tubeless Disc Front Wheel is built for the terrain that road wheels can't handle and mountain bike wheels overbuild for. As part of Zipp's XPLR line — the brand's dedicated gravel platform — this 650b front wheel pairs a hookless carbon rim with a 15mm depth, 27mm internal width, and roughly 35mm external width, giving you a wide, stable tire bed suited to the wider, lower-pressure tires that gravel riding demands.

What sets this wheel apart is Zipp's single-wall MOTO Technology, which allows the carbon rim to flex slightly around the spoke nipples rather than staying rigid the way a typical road or track rim does. On smooth pavement that flex would be a liability. On broken gravel, chunky doubletrack, or a washboard descent, it works in your favor — the rim absorbs impacts instead of transmitting every hit straight into your hands and hips, which translates into more traction, better control, and a real reduction in pinch-flat risk when you're running tire pressure low enough to actually grip loose surfaces.

The build underneath that rim is just as gravel-specific. Twenty-eight Sapim CX-Sprint spokes in a three-cross lacing pattern give the wheel the durability to handle repeated impacts without going out of true, and the front wheel rolls on Zipp's ZR1 disc hub. With 66 points of engagement, the ZR1 picks up drive quickly when you're stomping out of a loose corner or grinding back onto the pedals after a technical section — the kind of responsiveness that matters more on inconsistent gravel than it does on a smooth road climb.

The hookless rim profile means this wheel is built exclusively around tubeless-ready tires, which is where most serious gravel riders already are — tubeless setups let you run the lower pressures this wheel is designed around without the pinch-flat risk that comes with tubes. Between the wider internal bed and the compliant rim design, the 101 XPLR is built to let you push tire choice and pressure further than a standard gravel wheel would comfortably allow.

This listing is the front wheel only, sold separately from its rear counterpart, and it's available in Black or the Kwiqsand colorway. At $649.99, marked down from $897, it's a way into Zipp's gravel-specific engineering — MOTO Technology compliance, a fast-engaging ZR1 hub, and a rim built around wide tubeless tires — for a rider who's serious about racing or riding long days on rough terrain and wants a wheel actually built for it, not adapted from a road platform.