Bespoke Blog

Tough enough for Paris-Roubaix, tough enough for UK roads

Watch Paris-Roubaix this weekend and you'll see all the bikes are rolling on deep section carbon fibre wheels, but it wasn't always this way. The first time I spectated at the Hell of the North was to witness a peloton of bikes fitted with box-section aluminium rims, such was the general mistrust of the then new-fangled carbon fibre wheels that were gradually being introduced.

Undeterred, the wheel manufacturers continued developing the carbon wheels, committed as they were to developing wheels that could stand up to the toughest and most brutal test a bike faces on the pro cycling calendar. In truth, those early carbon wheels simply weren't up to the job; the failure rate was high and it took Zipp, one company that really pushed carbon wheel tech, many years before it was able to overcome the strength and durability issues.

Win on Sunday, sell on Monday

The perseverance paid off, and eventually, carbon fibre wheels were manufactured that were able to withstand the harsh punishment the uneven pavé of the race route serves up every year.

Eventually, Zipp was able to produce a carbon fibre wheelset that could survive the cobbled roads. In 2009 Fabian Cancellara rode a set of Zipp 303 wheels to victory at Paris-Roubaix, following a win in Flanders the previous weekend. This sealed the fate of those box section aluminium wheels I had witnessed first hand a few years previously, and carbon would go on to become the de facto choice.

Other wheel brands were forced to up their ante and the pace of development and widening of choice stepped up a gear. Today there are lots of very good carbon fibre wheels that have benefited directly from being developed for this single one-day race, and the motto "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" has never been truer than in this case.

• You can read the full story of how Zipp conquered Paris-Roubaix here
• There's also a fascinating blog about this episode by former Zipp technical director Josh Poertner which is definitely worth a read for more background on just what went into developing wheels capable of withstanding the brutal cobbles.