Zipp 3ZERO MOTO review
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Zipp 3ZERO MOTO review

Do the innovative carbon rims pay dividends on the trail?

Our rating

4.5

1840.00
1800.00
1645.00

Russell Burton / Immediate Media

Published: October 22, 2021 at 9:00 am

Our review
Subtle, accurate and fast, likely the best carbon wheels on the market today

Pros:

Excellent control and comfort on a wide range of trails; fast pickup and easy hub maintenance

Cons:

Tight tyre fitting is a bit of a pain; no Shimano Micro Spline option

Zipp’s 3ZERO MOTO carbon wheels are some of the most interesting around.

Their single-wall rim (it doesn’t have a hollow mid-section, like many other rims) is designed to pivot laterally around the spoke bed.

This, Zipp says, gives improved traction, impact protection and comfort. The theory sounds interesting, but how did they fare in testing?

Zipp 3ZERO MOTO specifications and details

Zipp supplies wheels with either an XD driver, for SRAM 10-50 or 10-52 cassettes, or a Shimano/SRAM HG freehub for 11-50t 10/11/12-speed cassettes.

No Shimano Micro Spline option is offered. Likewise, the hubs have a six-bolt rotor attachment only, though wheels come in both 29in and 27.5in models.

The single-wall rim has a classy woven carbon finish, backed up by shiny decals (of which there are five colour options) that, despite the rim’s shallow 15mm overall depth, draw the eye.

Zipp 3ZERO MOTO mountain bike wheelset
A single wall rim articulates on the spokes, adding compliance, grip and puncture protection. Russell Burton / Immediate Media

The rim’s outer diameter is a touch larger than some other wheels and, with a relatively shallow central well, getting tyres on and off was a bit of a struggle, especially with tighter DH-spec rubber.

I resorted to tyre levers most of the time and, thanks to that shallow rim depth, hooking the lever over the edge of the rim wall was easy. Still, these aren’t the easiest wheels to get tyres on in my experience.

When it came to inflating tyres, again, there are easier out there. I needed a booster pump most of the time, despite a relatively tight fit.

The rims come pre-taped and with SRAM’s own valve. The wheels are ready to accept the Quark TyreWiz, if you want real-time data on your tyre pressures.

The quality of the taping is good and as it’s a single-wall rim, the spoke nipples’ position is marked by humps in the rim tape. I found I needed the valve’s lockring to be pretty tight in order to keep them airtight.

Each wheel has 32 bladed, J-bend spokes, and because the hub flanges have different diameters a total of five different spoke lengths are used to construct the wheel.

Zipp 3ZERO MOTO mountain bike wheelset
Wide flanges help keep wheel stiffness high. Russell Burton / Immediate Media

SRAM hasn’t just considered the rims here – this latest version of its hub is one of the nicest on test.

The hub end caps fit snugly thanks to a rubber 0-ring that keeps them stable when you’re fitting and removing the wheel, but also allows them to be easily removed if you need access to the well-sealed and clearly well-greased bearings.

I also liked the slightly chamfered edges of the hub axles, which make the wheels that little bit easier to fit, too.

Zipp 3ZERO MOTO performance

Of all the wheels I had on test, the Zipps were one of just a few sets where I felt there was a noticeable (if still very slight) uplift in performance.

Over an off-camber rooty test track, I was confident holding slightly higher speeds, with what felt like a touch more control over my line choice.

Likewise, on awkward landings, there’s a slightly deadened, damped feel rather than a harsher clunk, when riding my hardtail test bike.

This contributed to minimal hand pain while riding the roughest test tracks.

During testing, I had no issues with either rim reliability or damaging tyres when I bottomed them out over rocks.

Zipp 3ZERO MOTO mountain bike wheelset
You'll only find an XD driver option here – understandable, as Zipp is part of the SRAM family. Russell Burton / Immediate Media

With a 120kg system weight limit, heavier e-MTB riders may want to take care, and though the feeling of the wheels is great I’d still avoid running tyre pressures too low, despite a lifetime warranty.

This all suggests that Zipp’s theory of ‘ankle compliance’, as it calls the pivoting rim, may well hold some sway.

The 2.7-degree engagement angle from the 132 points of engagement the freehub body supplies is among the quickest around.

I loved the feel on my hardtail, where pickup of pedal inputs is exceptional. Some may argue that on a full-suspension bike with relatively high pedal-kickback levels, this may become more noticeable.

Zipp 3ZERO MOTO bottom line

These are the best-riding carbon wheels in this test, with a muted, comfortable yet accurate feel on the trail.

They’re not the easiest to get tyres on and off, but we can overlook that thanks to their excellent ride feel.

They’re also significantly cheaper than some other carbon wheels here.

How we tested

Wheels are a pretty pricey upgrade, so we put 12 trail/enduro sets to the test to find out if there’s an inherent benefit to pricey carbon fibre hoops or is alloy better for hard-hitting rims?

The wheelsets were taken on back-to-back runs down selected tracks in the Welsh woods and at BikePark Wales. They were pummelled over and into rocks and drops, turns and berms, and off-camber roots.

To keep things fair, all our testing was done on the same bikes, both hardtail and full-sus, with the same tyres (thanks Specialized!) at the same pressures.

We tested 29in wheels, but most are offered in 650b versions too. While we predominantly ran 2.6in rubber, we also slung some 2.3in tyres on, and we varied the pressures between test sessions to see what difference we could feel.

Bikes shouldn’t be a pain to live with, so we took into account the ease with which tyres could be fitted and inflated. Likewise, we considered how easy it was to access bearings and swap freehubs, too.

Also on test

Product

Brand zipp
Price 1840.00 EUR,1645.00 GBP,1800.00 USD
Weight 2016.0000, GRAM (29in) - per wheelset

Features

br_rimMaterial carbon
br_wheelSize 29in_700c
br_brakeTypeSimple disc
br_spokes J-Bend
br_rimInternalWidth 29.7mm
Features Weight (f): 934g

Weight (r): 1,082g

Engagement angle: 2.7 degrees
br_spokeCountRear 32
br_spokeCountFront 32