Campagnolo Zonda Clincher Wheelset

Campagnolo Zonda Clincher Wheelset Info

The Campagnolo Zonda Wheelset is popular because it shares many performance characteristics with the Shamal Ultra, but in a far more accessible package.

The Zonda rim is almost identical to the Shamal, as it’s 22mm wide, with a milled 24mm rim in front and milled 27mm in back. In both places, the rim is deeper at the spoke nipples, 27mm and 30mm respectively, to add support under the spoke nipples. The rims, likewise, features Campy’s Momag rim drilling, wherein they’re able to drill the hub side of the rim for spoke nipples but leave the tube side unpierced, so there’s no need for rim tape. And, like the Shamal, the rims are dynamically balanced, meaning they’ve been designed to be in balance when a tube and valve and tire are installed, thus making accelerations smoother and it a bit easier to maintain high speeds. The biggest difference in the wheels is that the Zonda features butted stainless steel spokes. As with the Shamal, there are 16 spokes radially laced in front and 21 laced in Campy’s G3 pattern in the rear.

The hubs are likewise similar to the Shamal’s. Here, they have both aluminum bodies and flanges, with the rear hub featuring an oversized drive-side flange that has deep slots for the straight-pull spokes it hosts. The hubs also feature cup-and-cone bearing races, which move thanks to loose steel ball bearings. The way the races cradle the bearings make it possible to adjust these for very low drag.

Campagnolo offers the wheel with either a Campagnolo-splined cassette body or a SRAM/Shimano-compatible cassette body.

The Campagnolo Zonda Wheelset weighs 1540g, 678g for the front wheel, 862g for the rear.