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Campagnolo Eurus wheelset – review

Light, strong and responsive upgrade wheelset

Campagnolo are one of those brands that need to introduction. Ever since Tullio Campagnolo decided that removing his rear wheel was simply taking too long and decided to do something about it, his surname has been as synonymous with cycling as any. 

With a brand that steeped in cycling history, it’s easy to understand why a lot of cycling ‘purists’ claim a bike’s not a bike unless it’s sporting a Campag groupset, even if the Italian firm have struggled to compete with the might of Shimano in recent years.

But that’s not to say that their products are any worse than those produced by the Japanese-based powerhouse. In fact, when it comes to wheels, there’s a good argument to be made that although the Dura-Ace and Bora lines are both outstanding, the Italians have far greater strength in depth in their wheel line-up than their rivals.

At 1,423g, the Eurus wheels come in at an impressive 42g under Campag’s claimed weight

Coming in at just under £700, the Eurus wheelset is a really good example of how Campag produce quality that doesn’t cost the Earth. We’ve got the standard clinchers here, which cost £667.99 (shop around and you’ll find them for considerably less) but they’re also available in ‘2-way fit’ for £697.99, which means they can accept either standard clinchers or tubeless tyres.

Now Campag claim a set of Eurus clinchers should weigh in at 1,465g, but our test set came in at an impressive 1,423g for a saving of 42g. It’s unusual because, more often than not, wheels come in over their claimed weights rather than below. Not that the 42g will make a huge amount of difference when you’re out on the road, but it’s definitely nice to see a set of wheels that are lighter than the marketing blurb claims.

Another point that’s definitely worth noting is that these are available with both the Campagnolo compatible freehub (as you’d expect), and a Shimano/SRAM compatible version. The days of Campag wheels being wedded solely to their own groupsets are long gone.

On the technical side, there’s one particularly interesting feature that Campag have used on the Eurus wheels. ‘Momag’ which stands for magnet mounting and if you look inside the rims, you’ll notice that even the clinchers versions I’m testing don’t need rim tape.

This is because Campag have opted for the sealed rim on both the clincher and 2-way fit versions of the wheels. But what that means is to get the spoke nipples into place, you have to thread them through the valve hole and manoeuvre them using a magnet that comes with the wheels.

It’s a pretty smart idea, but a bit fiddly. Of course, you only need that should you break a spoke so although it’s an interesting side note, hopefully most people won’t need to put it into practice.

Although they’re not tubeless ready, our test version of the Eurus’s have a sealed rim with no need for tape which helps to keep things simple. It also means that you need to employ Campag’s ‘Momag’ tech if you need to replace a spoke

I was hugely impressed riding the Eurus. I own a set of Campag’s more expensive Shamal Ultras (£824.99), and in pure performance terms the differences between the two are almost indistinguishable.

And in the weight stakes, you wouldn’t save that much even if you opted for the top end Bora Ultra 35 clinchers which weigh in at a claimed 1,370g.

The Eurus are a perfect choice if you’re riding hills, with wheel weight being one of those things you’ll notice makes a difference, especially when the gradient gets really steep.

They climb very nicely, whether spinning or out of the saddle and even with closely set brake pads I had no issues with brake rub either out of the saddle or sprinting.

On the flat, you’re obviously going to get no aerodynamic benefit from the classically-shaped shallow rims, but then you don’t buy a set of light alloy clinchers for time trialling, do you?

As you’d expect from an aluminium rim, braking is superb

They handle poor road surfaces well, too. There’s a surety to them that means even on the worst sections of road I was happy to hit a couple of potholes (not out of choice) safe in the knowledge that they could take a few hits without failing on me. And that was the case throughout testing. No matter what I threw at them, the Eurus’ stayed true and they didn’t require any maintenance which is exactly what you’re looking for in an alloy clincher.

Campag attribute the reason for the rigidity and strength of the rear wheel down to the use of their Mega G3 spoke pattern. In a nutshell, the pattern is designed to make up for the fact that the cassette is on the right hand side of the wheel, and the spokes there are placed closer to the hub so, as such, have to be under higher tension to keep the rim in the centre. On their rear wheels, Campag use twice as many spokes on the right as on the left to aid this, and claim that the wheels have better lateral rigidity as a result.

Braking is superb, as you’d expect with an aluminium rim. The combination of braking surface and Campag’s own pads is so potent that even if you like to barrel into corners and slam the brakes on late, you’ll be able to get away with it which obviously makes heading downhill all the more fun.

Conclusion

As an upgrade or climbing wheelset, you’ll get a huge amount of benefit from Campag’s Eurus wheels over a standard set of bog-standard clinchers that come on so many road bikes.

They’re light, strong and responsive, plus they look good and will last for almost as long as you want them to unless you crash them, of course.

If you want a reliable, quality set of wheels that you can use in almost any situation, you’ll struggle to do better than these for the price.

With so much focus on deep section carbon wheels now, the lure of the high-end alloy clinchers has definitely begun to fade.

You might not get that fancy pro look for your bike, but if you want a reliable, quality set of wheels that you can use in almost any situation, you’ll struggle to do better than these for the price.

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