If you play heed to the Kona count, Zipp and Enve wheels have been #1 and #2 for some time, and they don't have a lot of rivals that can keep up with their R&D budgets.  They both continue to push the envelope with most other manufacturers trying to come close to their quality and design.  Therefore, Zipp vs Enve is one of the most common questions I get from our customers and here is my response to that carbon clincher wheels debate. 

Let me begin by saying that Zipp has paved the way in the carbon clincher market.  They were the first wheel company to use computer fluid dynamics (CFD) technology which was very expensive and exclusive technology at the time.  Essentially what it allowed them to do was to produce prototypes on a computer rather than build a prototype and wind tunnel test it- a much more cumbersome, lengthy, trial and error process.  The result was the Firecrest shape with the infamous teroital bulge, one of the biggest breakthroughs in wheel designs.  This not only made for a faster wheel but a more stable wheel, which meant less rider fatigue.  And it road really, really well.  Zipp promised and delivered as athletes noticed significant increases in speed and lower race times.  Zipp attempted and continues to protect this technology which I am sure much to their chagrin continues to be copied.

The only problem with the original Firecrest was that their hubs were crap.  Generally they worked fine for a race wheel taken off the wall a few times a year but for a daily use wheel they quickly started making all sorts of noise and needed a lot of adjustment.  Zipp tried to put some of this back on the customer stating that the bearings needed to be serviced regularly (like a Fiat), but I can tell you that getting a customer to lube a chain regularly, much less take their wheel bearings in for service, does not happen.  What did happen is customers ended up sending their wheels back to Zipp for bearing replacement- sometimes at their own cost which did not lend itself to a lot of loyalty.

Now enters Enve.  I am sure they white boarded what the biggest customer complaints were for the leading soon to be competitor.  Enve started by using proven top shelf hubs from DT Swiss and Chris King.  Customers could select good, better, best, starting with a DT240 hub, but all of these choices were fairly bullet proof.  Next they set out to design a carbon clincher that was lightweight yet strong enough from daily use.  Enve did a great job right out of the box and continues to do so with awesome braking performance, light weight, and a wheel design that limits lateral flex to a bare minimum.  The only problem is that because of the large number of skus most dealers do not stock more than a few pairs and prefer to special order them to the clients specs..  This will take days, usually weeks, sometimes more.  You have to be patient which lends itself to some mystique, but if you have a race next week Enve is usually not an option.   

Where does Zipp vs Enve stack up today?  Zipp has addressed the hub issue for some time and the 77/177 holds up well with no pre-load adjustment needed.  They continue to push the envelope aerodynamically, and into new territory.  Being the first to implement a dimpled surface which breaks up surface drag, they are now fine tuning it with a sawtooth pattern purported to provide more stability.  Rim profiles have changed slightly as well and they have improved the braking surface for better wet/dry performance.  The top of the line NSW has an even more advanced and stable shape but comes at a premium of around 4k a set.  I am often asked in essence how much money equals better performance.  A better question is how much is that small amount of performance worth to you.  There is no one piece of technology that puts a wheel miles ahead of the competitor; but cumulatively it makes a difference.  The truth is there is not a huge gap in performance of a mid priced carbon clincher in the Enve vs Zipp debate. But there is a gap, and races can be lost in seconds or tenths of a second.  Therein lies the value.  I do believe that Zipp is the leader in cutting edge technology whereas Enve produces a consistent level of quality that is hard to beat.  Let the message boards sort out the rest.