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We'd love to be a fly on the wall at a Zipp imagineering session. Like for this Zipp 1080 Tubular wheelset. Zipp started with a few knowns, like the fact that some people already can handle Tri-Spokes in crosswinds. They then used that info to figure out how they could make a wheel that's faster than their 808 and faster than most discs at a weight that is lighter than either a Tri-Spoke or a disc. Sketches, drawing boards, computer modeling, three or more samples sent to the wind tunnel, back to the drawing board, and then, finally, they have an amazing new wheel.

Thanks to its rim depth of 108mm, the Zipp 1080 is faster than an 808, which is already faster than most discs in wind conditions up to 13-degrees of yaw. That's probably a majority of the riding conditions anyone faces. It's also 29 seconds faster than a Tri-Spoke over a 40k time trial and lighter by 80 grams as well. Faster and lighter, those are two things we like to see together.

This wheel is all about the time trial. Easier to handle than a disc and faster than most of them. Better on hills, too. It makes us salivate at the thought of another race against the clock.

The tubular 1080 is built with Zipp's new Carbon Bridge manufacturing technology. Zipp stitches Kevlar thread in a co-axial helix (think round) to bind the layers of carbon fiber at the top of each rim's sidewall. What the stitched segment does is better spread out the compressing load that the rim experiences as it nears and passes the ground. They call it a "capstone." The result is a tubular rim that is 28% more impact resistant than earlier iterations and allows Zipp to remove material from under the tire bed (hence the diet between the previous iteration and this one).

The clincher 1080 takes advantage of Zipp's proven M2CM clincher technology. The carbon attached to the aluminum rim is not merely a fairing, It's a structural element to the rim. Since the carbon is structural, it is also shock absorbing. The rim itself weighs a mere 200g, which needs the bonded carbon lower section to work. The spokes are affixed to the carbon. Between the spoke track and the rim, the curved carbon functions as a leaf spring, compressing every so slightly to take the edge off rough and imperfect roads. If you've ever felt that deep-section wheels have a harsh ride, we recommend you try clincher Zipps; you'll come away with a different opinion.

The Zipp 1080 has 16 radial spokes in the front wheel. The rear has 20 spokes, with the 10 drive side arranged in a cross-two pattern and the 10 non-drive spokes in a radial pattern. All spokes are straight-pull Sapim X-Ray with aluminum nipples. The rim width is 27.5mm on the tubular and 24.2mm on the clincher. The cassette body can come with Campagnolo splines or Shimano/SRAM splines for the appropriate cassettes. The hub bearings can be upgraded to ceramic. The tubular front wheel weighs 774g the tubular rear 894g for a total wheel weight of 1668g. Please note that Zipp recommends a maximum tire pressure of 125psi for the clincher version of the 1080.