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TECH NEWS

Campagnolo releases Shamal Ultra C17 wheels

Classic aluminium race wheel is updated for wider tyres

What’s that you say? You want more new stuff from Campagnolo to go with the disc brakes and the Potenza groupset we told you about this morning? Well, this is your lucky day because there are new Shamal Ultra wheels too

The performance-orientated Shamals have been in Campag’s range since the early 1990s, the Italian brand boasting that these were the first wheels where every component was designed specifically for that model.

Campag Shamal Ultra C17 - 2.jpg

The new Shamal Ultra C17 has all of the previous generation’s technology but with an internal rim width of 17mm – the clue’s in the name, see – an increase from 15mm. The idea is that this width is more suitable for the wider tyres that most people are using these days for greater comfort and increased grip.

Campag Shamal Ultra C17 - 3.jpg

Campag says that these wheels are designed specifically with 25mm and 28mm tyres in mind. The greater width is intended to provide more support for these tyres, to slightly increase the size of the contact patch with the road, and to offer more rigidity.

Campag also says the increased width means the C17 with 25mm or 28mm tyres fitted is more aerodynamically efficient than a Shamal Ultra in a 15mm width with the same tyres because the transition between the rim and the rubber is smoother.

Campag Shamal Ultra C17 - 5.jpg

Campag mills material away from the rims where it’s not needed in order to save weight, leaving it around the spoke holes where it is required for strength.

Other features include USB ceramic bearings and a new adjustable lockring that allows you to set the preload on the bearings, the same system as Campag uses on its top end wheels.

Campag Shamal Ultra C17 2 - 2.jpg

The driveside rear hub flange is oversized aluminium and the rear wheel is built with 21 anodised aluminium bladed spokes orientated in Campag’s Mega 3 pattern. The front wheel has 16 radially laced spokes. An anti-rotation system holds the spokes in their most aero efficient orientation.

Campag Shamal Ultra C17 2 - 1.jpg

The Shamal Ultra C17 will be available in a standard clincher version (1,495g) and in a 2-Way Fit option (1,505g). 2-Way Fit allows you to fit a normal clincher tyre with an inner tube or to use a tubeless system. The weights are close to those of many mid-range carbon-fibre wheelsets, and you get the advantage of braking on aluminium which, despite what some manufacturers would have you believe, is always better.

We don’t have UK prices but the standard Shamal Ultra C17 wheelset (front and rear) will be €1,201.92 (Campag freehub) and €1,208.08 (Shimano/SRAM), while the 2-Way Fit model will be €1,250.37 (Campag) and €1,255.75 (Shimano/SRAM).

www.campagnolo.com

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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3 comments

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othello | 8 years ago
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I've always found some of Campags mid/top end wheel offerings, like the Shamal, a bit odd. When you compare these Shamal to the Zonda wheels, what do you get for double the price? A few grams off (50g ish)? I do struggle to see the difference...

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aladdin pain replied to othello | 8 years ago
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othello wrote:

I've always found some of Campags mid/top end wheel offerings, like the Shamal, a bit odd. When you compare these Shamal to the Zonda wheels, what do you get for double the price? A few grams off (50g ish)? I do struggle to see the difference...

 

You may be absolutely right and I have no science to offer, but: whether the difference lies mainly in the Shamals' significantly stouter spokes, some nuance of rim or hub construction, or my susceptibility to Italian-cycling romanticism, I've got the Shamal Milles and my spare set are Zondas, and I do feel disappointingly sludgier on the latter.   I probably owe some speed and spark to the murdered-out blackness of the Milles...

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Yorky-M | 8 years ago
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lovely

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