Reinventing the [Gravel] Wheel: Zipp 303 XPLR SW Wheelset Review

Coming originally from a mtb background, I began gravel riding when I started working at Cowichan Cycles about two years ago. Exploration, whether around the neighbourhood or bikepacking farther afield, was my main motivation for getting into gravel. The ability to simply start pedalling from home and see where my legs can take me is a freeing feeling, and the convenience that the gravel bike allows for in this regard is hard to beat. While exploration and recreation were the main factors, I’d be lying if KOM-crushing — or, more accurately, aspiring to KOM-crushing — didn’t begin to inform some of my riding habits and bike modifications soon after getting into gravel. Healthy competition between friends battling over segment leaderboards has become a regular gravel ride activity. However, it should be reiterated, speed and all-out performance is not my strong suit or primary desire. 

When the stock hubs on my Specialized Diverge E5 Comp began to degrade, I took the opportunity to completely upgrade from the alloy wheelset to some fancier Roval Terra CLX EVO carbon rims mated to the bulletproof and Cowichan Cycles favourite, DTSwiss 350 hubs, retaining the Specialized Pathfinder tires. Despite what the others at the shop told me, I was skeptical the carbon wheels would make much of a noticeable difference out on the tarmac/gravel. Upon the first ride, however, I was proven wrong. The new wheelset was indeed noticeably faster in both steady cadence and coasting situations, and especially so in acceleration when getting started or hammering down — all likely owing to the less draggy hubs and lighter weight. Thanks to the lifetime warranty of the Roval Rims, I felt much more confident through gnarly, chunky riverbed sections of trail that I frequent when I’m pushing dropbar gravel riding to its limit. 

At this point, I’ve had the Roval wheelset on the bike for approx. eight months and used them for everything from 30 minute bops around the neighbourhood, to on-the-edge pseudo-mtb rides, to multi-day bikepacking trips. In every use case, the carbon wheelset has been well worth it, and has, no doubt, been a noticeable upgrade over the stock alloy set. All that said, this isn’t a review for my Rovals, it is instead a review for a wheelset even fancier, even faster, and much, much more blingy: the brand new, cutting edge, Zipp 303 XPLR SWs. 

Being the most active gravel rider amongst the staff, when our HLC rep — the legendary Pete Creighton (IYKYK) — visited the shop with a demo set of the brand new Zipps, it fell upon me to test them out. I won’t go into too much detail regarding the specs of the rims, as that’s easy enough to look up, but putting it simply, Zipp states that the 303 XPLR SWs are “the fastest on gravel, thanks to it's mega-wide rim”. 

It’s here that should note, these rims are only compatible with a select list of approved tires that can be found on Zipp’s website. Nonetheless, they continue:

“In gravel, resistance and vibrations from bumpy surfaces create a barrier that slows riders down. To combat this, Zipp applied Total System Efficiency specifically to the challenges of gravel. The wide profile increases air volume, allowing for lower tire pressures without squirm. That means you mitigate surface vibrations while maintaining grip when cornering or traction while climbing. The rim profile also creates a seamless transition with gravel tires for unsurpassed aero efficiency on gravel.” 

Essentially, wider rim = lower tire pressure = more bump resistance = more speed and more comfort. Add to the width the deep, deep dishes for aero advantage, the rims become even faster, requiring less effort to maintain higher speeds.

Or, so they say, that is. Again, when presented with the Zipp wheelset, I was skeptical, and given the eye-watering cost of the Zipps (approx. $3299.99 for the full set, tires not included), I was extra skeptical. Once installed on my Diverge, both Jeffery and Doug (the roadiest of all the staff at Cowichan) remarked that I will certainly notice a difference over the Rovals, and Jeffery went so far as to say I will “love them”. While I was unsure the performance would prove itself, there was no denying I did indeed love the way they looked. The presence of these rims is sick, there’s no two ways about it. I mean c’mon, they’re mean as hell. But looks can only go so far, so it was time to put this wheelset to the test.

The first ride on the Zipps was an easy, no-drop, conversational pace group ride that began at Thetis Lake and looped through the Highlands, focusing primarily on dirt cart path, with a sprinkle of pavement. Although Zipp touts the ability to ride at quite a bit lower pressure than one normally would, I set the tires only slightly softer than my typical. As soon as we began pedalling away from the parking lot, my skepticism instantly faded away once again. The acceleration of the 303s was markedly faster than the already speedy Rovals. I was blasting up hills with minimal effort, dropping my friends in the process, and having to take long breaks waiting for them to keep up (although it should be mentioned I am the most avid rider within that group (no flex)). As we pedalled through the park, the short ascents were where the most obvious advantage of the Zipps was found, but that wasn’t the only off-road advantage. At one point we encountered a short section that was better suited to hiking than pedalling. This section was laden with criss-crossing, slippery roots, that would normally be a bit unpleasant to ride, and although I didn’t clear the section cleanly, the Zipps did soften the blow nicely, and the “specifically designed and optimized” Goodyear XPLR Inters did a good job of maintaining traction on both the slippery roots as well as cutting through muddy sections. Once getting onto the pavement for a bit, the Zipps played their aero card, and boy howdy, what a play it was. The road section was almost entirely downhill, with no super steep sections, but a consistent, twisty descent. Once on the gas, I was instantly screaming. Through the corners I flew, with minimal effort getting up to 60-70kms/hr and staying there with very little effort. I was having a blast, and dropped my friends right quick. Getting back to the parking lot, I was smitten with the Zipp 303 XPLR SWs. 

The second ride on the Zipps was a 1.5hr primarily-pavement bop around my neighbourhood without much direction. In this context the wheelset was, as expected,  fast. Being more exposed on open roads vs more closed in trails and roads from the ride previous, I did notice the side wind buffering against the deep rims — but it wasn’t too much of an issue. Spinning around the block I took it fairly easy, but did give it a bit of juice on a couple short sprint segments. Post ride, checking my Strava stats, I was able to set a couple PRs as well as some 2nd-bests — likely thanks to the Zipps. 

My final ride on the Zipps, before reluctantly returning them to our rep Pete, was a South-Cowichan mixed surface loop featuring a section of paved hill-bombs, dirt uphill road grinds, mountain bike single track descents, and flat-ish paved and dirt roads rounding out the rest. For this ride, I dropped the pressure well below what I normally would run on my Rovals, down to approx. 25PSI in the front, and 30PSI in the rear. It should also be noted that this particular ride was my first in a month, having not ridden gravel or mtb since my last gravel bop around the neighbourhood described above. Thus, I was feeling slow, out of shape, and perhaps getting over a bit of a sickness. Back on the steed and starting on pavement, the PSI drop was unnoticeable, and during a ~2km hill-bomb, I easily got up to 78km/hr like it was nothing (this being the fastest I’ve achieved descending this particular hill). Continuing on towards Cobble Hill Mountain, my riding partner and I turned on to a ~1.5km, steep dirt road climb that was covered in a carpet of rotting maple leaves, and halfway up, transitioned from a fairly tame albeit slippery surface, to a cobbley, riverbed surface marred with loose baseball-sized stones, crossing roots, and minor trenches. Despite my tired body and mind, I felt like I was being propelled up the slope, not loosing traction once, and feeling truly unstoppable. Again, a PR was set, and had I been up to truly pushing it to the limit, I could have smoked my record, I’m sure. Reaching the top of the small mountain, after another short climb, we were complimented by an e-mtber for bringing our gravel bikes up the hill, and took a short break. Then, we began our descent down the opposite side of the mountain we’d climbed. The descent took us down mtb trails that started as twisty switchbacks with tiny rock drops (think 0.5ft) and lots of roots, followed by a fast straight shot through riverbed before reaching the bottom. In both settings, the Zipps punched above their weight class, keeping traction the entire time. They especially excelled during the straight, fast, cobbley section, where the wheels absorbed an enormous amount of rattle while I rocketed down the hill, leaving my riding partner on his stock alloy wheels in the dust. This shock absorption I directly relate to the low tire pressure, and it became very evident that the lower pressure did indeed equate speed. From there, the ride meandered along mixed surfaces, and featured another fairly fast hill bomb, this time unpaved, twisty, and muddy. Perhaps feeling a bit cocky, I let my Diverge eat down the slick descent, trusting that I’d have the traction to make the corners. Again, I dropped my riding partner, who, rightfully so, feared losing traction in the grime. From there it was an easy ride home and I knew I was gonna miss this beautiful wheelset.

So, to wrap things up, what are my final thoughts on the new dedicated gravel Zipp 303 XPLR SWs? Well, I think they’re super sick. Do they look incredibly blingy? Hell yeah. Did they make me faster? It certainly seems like it. Did they make me more comfortable? Yeah, I’d say so. Was this a scientific test? No, absolutely not, and, of course, placebo could be a factor. However, I truly don’t think this was solely placebo or something similar. As someone who is often skeptical of industry jargon and marketing buzzwords, I have to relent and say that it might just be true when it comes to the Zipp 303 XPLR SWs. That said, there’s no denying this wheelset is far from cheap. Would I buy these myself? Given the cost and that I already have a set of carbon wheels (though definitely lower performance), probably not. However, I would 100% recommend these to the gravel rider looking for an upgrade they’re sure to notice performance gains from, and has the cash to spend. Shout out to Pete for letting me take these for a spin.

Interested in purchasing for yourself? Hit us up and we’ll get the ball rolling!

- Rob