Mark Monnett, Zipp Wheels

Mark Monnett found his true love for bicycling at an early age when he competed in his first BMX race. Born and raised in Hagerstown Maryland, Mark competed in his first race at the age of 12 and progressed to racing road and mountain bikes thru his high school years to present.

In 1986, Mark started working for a local bicycle shop and it was not long before he was promoted to manager. Mark spent 9 years managing this very successful shop. In 2000, after a brief stint working in the shirt and tie world for Xerox, Mark was offered the opportunity to join one of the most well respected rep groups in the country, Tifosi Sales. Tifosi Sales was the rep group responsible for supporting the lines Thule Car Racks, Veltec Sports, Descente Clothing, NiteRider Lighting Systems, Zoot Clothing and Zipp Speed Weaponry in the Mid Atlantic region. From this region Mark supports Maryland, Virginia, D.C. and Delaware.

Zipp Speed Weaponry, now located in Speedway Indiana, produces one of the finest bicycle racing wheels in the world. Zipp's beginning in the bicycle industry were somewhat coincidental. After leaving Australia to study further in England, Leigh Sargent (Zipp's founder) spent two years subsequent to graduation working for the Williams Formula 1 race team. His responsibility there centered on aerodynamic testing and advanced composite construction techniques. Moving to the USA in the early 80's, Leigh was heavily involved in Indy car aerodynamic design and modification. His background in composites attracted the attention of a company interested in producing a (graphite) racing wheelchair. Although this project never did come to fruition, the meeting took place at a bicycle show. While he was there, he cruised the aisles and noticed that the only disc wheels on the market were not very laterally stiff nor where they light. After returning to the workshop, he began right away on prototypes and was at the next bicycle show with them on display. Due partly to a rather unorthodox demonstration technique (standing on and rocking back and forth on the disc) and a great product, the reaction from dealers was encouraging enough that he got into the disc business the following year!
Since these rather inauspicious beginnings, Zipp has remained dedicated to developing and improving their technologies in a continuing drive to constantly redefine the industry's leading edge.