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Zipp goes tubeless, with 25 & 28mm Tangente Speed road race tires

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Last summer Zipp showed us that they’ve finally started to transition to tubeless ready rim profiles & beads for some of their carbon clinchers wheels. That started with the disc brake version of the popular mid-depth 303 wheels, which they say gets a lot of cross-over use racing cyclocross. But those wheels proved themselves racing on the road and now get Zipp tubeless tires to match. The new race-ready Zipp Tangente Speed tubeless tires deliver top-level performance for lower rolling resistance and improved grip and come in both 25mm & 28mm variants. Get the rull details and a closer look after the jump…

Zipp claims ‘best-in-class performance’ compared to the tubeless road race tires on the market today. That extends to saying that the Tangente Speed has the lowest rolling resistance, best dry grip & best overall cornering grip of all the major brands they had tested by an independent lab.

The Tangente Speed comes in two width versions RT25 & RT28 to meet the current standard of road and endurance road tire preferences. They also say that they were developed and manufactured according to ETRTO (that still leans heavily on narrow rim profiles) which means that they may end up measuring a bit wider mounted on the current wide crop of tires, like their own 21mm internal 303 Disc wheels and 30 Course alloy wheels of the same width.

The tires get 127tpi nylon casings (down from 220tpi of the non-tubeless version to hold the air in), a polyamide anti-puncture layer under the tread, and 60 ShA durometer rubber in a smooth tread with shoulder sipes to clear water when cornering (although in a less pronounced design than their non-tubeless Speed siblings). The 25mm RT25 is claimed to weigh 292g a piece and is rated to 115psi, while the RT28 is 
302g and goes up to a 100psi limit. The tires will each sell for $74/84€/£71 with retail availability set for June for the 25mm ones and August for the 28s.

It’s good to see Zipp join the road tubeless movement so more riders can run lower tire pressures, get improved grip and reduced pinch flat risk. It’ll be interesting now to see which other carbon wheels and how quickly they will join the disc brake 303 to gain tubeless compatibility?

Zipp.com

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lovethebike
lovethebike
6 years ago

If you are in a race and have to change a flat, would you choose normal clincher or tubeless? Why?

lop
lop
6 years ago
Reply to  lovethebike

Are you under the impression that a rider would stop and fix a flat during a road race?

TomM
TomM
6 years ago
Reply to  lovethebike

Unless you are a supported pro, once you get a flat in a race you are no longer racing; you are on a bike ride.

Jonathon
Jonathon
6 years ago
Reply to  TomM

Ummm, every Cat 5 through Cat 1 I’ve done had a wheel support vehicle for flats..

lovethebike
lovethebike
6 years ago
Reply to  Jonathon

yeah, thinking of triathlon, since it looks like Zipp is going to bring tubeless to deeper rims

Bmx
Bmx
6 years ago
Reply to  lovethebike

Tubeless run with sealant they don’t really flat unless you make a big gash in the tyre. Have run schwable tubeless for a year without a flat. Serious improvement over clincher tyres. Tubeless are probably the best tech improvement this decade.

ascarlarkinyar
6 years ago

So they claim best grip and fastest tire in market? That’s quite a claim.

Jim E.
Jim E.
6 years ago

Time for bicyclerollingresistance.com to test those claims

RobertW
RobertW
6 years ago

Manufactured by….Vittoria?

Matthew Davitt
Matthew Davitt
6 years ago
Reply to  RobertW

I’m sure. Guess Vittoria isn’t sharing the Graphene tech yet.

Electro91
Electro91
6 years ago
Reply to  RobertW

Manufactured by Hutchinson (in France).

John
John
6 years ago

So Zipp beat Continental to the tubeless road tire punch? Whodathunkit?

Asa
Asa
6 years ago

Since nobody really answered the initial question. You would just ride tubeless and be sure to have a small flat kit along. If you were to get a flat then you would just install the tube and continue on as best you can.

Scott
Scott
6 years ago

Ive been riding tubeless for 5 years. I don’t bring a flat kit with me unless it’s a very very long ride. Ive never had a tire go 100% flat ever. I’ve had them drop to 15-20psi but i can still make it home on that.

Eugene Chan
6 years ago

Just got the 25mm version of these tires. On ENVE SES 5.6 Disc rims (19mm/28mm,28.75mm) they run 26.5-26.8mm wide at 100psi, which isn’t very wide at all. As I’ll probably be running these tires between 75-85psi most of the time, they’ll be even narrower. Despite my wide rims, mounting by hand was easy. Setting the bead was done with a track pump. There was audible leaking around the bead before I added 45mL of sealant, but now it seems to be sealed up nicely. Will check again in 24 hours. The tires are made in France, so I’m almost certain they are made for Zipp by Hutchinson. The new Mavic UST w/11Storm compound tires are also made by Hutchinson. I would be that these tires use the same compound even though Zipp isn’t using that marketing term. Unlike my Schwalbe Pro Ones, the inner casing and bead are very smooth and very flexible. My suspicion is that I will get around 1500mi out of the rear when my Pro Ones last just a little over 2000mi.

Laurent Cali
Laurent Cali
5 years ago

Just got the zipp rt28 on 3T ltd 35mm 50mm rim already 2 month of ride at 250 a week no flat yet 🙂

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