If the Zipp 60 Clinchers look familiar, it is because they are familiar.  Remember the 404s before FireCrest?  Well as it turns out, so does Zipp and here they are again. Granted, you’re looking at a Zipp hoop for a $1,000 less than their FC brethren, but look closely and these may not be the wheels you think they are.  The hubs on the Zipp 60 Clincher, and its 30mm brethren, are not Zipp Racing hubs.  Instead, the hubs are made in Taiwan – not the high end Zipp racing hubs.

The braking surface – love it or leave it – is aluminum, too.  You do, however, get Sapim CX-Ray spokes, in an 18/20 pattern, so there is still plenty of value in the right places, but if you liked the Zipp hubs, these aren’t the wheels for you.  Contrariwise, if you are looking for the best wheels a limited budget can buy, these certainly represent a very attractive cost to value proposition.  Expect to see a whole lot of these on the road course in the near future.

The Zipp 30 Clinchers unlike their Zipp 60 big brothers, are a wheel of a different depth, to pardon the pun. At 30mm deep, these all-aluminum wheels are mated to the new hub using Sapim CX-Ray spokes, all for under $900.  Zipp claims a 200g weight gain over the 101s, which puts the 30 Clinchers in around 1530g (EDIT: Actual claimed weight is 1655g, Thanks Chris for the heads up); not bad for a $400 price drop, but not stellar, either. If nothing but Zipps will do, however, these are the lowest point of entry anyone could ask for.

Are the new wheels from Zipp going to revolutionize the industry, as the others have done?  No, but they just might be the best bargain in the industry right now, and that’s worth a lot more to you and I.

[details here 60/30]