Why does no one seem to recommend Campagnolo wheels?

daniel_b

I'm after some wheels, price variable really, but having had a quick look on merlin, they had one set with just a campagnolo hub, so stupidly I assumed that was all they came it hub wise. I now see this is not the case.

But the only recommendations I seem to see, or questions about what wheels to choose between seem to be:

Mavic Altium/Kysirium etc etc
Fulcrum 7/5/3/quattro etc
Shimano RS80 etc etc

Now the RS80 wheels weigh in at 1550g, and the cheapest in recent months is around the £335 mark.

Looking on Wiggle I can see the Zondas which way 1555g, but are up for £288 and on there at least, seem to get decent reviews.

So is there a reason they do not seem to get mentioned that much, some reliability issue....?

Bar Shaker

Fulcrum are Campag wheels under a different name.

napoleond

Campag wheels are great

daniel_b

Bar Shaker wrote:

Fulcrum are Campag wheels under a different name.

Are they really?

So a £370 pair of Racing 3's is exactly the same weight, allegedly, as the Zondas for nearly 100 notes less.
I am getting rather tempted by the Zondas now. Wiggle reviews are glowing.

I've read loads of wheel threads on here, and maybe I have missed it, but have never seen campagnolo wheels mentioned, bizarre!

napoleond

Dunno why not, as factory wheels go they are as good as they get. I prefer hand built wheels myself but I have some khamsins on my communter bike and they are great. I used to have a pair of Bora Ultra 2 too, they were fab.

16mm

Campag wheels are awesome. But don't take shimano or sram cassettes, so they're niche.
If someone wants wheels for their boardman or specialized, or giant etc campag wheels mostly won't work.
It not about quality, it's about not giving the wrong advice.

16mm

Daniel B wrote:

Bar Shaker wrote:

Fulcrum are Campag wheels under a different name.

Are they really?

So a £370 pair of Racing 3's is exactly the same weight, allegedly, as the Zondas for nearly 100 notes less.
I am getting rather tempted by the Zondas now. Wiggle reviews are glowing.

I've read loads of wheel threads on here, and maybe I have missed it, but have never seen campagnolo wheels mentioned, bizarre!

Fulcrum are not just Campag wheels with a different sticker.

johnsonmoog

16mm wrote:

Campag wheels are awesome. But don't take shimano or sram cassettes, so they're niche.
If someone wants wheels for their boardman or specialized, or giant etc campag wheels mostly won't work.
It not about quality, it's about not giving the wrong advice.

They will take Sram/Shimano cassettes, as I've had some Neutron Ultras for the past couple of years fitted with Sram. Just needs the correct hub.

Ber Nard

Go for the Zondas. I've got a pair that are years old and, although the rims are wearing out, they're still as true and smooth as the day I bought them.

Rob

skyblue337

16mm wrote:

Daniel B wrote:

Bar Shaker wrote:

Fulcrum are Campag wheels under a different name.

Are they really?

So a £370 pair of Racing 3's is exactly the same weight, allegedly, as the Zondas for nearly 100 notes less.
I am getting rather tempted by the Zondas now. Wiggle reviews are glowing.

I've read loads of wheel threads on here, and maybe I have missed it, but have never seen campagnolo wheels mentioned, bizarre!

Fulcrum are not just Campag wheels with a different sticker.

Care to explain further? I've always wondered what the differences were given that Fulcrum wheels always seem to be more expensive than the Campag "equivalent". Apart from slightly different spoking patterns they always seem to be the same weight and have the same technologies - cf Fulcrum 3 with Zondas, Fulcrum 5 with Sciroccos, Fulcrum 1 with Eurus and Fulcrum Zero with Shamal etc.

16mm

johnsonmoog wrote:

16mm wrote:

Campag wheels are awesome. But don't take shimano or sram cassettes, so they're niche.
If someone wants wheels for their boardman or specialized, or giant etc campag wheels mostly won't work.
It not about quality, it's about not giving the wrong advice.

They will take Sram/Shimano cassettes, as I've had some Neutron Ultras for the past couple of years fitted with Sram. Just needs the correct hub.

OK, I've not seen them with this option. Just noticed it on wiggle.

I'm not sure this used to be the case.
I'd expect more campagnolo wheel recommendations in the future.

16mm

skyblue337 wrote:

16mm wrote:

Daniel B wrote:

Bar Shaker wrote:

Fulcrum are Campag wheels under a different name.

Are they really?

So a £370 pair of Racing 3's is exactly the same weight, allegedly, as the Zondas for nearly 100 notes less.
I am getting rather tempted by the Zondas now. Wiggle reviews are glowing.

I've read loads of wheel threads on here, and maybe I have missed it, but have never seen campagnolo wheels mentioned, bizarre!

Fulcrum are not just Campag wheels with a different sticker.

Care to explain further? I've always wondered what the differences were given that Fulcrum wheels always seem to be more expensive than the Campag "equivalent". Apart from slightly different spoking patterns they always seem to be the same weight and have the same technologies - cf Fulcrum 3 with Zondas, Fulcrum 5 with Sciroccos, Fulcrum 1 with Eurus and Fulcrum Zero with Shamal etc.

I've no inside information, but it's clearly not the case that they make identical wheels and sticker them differently. They are different wheels.

Maybe different quality control, more time in the building / truing jig make for the price difference?
Or maybe it just allows them to be marketed differently. Do people ride fulcrums who wouldn't ride campag? I dunno.

daniel_b

johnsonmoog wrote:

16mm wrote:

Campag wheels are awesome. But don't take shimano or sram cassettes, so they're niche.
If someone wants wheels for their boardman or specialized, or giant etc campag wheels mostly won't work.
It not about quality, it's about not giving the wrong advice.

They will take Sram/Shimano cassettes, as I've had some Neutron Ultras for the past couple of years fitted with Sram. Just needs the correct hub.

Well indeed, that is exactly what I mistakenly thought, fuelled by looking on either ribble or merlin, when all that was available was campagnolo fitment.
I wonder if the lack of recommendations is down to this common misconception?

And perhaps if they do own Fulcrum they are not too bothered to take the limelight away from their higher profit margin wheels.

springtide9

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulcrum_Wheels

So they are 100% owned by Campag.

It would be obvious that the wheels will share components and will be built in the same factory etc I would guess there maybe minor differences with the compag figment wheels.

Ber Nard

16mm wrote:

Or maybe it just allows them to be marketed differently. Do people ride fulcrums who wouldn't ride campag? I dunno.

This is what I've always thought. It allows Campag to tap in to Shimano's market.

Rob

mfin

The rear wheel G3 spoke pattern is only really on the Campag ones.

Past that, they are pretty much parallel product lines.

I've ridden Fulcrum Racing Zero and Campag Shamal Ultra's back to back and they are really similar, you'd never know which was which if someone changed them without looking IMO.

Zondas are the best value mid-range wheel out of the Fulcrum/Campags.

A lot of people who ride Shimano or Sram don't want Campag wheels cos they don't want Campag logos alongside their Shimano/Sram and this puts them off. The actual wheels shouldn't whatsoever. (I also know someone who bought Zero's for his bike running Super Record purely as he didn't like the look of the G3 rear wheel, and at the time price was the same between the two).

Campag have been making their wheels for Campag and Shimano/Sram for years now, and the freehub body's are the same on Campag and Fulcrum and you can easily swap over if you change groupset.

galatzo

Ber Nard wrote:

16mm wrote:

Or maybe it just allows them to be marketed differently. Do people ride fulcrums who wouldn't ride campag? I dunno.

This is what I've always thought. It allows Campag to tap in to Shimano's market.

Rob

Correct, it allows Campagnolo to get some of the massive Shimano/Sram market because bike manufacturers know customers don't really want a Campag wheel on a Shim/Sram equipped bike, just doesn't look right.
Seems to have been a good move by Campag as Fulcrum have become one of the top wheel brands pretty quickly.

And yeah Zondas can be had for about £270, great price for a 1550gr, stylish and reliable wheel. (I have had a pair too.)

Bar Shaker

springtide9 wrote:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulcrum_Wheels

So they are 100% owned by Campag.

Did you think I made it up?

ugo.santalucia

3 years ago I hired a bike in France to do the Raid Pyrenees... it was fitted with Campagnolo Zonda. I can't fault them, they were brilliant and descending felt accurate and safe. If it wasn't for their obsession with proprietary parts almost impossible to find as spares and to fit for most LBS, I would give them 10/10. Sadly, I do rate service-ability above all

daniel_b

ugo.santalucia wrote:

3 years ago I hired a bike in France to do the Raid Pyrenees... it was fitted with Campagnolo Zonda. I can't fault them, they were brilliant and descending felt accurate and safe. If it wasn't for their obsession with proprietary parts almost impossible to find as spares and to fit for most LBS, I would give them 10/10. Sadly, I do rate service-ability above all

Hi Ugo, which parts tend to cause issues, is it the spokes?
I was just about set on these!

Paulj700

From my experience lots of people recommend Campag.

So much so that Zonda's are my next purchace. Ribble do them for £270 if you can collect them and periodically have a Campag discount event knocking further 10% off.

TheStone

Galatzo wrote:

Correct, it allows Campagnolo to get some of the massive Shimano/Sram market because bike manufacturers know customers don't really want a Campag wheel on a Shim/Sram equipped bike, just doesn't look right.
Seems to have been a good move by Campag as Fulcrum have become one of the top wheel brands pretty quickly.

This.

For some reason it seems odd to have Campag wheels on a Shimano bike and vice versa. Rebranding as Fulcrum somehow make that crossover acceptable.

ugo.santalucia

Daniel B wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

3 years ago I hired a bike in France to do the Raid Pyrenees... it was fitted with Campagnolo Zonda. I can't fault them, they were brilliant and descending felt accurate and safe. If it wasn't for their obsession with proprietary parts almost impossible to find as spares and to fit for most LBS, I would give them 10/10. Sadly, I do rate service-ability above all

Hi Ugo, which parts tend to cause issues, is it the spokes?
I was just about set on these!

No particular issue, but if you go through your rims quickly, you won't be able to replace them... if you damage a rim you probably won't be able to have it replaced spending reasonable money... damaging rims is quite common, I have people contacting me almost weekly with damaged rims.
Spokes are possibly not easy to find, but that's not the biggest issue, you can always use non original spares

TimInno

I recently fitted Campag Zondas to my Felt F6 SRAM Apex and they have been great. Only done about 200 miles on them but they feel great and I think they look tidy too. Some of the other wheels within that price range look a bit garish.

Ber Nard

ugo.santalucia wrote:

No particular issue, but if you go through your rims quickly, you won't be able to replace them... if you damage a rim you probably won't be able to have it replaced spending reasonable money... damaging rims is quite common, I have people contacting me almost weekly with damaged rims.
Spokes are possibly not easy to find, but that's not the biggest issue, you can always use non original spares

Surely that's true of nearly all factory wheels, though? Campag wheels seem particularly robust. Unless you're exceptionally careless or unlucky, I wouldn't worry about damaging a Campag rim.

Rob

itboffin

its funny because i'm planning fulcrum cranks & wheel for my ShimaNO bikes, i think im just a campag fan who cant let go

they are very good cranks & wheels though

daviesee

I had a set of Sciroccos when I first got the Colnago. they were fine but a pain in the behind when a spoke went.
I now have a posh set of hand builts on the Colnago and a new spare set of Sciroccos on the Fratello.
I couldn't say that I notice a whole lot of difference on the road apart from the Sciroccos being quieter.

I now consider my hand builts to be repairable and the Sciroccos as disposable. At sale prices for the Sciroccos this is acceptable but I wouldn't want to think of expensive factory builds as disposable. IMHO.

You could also read this post as saying that the Sciroccos are excellent value for money! :P

mfin

daviesee wrote:

I had a set of Sciroccos when I first got the Colnago. they were fine but a pain in the behind when a spoke went.
I now have a posh set of hand builts on the Colnago and a new spare set of Sciroccos on the Fratello.
I couldn't say that I notice a whole lot of difference on the road apart from the Sciroccos being quieter.

I now consider my hand builts to be repairable and the Sciroccos as disposable. At sale prices for the Sciroccos this is acceptable but I wouldn't want to think of expensive factory builds as disposable. IMHO.

You could also read this post as saying that the Sciroccos are excellent value for money! :P

Sciroccos are a pretty dead feeling wheel, but to be fair no more than anything else at the price.

lofty102

I can't believe some people won't have Campag wheels on a bike with Shimano/Sram group set!! Surely it should be about performance rather than looks or brand snobbery!! I've got a Moda Stretto with Sram group set and (shock horror) Campag Neutron Ultra Wheels!!! They are great wheels and they look good on my bike even though I haven't got a Campag group set!

ugo.santalucia

Ber Nard wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

No particular issue, but if you go through your rims quickly, you won't be able to replace them... if you damage a rim you probably won't be able to have it replaced spending reasonable money... damaging rims is quite common, I have people contacting me almost weekly with damaged rims.
Spokes are possibly not easy to find, but that's not the biggest issue, you can always use non original spares

Surely that's true of nearly all factory wheels, though? Campag wheels seem particularly robust. Unless you're exceptionally careless or unlucky, I wouldn't worry about damaging a Campag rim.

Rob

That is especially true for Mavic, Fulcrum, Campagnolo, Shimano and other brands that use proprietary parts

ivanoile

I've crashed Fulcrum Red Wind(rear wheel) and few days ago one spoke broke.Wheel was repaired after first crash where the wheel hit the ground.It was a bit out of centre and it was taken to LBS for repair.There I was told that Mavic is the best for and easiest for reparing because of the spokes. And yet,after repair the spoke broke and now it is again at LBS.