Index Categories: 
    Wheel Aerodynamics – Tubular vs. clincher discs
    Wheel Aerodynamics – Tire/rim interaction
    Carbon Construction – The real cost of building carbon wheels     

From:
Tom ????

Question:
Have you guys held off on developig a Clincher disc because it’s cheaper to make the tubular model?

Josh:
A resounding no.You have to understand the economics of a disc wheel. A tubular disc is very expensive as we have to essentially make a superlight carbon rim and then construct that into a disc. With the clincher disc we have to do the same thing with an aluminum clincher rim which is cheaper than a carbon rim, but then it has to be constructed into a disc as well, so the costs really aren't all that different.

The development costs aren't really that different either as you are assuming that the tubular development was fast and easy, it wasn't. Since the cost of the development of the dimpled composite process is attached to the tubular disc, the clincher disc could use considerable resources and wind tunnel time in development before getting close to the cost of the tubular disc development. All in all it took us some 2 years to develop and refine this clincher disc concept into something that worked as well as it does, but then again it took us nearly 3 years to determine the most effective dimple pattern, dimple shape, dimple depth, etc. then determine how to actually do the dimpled composite molding, and lastly how to construct the tooling since nobody had ever done it before, plus we filed patents for all of this which is very expensive.

The thing I don't see here is how or why anybody would think I have some vested interest in selling tubulars to everybody...we sell clinchers and tubulars for the same price because the manufactured costs are very similar (tubies have more carbon in them, so more labor in the layup process as well as more expensive materials, the clinchers use less carbon but the aluminum hoop does have to be completely prepped for bonding and post machined, both processes which add considerable labor cost so it is really a wash), so a wheelset is a wheelset as far as that goes, I'm just here relating some things I've seen and experienced in this business that may help some folks out instead of just confusing them with marketing gobledygook that some sales guy came up with.

More information on carbon tubular rim construction:
ICT (Inversion Composite Technology)
 http://www.zipp.com/Technology/CompositeTechnologies/ICTInversionCompositeTechnology/tabid/97/Default.aspx

More information on our exclusive co-molded carbon/aluminum clincher technology:
M2CM (Multi-Material Co-Molding)
http://www.zipp.com/M2CMMultiMaterialCoMolding/tabid/101/Default.aspx