.:Jimbo:.

To be truly frank about it, Mr. Zinn is not a salesman and is not selling anything. Just a fella giving out advice and info based on his findings, studies and research.

On the other hand, the likes of Cerelo and Zipp have products to sell.Thus, they come up with these perfect world test scenarios, usually consisting of perfectly straight on, consistent winds, at rather high speeds,to demonstrate their products aero-advantage. Generally, these conditions are not found in real world riding conditions, whether it is due to wind angles, disruption of air flow from surrounding objects, speeds that most of us have trouble hitting, let alone maintaining, and lastly, a frame or wheel that is perfectly in line with itself, and not flexing or warping under the loads of the cyclist.

Ultimately, cyclist buy this "advertising", and in turn buy the bike and mentally allow themselves to believe their new Cervelo with Zipp's is way faster than their outgoing large tubed Specialized or Scott just because the Cervelo Sales team said so.


To offer an analogy to best put all of this in perspective, it would be like a car company claiming they are selling the most fuel efficient vehicle on the market. Thing is, they tested the car in some vacuum like conditions where the car was able to move through with less resistance and in turn, use less power. The auto maker then publishes their results, puts it in the sales brochures and t.v ads, and let the consumers eat it up. After all, in the consumers eyes, the car companies pitch is legit, now that there are numbers backing it up. Yet real world conditions are vastly different, and now with the car in a wildly different setting and environment, trying to duplicate those mpg on your local interstate might be quite an impossible task.