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The fastest gravel wheel for everyone

The new ultra-wide and deep 303 XPLR wheel goes BIG. 303 XPLR’s all-new design has benefits for every level of rider, not just the racers leading the pack. Whether your gravel goals are the top step of the podium, chasing KOMs, or achieving your personal best time, 303 XPLR is designed to make you faster.

Zipp 303 XPLR wheels
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The progression of race speeds

Gravel is getting faster. Every year, both elite and amateur athletes go farther and faster. Pictured here are the winning times from Unbound Gravel starting in 2006. You can see dips of the average speed in some years which were caused by slow, muddy conditions, but in general the race is getting faster with average speeds above 32kph. From the beginning of the development of 303 XPLR in 2021, we knew the fastest gravel wheel needed a truly aerodynamic profile that complemented tires big enough for gravel. We needed a wheel built for speed.

With its 32mm internal width and 54mm deep rim profile, the 303 XPLR achieves speed through measurable gains in Aerodynamics, Vibration Loss, Control, and Durability.

AERODYNAMICS

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Wind tunnel tested


At Zipp, we love the wind tunnel. We love it so much that 303 XPLR was tested over five separate trips to design and validate the concept. Through our testing, we found the aerodynamic gains to be significant. In this chart, you can see the watt savings across various race speeds when compared to a competitor’s wheel.

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The aerodynamic gains found in our wind tunnel testing are attributed to the overall design concept of the 303 XPLR: identify the right tire sizes and design a rim around those tires.  In the image above, you can see how the wide rim complements big tires to make an unbroken aerodynamic profile.

On the left, we have the dimensions for 303 XPLR and on the right we have the dimensions of what many gravel athletes are racing on today. The difference is clear: wider rim allows for a seamless transition from tire to rim.

VIBRATION LOSS

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What is vibration loss?

When you encounter a bump while riding, your speed is converted into an upward displacement that lifts the rider and bike’s entire mass up and over the bump. In physics terms, this would be described as kinetic energy converting into potential energy. A portion of the potential energy gets converted back into speed as you roll down the back side of each bump, but less than 100%.

This is because the system is damped; the collision force of the tire against each bump is greater than the restitution force of the rebounding tire on the back side of each bump. The result is a net loss of energy which demands additional power from the rider to maintain speed.

In short, it takes more power to go the same speed on rough terrain than it does on smooth terrain.

How do we test?

At our facility in Indianapolis, we test all our products on the Rolling Road. The Rolling Road is a large treadmill that we can modify to simulate different surface conditions, from Roubaix cobbles to velodrome boards. For 303 XPLR, we set up the road speed to 32kph and we vary tire pressure and/or surface conditions to see how a rider’s power requirement changes.

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Vibration loss vs speed


From our Rolling Road testing we can quantify the vibration loss slowing riders down. What you see here is vibration loss, expressed in watts, while riding at a range of speeds on 3 different levels of surface roughness. The vibration loss @ 32 kph for the 3 surfaces are 0W on smooth surfaces, about 40W on light gravel, and bout 110W on rough gravel.

This represents our opportunity to make you faster. If we could turn rough roads into 100% smooth, this is what we stand to gain. We can recuperate a significant amount of this vibration loss just by lowering tire pressure. 

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Tire pressure


Here we can see more data gathered from our testing on the Rolling Road. We measured the power requirement and vibration response at 32.2kph at varying tire pressure settings and what we found was that more power was required at higher tire pressures due to increased vibration response at those higher pressures. The data shows a “sweet spot” with significant watt savings at lower pressures.

CONTROL

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Wider = Faster


Knowing what we know about the effects of tire pressure and vibration loss, we sought to design a wheel that can achieve low pressures while still offering control.

The ultra-wide 32mm internal rim width of the 303 XPLR (which is 28% wider than many current gravel wheels with a 25mm internal rim width) places the tire bead in an athletic, wide stance that allows the tire casing to better support lateral loads from cornering.

DURABILITY

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Preventing pinch flats


303 XPLR also features wide uprights in the tire bed, which reduces the chances of damaging a tire when it is pinched against the rim. Fewer opportunities to pinch flat means riders can run the lower pressures necessary to achieve speed on gravel.

REAL WORLD TESTING

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How we test


While a lot can be accomplished in a lab setting, we understand that riders face a wide range of varied conditions in real world riding. To test aerodynamics, for instance, we repeated similar tests from our wind tunnel sessions using an aerodynamic sensor to help us measure the efficiency of the entire system and account for variations in ambient wind conditions from test to test.

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Tire pressure vs total power


To test our Rolling Road findings in the real world, we measured the power required to ride 32kph on gravel using varied tire pressure settings. This data supports what we learned from our Rolling Road tests. Our Tire Pressure Guide will get you in close range of the optimum pressure, balancing efficiency, control, and durability.

Zipp 303 XPLR Wheels

The perfect pairing

We partnered with Goodyear to create the perfect tire pairing for our 303 XPLR wheels. We offer two models, the Goodyear XPLR SLICK and the Goodyear XPLR INTER, that are designed around the 32mm internal rim width of the 303 XPLR and cover an array of different types of gravel.

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