Axiom

These came off of a recently purchased Madone. I was checking over the bike and was too distracted to notice that these are probably fake. Thankfully the bike was in fantastic condition, but was disappointed in the wheels. I'm hoping these are maybe older model Zipp's with newer decals, or a decent set of wheels with the original decals replaced with these. LBS told me these are still a decent set, but not the $2,500 set of 404 FC. If they are Chinese carbon clinchers how would I sell these with no brand or information? The only thing they have going for them is that they are incredibly light (compared to William's System 38) and they sound exactly like the wheels at the LBS. Not a whole lot of experience with these so maybe they all sound the same.

• No hub decals
• No skewer decals
• Unbranded spokes

Can post more pictures if needed. All help is greatly appreciated.

https://tinypic.com/r/2nc03e9/8

bonz50

or you could just ride them.

Axiom

I'm sure I exceed the weight limit by quite a bit. The money would go towards a more suitable set of wheels. The risk of trashing these wheels outweigh the benefit at this time.

Gramercy

Where did you buy the bike from? If the Zipp wheels were real then the price of the bike should reflect that. If you want to unload fake Zipp's, I may be interested. As long as they ride fine, don't worry about it. Or if you are worried, I would reach back out to who you purchased the bike from. Not sure what action you can take though.

bonz50

would be my course of action as well

Axiom

Most of the deals are through Craigslist. I called him back and mentioned they were fake he replied saying the hub was swapped for a Campagnolo conversion, and that the dealer offered them in matte or gloss (Xtreme cycles in Ormond FL) which doesn't make sense, as they don't offer that option?

WhyFi

If it's not something that you can take up with the seller, look for high and low for some marks that may help distinguish the maker. If that leads nowhere, just de-badge them and sell them as wheels with open-mold rims.

coachboyd

I would see what you could do about getting your money back. Selling counterfeit stuff is against the law and you definitely have recourse for getting a refund.
Trying to sell them you are hoping for maybe $400 at best. I am willing to bet Zipp would be interested in knowing where and who is selling generic stuff rebranded as their wheels as there are legitimate safety and legal concerns.

Whatever you do, don't try to sell them with the Zipp decals still on. . .even if you list them as not real Zipps.

FWIW, Zipp is not going to do a one-off rim in a gloss finish for a bike shop.

cderalow

No one else thinks contacting the dealer in question would help alleviate the issue? Or find out where the original owner purchased them/ask for proof of purchase?

Psimet2001 

Guess I'm lost. From the video - yeah those aren't 404 firecrest. As for whether or not they are decent wheels...you'd have to evaluate that yourself. In general most product is generally fine to ride, but impossible to tell. In general I would also have a hard time trusting any company that was willfully badging it's stuff as Zipp 404s...

A quick way to check too is to see if they flex easily all the way over to the brake pads with the calipers open. Real Zipps will do that.

Psimet2001 

^ +1,000...at this point you own counterfeit product. Don't try and re-sell it as Zipps.

That's exactly what I noticed and made it a definite immediately. OP - Zipp doesn't do full gloss 3k weave. A lot of the cheaper polyester models of rims coming from China right now have that. FWIW - foam core braking =

hueyhoolihan

first response. 275 straight down the middle.

Axiom

How would I test that?

Psimet2001 

You're kidding right? They aren't Zipps. Period.

Axiom

Yes, I've figured that out. That's why I haven't posted since.