In The Know Cycling

The original Zipp 808 and 404 Firecrest wheels helped define the aero bike wheels category. The 404 Firecrest were among the first carbon racing bike wheels used in professional road races. Many pro and amateur racers also used the nearly 60mm deep 404 as a front wheel paired up with the 82mm deep 808 as a rear for time trials and triathlons. As more road riders took to triathlons, they used the 404 Firecrest wheelset for that event in addition to doing road races, group rides, and training.

Yes, the 404 Firecrest wheels were expensive but you only had to buy one wheelset to be fast across a range of riding profiles.

At just the time that carbon wheels, clinchers, aerodynamics, triathlons, and road racing became more popular, Zipp had set a performance bar. Zipp expanded the Firecrest line to the shallower 303 and 202 based on the same rim profiles and other design and ride characteristics that had made the 404 Firecrest so successful.

Other wheelset companies took note of what Zipp and HED, which shared the original patent for the toroid-shaped rim profile that led to fast wheels and applied it exclusively to tubular models, had done. Carbon clinchers with wider, rounder shapes became a very competitive market with established and new players competing with the design and aero performance levels that Zipp and HED started.

While Zipp went through a succession of different hub designs to make the Firecrest wheels more durable and improve their stiffness, the NSW was the brand’s first new rim design and replaced the Firecrest as Zipp’s new top-of-the-line wheelsets in 2017. This was roughly 8 years after the 404 and 808 Firecrest went into production.

Zipp introduced a second-generation NSW in 2018 and made the 2017 NSW rim the heart of its new Firecrest line, selling it for about $1000 less than the NSW.

While only a year apart, Zipp made major changes to the rim used in the 2018 404 NSW. While the same depth, the shape changed, its internal width increased 2mm to 19mm, it became part of Zipp’s first tubeless family of wheelsets and was offered in both rim and disc brake versions.  The hubs that were entirely new for the 2017 NSW were retained for 2018s.

So a lot has changed in a short time. The brand name is the same but there is little about the performance of the 404 Firecrest that you might know or have heard about that applies to the performance of the 2018 Zipp 404 NSW wheelset

How do they perform?

The Zipp 404 NSW are fast wheels. Whether it’s the rim profile and width or the smooth rolling and quiet freehubs, both the sensation and reality is that these wheels roll fast underneath you.

While not quite as snappy as the ENVE 5.6, the 404 NSW is a very responsive wheelset that others in this category don’t match. That responsiveness extends to the handling as well. When you want to change direction, the 404 NSW does that very quickly.

They are very compliant rolling over the mix of surfaces you might find on a long ride. Not that you should, but you won’t feel the urge to alter your line or brace yourself for short rough patches you see in the road ahead. Instead, the ride is comfortable, pleasant, joyful, and fast.

The 404 NSWs aren’t as stiff as some of the others in this category and this takes away from some of the benefits of the wheelset as a whole. Responsiveness without stiffness gives you the ability to move out quickly but not the power efficiency to do something about it.  And while you can get in and out of turns quickly, a lack of stiffness brings down the precision or riding-on-rails feeling once in the turn.

As Nate noted in his test rides, these Zipp wheels probably have the best absolute braking power of those we tested in this category. Don added that the brakes were clearly the loudest. I had a similar reaction on both counts in my test rides though I wasn’t bothered by the brake noise.

Despite the 404 NSW’s superior braking force, its inferior stiffness requires you to set the brake pads wider than you need to with the several stiffer wheels in this aero bike wheels category. Otherwise, the rims will rub against the pads as the wheels flex when you get out of the saddle or sprint. With the brake pads opened wider, you diminish the modulation or your ability to feather the brakes to vary the amount of brake force you want to use.

The net result of all this? The NSW’s brakes are less than they could be and don’t match the performance level of the ENVE SES or Bontrager Aeolus wheelsets.

Nate and I were also disappointed with the Zipp 404 NSW’s performance in the crosswind where its shallower 303 NSW sibling performs so admirably. Here again, while not bad and better than some (see the comparative charts), it required more correction than the ENVE 5.6 in separate head to head testing we did with several of these wheelsets on windy days.

Knowing the 404 heritage, I probably hold the bar quite high for this newest 404 NSW model. And it performs very well or holds its own against many of the criteria we feel are most important. But others have now passed it in several key areas.

If the 404 NSW’s strengths align well with what you are looking for in a set of racing bike wheels, you can click on this link to recommended stores Planet Cyclery, Tredz, and others at Know’s Shop to find and order these wheels.

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You can read my evaluation of other wheelsets in this category in the post The Best Aero Bike Wheels.