Zipp’s marketing is very different than mine, yes! Haha.
Jokes aside, there are probably many reasons, but it feels like their graphic doesn’t align with how the tyre actually looks when mounted…
Lots of sidewall perpendicular to the ground, which I would say is unprotected.
That upper graphic is visibly wrong how a tire mounts… Random space between the bead and the rim?
There is no random space there, that space is part of the tire. It’s just non consistent graphics.
Quick fix here:
I think the image you posted is pretty close to the graphic. You can see the tire bulge inside the huge flange. When leaning over rocks can get trapped in between the tire and the rim flange. Side knobs all the way to the tan walls would probably help a lot?
The bead of a tire does not come up the sidewall like that - still a crappy graphic.
Not sure I understand what you saying…? This is a pretty normal way of illustrating how a tire sits on a rim.
I agree, I also suspect some of the reported punctures are pure snakebite due to the much smaller radius on the rim sidewall where it meets the tyre casing, from photos I’ve seen it looks like almost a square edge, sharp enough to cut through the casing when the tyres is squeezed agasint it when you run over a rock.
edit: MTBers have reported similar snakebite punctures on alloy hookless rims which have a much narrower and sharper top to the rim sidewall when you take away the extra material for the hook.
These pictures are a little better. Even when made more clear and edited, the ones above aren’t scaled right and make the bead look like something it isn’t and out of proportion on the tire.
If you believe that top picture in your first post, it’d be pretty clear why they’re flatting to me.
Yikes. I think I’ll stick to the Firecrests for now then.
I have the Reserve GR 40/44 and love em fwiw. Zero flats too. Also own the Firecrest and some Roval Terra and can recommend both those depending on your use case.
Thought this had some interesting points.
Great read! Thanks 
Interesting tidbit:
Zipp claims 2 watts savings at gravel race speeds of 29-36 km/h (18-22 mph). On downhills, at 45 km/h (28 mph), the savings go up to 5 watts. That’s not a lot. For comparison, Zipp claims much greater savings—6.4 watts—for their wing-shaped handlebars.
So we are looking at 2w saving with the wider rim, with almost no other benefits.
If higher incidences of sidewall punctures are a real problem with these wheels, I don’t understand how that couldn’t have been discovered during testing. Many riders had these at Unbound before they were released. I’d bet that Zipp got a ton of rider feedback.
But to have at least 3 reviewers report sidewall punctures is bad news.
On a different note, why do people want hooks when running LOW tire pressure? I thought the hooks/hookless debate was mostly for higher pressure uses.
@dcrainmaker was using the Goodyears made for the wheelset and still had problems.
DCR said the handling was a major improvement, so hard to say what the driving factor was. Hard not to think it wasn’t aero given that it’s a lot easier to sell that.
Nope. 2 W of aero savings does not outweigh a mid-race plug.
When I bought my wheels, my biggest concern was durability and stability. I’m on Corima G30.5s. They are bombproof.
Anyone buy these yet and have any real world feedback? Eager to give them a try but all I see is reviews about getting flats lol
Hello, any updates on this topic? Can anyone share their experience about wheels?
I saw Alex Howes raced rad dirt with them on Saturday. He had a thunder Burt mounted on the front. Not sure how it went.
I certainly haven’t seen riders flocking to them, yet.
Edit - in the comments Howes mentioned that he was happy with the wheels for the race, but should have sized down to a 45/47 tire up front.
The mtb tire crowd will be throwing hands if they see that feedback lol.
Just wanted to say that the NXT45AGX is 29mm IW in a hooked rim and 30mm IW in a hookless format. The NXT45AGX was developed in 2020 and released to market in 2021.
I ran these rims this weekend in a hookless format (30mm IW) with 35 labeled tires at a cyclecross race at 25/27psi respectively (220lb total rider weight) and didnt have issues with pinches or cutting the sidewall. This is on some 2-3 year old tires also that are WORE out.
The course had curb drops, lots of dips, tree roots and 1 or 2 blunt curbs.
Looks like Paul Voss was running these wheels with 38mm tires at the Gravel World Championships in Belgium and experienced a sidewall slash. Coincidence? Perhaps there is something to the suggestions about these wheels being more prone? Need more data for sure.
Cromwell also had issues: Instagram Post
Interesting. Wonder what her tire set up was.
