Shamals have been at the forefront of the pre-built wheel market for more than two decades, having been the first wheels with all components from one manufacturer, and they’d been some of the first to incorporate several unique solutions like different front and ream rim heights, ceramic bearings, oversized aluminium bladed spokes, and of course Campy’s grouped G3 spoke lacing. But while the recent tubular versions had a solid wide rim bed that worked well with wider modern tires, the clincher versions had remained narrow. Now that has changed with the new Campagnolo Shamal Ultra’s the bring the wheels in line with recent trends for wider tires…
The new Shamal Ultra C17 remain unchanged in most ways versus the previous generation. They keep the same radial 16 spoke front, and G3 21 spoke rear, and carry over the same oversized alloy flange & carbon bodied hubs as the Shamal tubulars that we reviewed last year. They also keep the same style of machined rim that trims weight between spokes while reinforcing the spoke connection. The new wheels do get an upgrade in the micro-adjustable bearing preload lockring that trickles down from the Bora wheel line.
But the big update comes in the move to the C17 standard for a 17mm internal width. Much like the new Mavic carbon clinchers we just saw, Campy thinks that C17 offers the best balance of providing a stable platform for the recent crop of 25-28mm tires. In fact testing them back to back, Campagnolo says that with the same tires the new wheels are even more aero in either tire width than their predecessors.
The new Shamal Ultra C17s will be available this spring as either a clincher-only, or a tubeless compatible 2-Way Fit wheelset. The clincher version has a claimed weight of 1435g for the pair, while 2-Way Fit takes them up to 1515g.
