Whereas it seems to be fairly related on the surface, there’s loads of new tech within the up to date Tremendous-9 Disc wheel to make you go quicker. A large-tire tubeless rim goes hookless to additional scale back rolling resistance. Whereas subtly up to date shaping and a brand new dimple sample exterior promise smoother airflow. Zipp went via 7 prototypes within the wind tunnel to get to this new Tremendous-9. And examined 8 of the preferred TT & Tri bikes to verify it make all racers quicker in opposition to the clock. There’s even an up to date Tremendous-9 Monitor Disc that’s hoping to hurry issues up this summer time contained in the velodrome…
Redesigned Zipp Tremendous-9 DB Disc goes hookless tubeless
A disc wheel was Zipp’s first product 36 years in the past – The Predator. So, reshaping the Tremendous-9 Disc is all the time an enormous enterprise for the aero specialists at Zipp. And now they’ve targeted in on smoother being quicker. Gone are the times of overinflated, ultra-skinny tires that bounce you down the street. Now with a wider tire profile and decrease pressures, the most recent tubeless tires can roll throughout the street with decrease resistance, whereas letting a light-weight and stiff carbon disc put down the facility in your races in opposition to the clock.
This newest iteration of the Zipp Tremendous-9 Disc is 33% wider internally. It’s incrementally quicker, noticeably stiffer, and extra sturdy. Plus, it’s 13% lighter than the earlier era Tremendous-9.
What’s new?
Zipp says the up to date Tremendous-9 is developed round a brand new Whole System Effectivity (TSE) precept. “Smoother is quicker. Effectivity equals pace, excellent pavement or not.” And so the brand new TSE design means combining a stiffer carbon laminate with a wider rim profile, a extra strong rim bead interface, and in the end wider tires at decrease pressures.
“Experiencing Zipp’s twin improvements of hookless and TSE, riders on the Tremendous-9 notice a disc wheel doesn’t need to really feel inflexible to be quick… So, past pace positive aspects, riders will expertise higher dealing with and cornering on target in a disc considerably stiffer and extra sturdy than its predecessor.“
Now designed round fashionable large 28mm tires, the brand new Zipp Tremendous-9 Disc includes a large 23mm inner hookless tubeless rim. Wider tires, decrease pressures, decreased rolling resistance. New max tire strain score of 73psi, simply 5bar!
Beginning on the ZR1 hub, the brand new rim form stays large with parallel sides via a lot of its profile, solely “feathering” again down close to the rim the place it measures 30.4mm exterior on the tire for a easy aerodynamic transition. In addition they get the revised Aerodynamic Boundary Layer Management (ABLC) Sawtooth-patterned aero dimples for smoother airflow across the wheel and spinning via your body.
Tech particulars
The brand new Tremendous-9 Disc additionally leverages a pair extra bits of recent tech to go quicker. The only is the inclusion of ordinary sized hybrid ceramic bearings out of the field. Ceramics simply spin quicker, and longer. So at this value level, it appeared like a no brainer to present the Tremendous-9 Disc a ceramic improve.
The opposite is extra technology-focused. Decrease tire pressures are key to reducing rolling resistance, however going too low is usually worse, with disastrous penalties. So, now the Tremendous-9 Disc builds in a TyreWiz 2.0 tire-pressure monitor. Tucked out of sight and out of the wind, it makes certain the racer in opposition to the clock can all the time exactly test that their excellent tire strain is dialed in, from their smartphone or linked biking pc.
The TyreWiz is tucked right into a revised valve, pocket behind a brand new driveside cowl that slides in-and-out of place just like the battery cowl in your TV distant management.
The brand new hookless Zipp Tremendous-9 Disc in the end claims a weight of simply 999-1050g. That’s not Zipp’s first sub kilo disc wheel – that was the 950 again in 1996. However ever since disc brakes took over, and tubulars phased out, wheel weights grew once more. Now this one is a claimed 125-156g lighter than the disc brake tubeless Tremendous-9 that debuted virtually 6 years in the past. (Zipp makes a number of completely different weight claims for each the previous & new discs, so we’ve included their vary of claims.)
Quicker on the monitor, too!
Zipp additionally has a redesigned set of Tremendous-9 Clincher Monitor Disc wheels, as nicely. Once more leveraging the concepts of lighter weight, improved wheel stiffness, larger sturdiness. But in addition with wider tires with decrease pressures to scale back rolling resistance.
New entrance and rear discs for zipping across the velodrome, the brand new Tremendous-9 Monitor Discs are additionally tubeless – no tubulars! However they persist with a hooked rim for tube-type or tubeless compatibility. And a narrower 21mm inner rim width that Zipp optimized to go quickest with 23mm tires. Now maxing out at 125psi / 8.6bar.
The brand new Zipp Tremendous-9 Disc Monitor wheels spin on ceramic bearings in ZR1 monitor hubs with a claimed weight of 1000g per wheel.
Zipp Tremendous-9 Disc wheels – Pricing, choices & availability
The all-new hookless tubeless Zipp Tremendous-9 Disc for time trials and triathlon is disc brake solely, and sells for $3000 / 2750€ with both a Shimano HD or SRAM XDR freehub. Zipp says the brand new TT & Tri Tremendous-9 “pairs completely” with their present crop of tubeless entrance wheels.
The narrower new hooked tubeless Zipp Tremendous-9 Disc Monitor wheels all additionally promote for a similar $3000 / 2750€ per wheel. The monitor discs are available three choices. Normal 12mm bolt-on thru-axles for 100mm entrance & 120mm rear spacing, plus an ultra-narrow 40mm large entrance hub on a 15mm axle for some Argon 18 & Canyon monitor bikes.
