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There was a time when a 35mm deep rim looked oddly deep. In that era, 19mm deep box-section rims were the norm. Nowadays, 35mm looks normal. And at 82mm deep, wheels like the Zipp 808 look deep. The tubular version of the 808's rim is only 460g, which is lighter than many box-section clinchers. Many riders will think of this only as a time trial wheelset, but bigger riders could certainly use it in road racing. The Big Swiss Time Machine, Fabian Cancellara, used the 808 wheels during many stages of the 2007 Tour. It could well have been the secret to the success of his final-kilometer attack in Compeigne, where he rode away from the field to ride past the break and hold off the sprinters by a few bike lengths. And the 808 front is the wheel of choice for time trials; Cancellara, David Zabriskie, and Peter Reid have all levered in an 808 front for victories against the clock.

These wheels are uniquely, remarkably fast. Tour Magazine of Germany, which specializes in extensive component testing, tested aero wheels and found this to be the fastest non-disc wheelset available anywhere on the planet; and faster than discs from zero up to 13-degrees of yaw. Many people wonder how they compare with Hed 3's/Tri-Spokes. They're not only faster, but have 28% less side force, meaning they're much easier to handle in crosswinds.

Buyers of the newly revamped 808 tubular will benefit from Zipp's new way of building carbon fiber rims. Zipp calls this method Carbon Bridge construction, and it is more than just laying up piles of carbon fiber. It employs Kevlar thread stitched 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 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 version of the 808 seems, at least to us, to be where the difference between clincher and tubular might be least apparent. That's because of the typical application. A rim this deep is pretty much only going to be used for one thing. Timed events. And the typical timed event has very few accelerations. There's the start, there's the turnaround, maybe a few corners. Chances are the hills will be few and mild. In all these situations, a little extra weight is barely consequential, while the aero shape makes a huge difference. We see this wheel becoming very popular with triathletes, as clinchers are easy to repair in race situations.

The carbon attached to the aluminum rim in Zipp clinchers is not merely a fairing, it's a structural element to the rim. The joining of carbon to aluminum, known in Zipp-speak as M2CM, is also stronger than all get out. 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 808 has 18 radial spokes in the front wheel. The rear has 24 spokes, with the 12 drive side arranged in a cross-two pattern and the 12 non-drive spokes in a radial pattern. All spokes are straight-pull Sapim X-Ray with aluminum nipples. The rim width of the tubular is 26.25mm, the clincher 24mm. The depth is 82mm. 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 655g, the tubular rear 780g for a total wheel weight of 1435g. The clincher front wheel weighs 884g, the clincher rear 998g for a total wheel weight of 1882g. One note of interest to Zipp clincher owners: The maximum recommended tire pressure on the clinchers is 125psi.