Have around 700 miles on these so far and am quite pleased. Easy to install, ride smooth, and seem to have really good grip. Had one puncture, by a sharp thorn that worked it's way through. Can't fault the tire too much on that - was riding before sunrise and didn't notice a dry blackberry branch before I rode over it. If it had been lighter out or I had the thought to turn my front light downward to check I probably would have seen the thorn and taken it out before it got through to the tube. As it was, the leak was so slow I made it a good 10+ miles before the pressure was low enough to notice, and likely could have finished the last 7ish miles of the ride and been ok, but changed the tube anyway to be safe. Have ridden over a lot of broken, chipped pavement and even some potholes but the tires have held up well. They wear is getting noticeable so I'll rotate them soon. Don't know what it is about me, but I'm lucky to get 2k miles on a set of tires, so these are about on par with most other tires I've used (mostly Conti, Michelin, Schwalbe, and Bontrager) durability-wise. There are some small cuts in the tread, but nothing horrible and not worse at this mileage than previous tires. Decided on these since I had the Zipp Tangente Course r30's previously on my CX/commuter bike and really liked them, so wanted to try these out on my new road build, especially given the price. The Speed's don't have the puncture protection of the Course's, but are supposed to be faster rolling. I was able to just barely squeeze a Course r30 onto the rear wheel of my road bike, but the fork woudn't allow one on the front, so can't totally compare as far as how fast they roll, but the Speed's do feel a bit smoother, even though they're smaller. These should last me through the end of the season so I may pick up a couple more of these now so I have some ready for next spring. Edit - 9/28: a sharp piece of glass got through my rear tire last night, put a 2-3mm cut into the tread. Swapped tubes and finished the ride, but when I got home I noticed the tire was bulging a bit at the cut. Didn't want to tempt getting a blowout so tossed it and threw on one of the R30's so I could ride into work today on my nicer bike (getting to the time of year where sunny days will become more rare, so want to take advantage when we get them!). Putting on the R30, the difference in tread thickness between that and the R28 was stark; really shows that the "speed" version is more of a raceday tire. However, for the price I'm still quite impressed how the R28's ride, so went ahead and ordered a couple more while they're still available. Was thinking of trying the new-ish Conti Ultra Sport 3's, since the folding version can be found at a very similar price, but I've beat up my hands pretty good just trying to mount the Ultra Sport 2's in the past and these Zipp's are about the easiest tires I've tried while still being snug enough to not be afraid they'll immediately come off when punctured.
Ryan, backcountry.com
September 17, 2020