Campagnolo Shamal Ultra 2-Way Fit Wheelset

Campagnolo Shamal Ultra 2-Way Fit Wheelset Info

Campagnolo’s Shamal Ultra Wheelset has been a winner because it does everything superbly. It’s light, it’s strong, it’s aero, it rolls fast, it lasts and lasts. It now possesses wider rims as an added benefit to the responsive ride it provides. That goes for both the 2-Way Fit and Standard versions.

What people love first about the Shamal are the rims. They are strong, starting with a larger shape, machining the sidewalls so they’re perfectly flat. They mill the rest of the rim to get rid of unnecessary material. They also do not pierce the inner cavity of the rim at all, save a hole for a valve. The result is a front rim that is 24mm deep for most of the rim, but up to 27mm at the nipples. The rear rim is 27mm for most of the rim, but up to 30mm at the nipples. The rim is 22mm wide, which works with tires 23mm and wider, providing more air volume for a more comfortable ride that also lowers the rolling resistance. 25mm are probably ideal for aerodynamics. Finally, the rim is dynamically balanced, meaning that the rim’s weight placement is designed such that installing a valve stem does not make the wheel unbalanced. Think of a car’s wheel when it’s not balanced. A bike wheel can do the same—Campy has eliminated that.

Campy uses aluminum spoke nipples that thread onto aerodynamic aluminum spokes. They run 16 radial spokes up front, and 21 spokes in Campy’s Mega-G3 pattern in the rear. G3 is their system of pairing two drive-side spokes with one non-drive spoke. It does a better job of balancing out spoke tension and keeping the wheel stiff.

The hubs have carbon-fiber bodies and aluminum flanges to best combine strength with light weight. The hubs run on cup-and-cone races featuring Campagnolo’s ceramic USB bearings. Cup-and-cone is a smoother way of running bearings, and ceramic balls make it smoother still.

As mentioned above, there are two versions of the wheelset. There’s the 2-Way Fit, which means it works with both tubed and tubeless tire systems. There’s the Regular Clincher version, which works with tubed tires only. For the 2-Way, weight are 641g front and 834g rear. For the Regular, it’s 623g front and 826g rear. The weight differences are at the rim. The 2-Way Fit has an extra groove on the inside walls of the rim to better secure the tubeless tire.

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

The Campagnolo Shamal Ultra Wheelset comes with newly-designed aerodynamic quick-release skewers, spoke wrench, spoke holder, and user manual.

The front wheel weighs 746g. The rear 908g, regardless of whether you choose the Campagnolo-splined cassette body or the SRAM/Shimano-compatible cassette body.