Campagnolo Shamal Wheelset review: wavy hoops that double up as road or gravel wheels

Campagnolo launched the Shamal wheel way back in 1992. SInce then it's been a staple of the Italian brand's line-up, with many developments along the way. This latest iteration has taken cues from several other manufacturers in the creation of a wavy profiled rim that is seen on a few of the best road bike wheels.

Construction

Utilising a mixed 45/40mm unidirectional carbon fibre rim profile, the Shamal wheels are designed to offer greater aerodynamic gains while improving performance in cross-winds. The rim itself changes from a sharper rim profile on the 45mm sections, and a flatter squared off profile on the 40mm elements.

Named the C32, the rim has a 23.19mm internal width and 29.46mm external width and uses a hooked fitting system. This has been done to allow the use of clincher tyres with tubes, as well as tubeless systems. Tubeless is further simplified by the use of a solid rim bed with no rim-tape required. Spoke tension adjustments are instead made using the exposed spoke nipple along the rim. Completing the rim is the C-Lux finish, giving a polished look that also aims to enhance longevity.

As for the spokes, Campagnolo has used its classic G3 lacing system. The spokes all lace onto the 45mm sections of the wheel, in part to reduce the weight by cutting 5mm off each spoke. This lacing pattern results in three spokes running parallel to each other in a 2:1 lacing pattern for 21 spokes total.

At the front this 2:1 is favoured on the non-drive side where the rotor sits, while the rear is on the drive-side with 14:7 spokes total each front and rear. Both the front non-drive-side and rear drive-side use a 3-cross spoke lacing to provide greater torsional stiffness, while the other side features a radial lacing. All aero-elliptical steel spokes are straight pull from the asymmetric hub flanges based on the forces experienced, aimed to increase lateral stiffness.

The hubs are made from a single piece of machined aluminium and use 12mm thru axles with 100mm front and 142mm rear. A cup and cone bearing system is used, with 15/28mm front and 17/30mm rear.

Campagnolo suggests these wheels are not just for the road, but also for gravel and adventure riding with the capacity to take on wider tyres. Alongside the wheel itself, included are 50mm tubeless valves, lightweight lock rings, two composite tyre levels, Campagnolo N3W adaptor, accessories bag, and two wheel bags.

A claimed weight of 1480g is given, while our scales came up with 1494g with zero accessories added.

The ride

As with all wheels, the first port of call is the initial setup. The Campagnolo Shamal wheels make life particularly easy on the tubeless front, thanks to having a sealed rim bed with no spoke holes. This means no rim tape is required and there is zero air leakage. This was confirmed once the tyres were fitted, as getting them up to pressure and seated was easily done with a track pump.

Fitting the cassette and rotors were standard procedure; I do like the particularly lightweight rotor lockrings. It’s a small feature but shaves a few grams off an area often neglected.

Out on the road, the Shamal is an interesting wheelset to try and assess. With the 40/45mm rim profile, the promise is a wheel that performs aerodynamically like a 45mm wheelset, but is more manageable in crosswinds akin to a 40mm wheelset. In practice this is very hard to determine in terms of aerodynamic benefit. The difference between a 50mm wheelset and 40mm wheelset at low yaw (block headwind or a still day), is actually fairly small, in the single figure watt ranges for 30-40kph. Where things start to change is in crosswinds, where a deeper rim often reacts like a sail, allowing the wheel to actually get pushed forwards to a degree.

I don't have any accurate quantifiable data for this, but for a given power across a range of different riding conditions and similar elevation gain per kilometre, there was a slight trend for the Shamal to be relatively faster on days where there was more of a crosswind. This also paired nicely with being incredibly manageable in those crosswinds, to a level that riding with both hands off the bars was comfortable and presented no unstable moments. This is, however, all highly subjective data. I think I’m quite good at discerning how a wheel feels and performs across a range of speeds and conditions, but it’s never going to be as accurate as proper instrumental testing.

Other things I like about these wheels are the width of them. With an internal width of 23.19mm, a 28mm Pirelli P Zero Race TLR RS sat on the wheels at a plus 30.1mm, making them ever so slightly wider than the external width. Add to that a good volume of air, and the tyres felt particularly comfortable out on broken road surfaces, denting the force of any impacts nicely and giving smoother cornering performance. This width also means that the wheels can be used with gravel tyres and used as an all-road or off-road wheelset should you so please. It does enhance the overall versatility of them.

There are some areas where I was not as convinced about the wheels though. Weight wise, 1494g with zero added accessories is decent, but not standout, especially at this price point. It meant that the wheels felt just fine when it came to accelerating up steeper climbs, but were nothing to write home about.

An area that does help this performance is the spoke lacing. Impressively, Campagnolo have managed to make a relatively stiff wheelset with a fairly limited number of spokes. Twenty-one front and rear is quite a low number, with 24 being the norm on disc brake wheels. Add to that the radial lacing pattern on the non-drive side rear and non-rotor side front, and the wheels have an impressive level of torsional stiffness. The three-cross lacing on the opposite side of the wheels likely goes a long way to helping this on a high stress side.

However the lateral stiffness is not quite as impressive. I experienced a degree of rotor rub on a few occasions when accelerating out of the saddle or after a heavily banked tight corner once I started getting up to speed again. Inspecting the rotors, they were true and the brake pad clearances were fine. This is normally something I experience on wheels where there is a limitation in hub stiffness or spoke count, and therefore a slight lack in lateral stiffness.

There are some other positive noteworthy features though. The freehub spins without noise. I know some people like a loud buzz, such as the Chris King hubs give, but I prefer something a bit more inconspicuous.

I also love the accessories that come with the wheels. Two large wheel bags is a great bonus, as are the accessories pouch and tyre levers. It’s nice to see the brand take care to include everything that could be needed for the wheels so there aren’t added tools needed to be purchased to get them set up or looked after.

The C-Lux finish is also stunning, much better than the usual matte finishes that attract dirt and print marks. It even reflects the sun off them to make quite an attractive pattern as you ride along. Certainly adds a bit of understated bling if such a thing can exist.

Value & conclusions

There’s more to value than just the cost of a wheelset, which is fortunate because at £1649.99 / $2,085 the Shamal wheels sit in a bit of a midpoint. They are not quite the budget friendly carbon wheelsets that come in and around the £1000 /$1500 mark, but they are also not higher end level options where you wouldn’t want to accept any compromise in performance.

In terms of aero performance, it’s impossible to say how they compare to the competition, so it’s best to avoid that without quantifiable data. Where these wheels are noticeably strong are in crosswinds. It’s also worth noting that in the world of dual-profile wheels the Shamal are relatively cheap. Princeton and Zipp wheels come in at over £3000 / $3500 for dual-profile offerings. The only outlier there is VeloElite RF50 which are between £1250-1850 depending on the hub choice.

However, compared to the likes of Scope and Hunt, the Shamal wheels are on the heavy side. Scope’s Core SL 40 wheelset is under £1000 and claimed 1314g; we've reviewed the Core SL+ 50 model. They also feature a greater cross lacing pattern and total spoke count.

Where I think the Shamal really does add value though is the finish. The C-Lux coating does make these look a more premium wheelset, which does make a difference. Add to that the solid rim bed making tubeless setup far easier. Including wheel bags and tools also boosts the value of these wheels. They’re certainly not perfect, but compared to the likes of Zipp’s 404 Firecrest wheelset, I much prefer the Shamal wheels, also in part because I prefer hooked rims to hookless.