If you want some serious-looking alloy climbing hoops for your lightweight bike, then Campag’s Shamal range has been a top-notch option for a few years now. The latest iteration brings with it a wide rim profile, along with the ‘2-Way Fit’ which allows the wheelset to run a tubeless setup.
The updated C17 rim now measures 17mm internally – a 2mm increase over the previous generation C15 rim – and that provides a better platform for the 25mm and 28mm tyres which are increasingly common with all riders, from pros to amateurs.
Campagnolo offer the Shamal in a conventional clincher format but we’ve opted for the 2-Way Fit option here, given the additional versatility of a wheelset set up to go tubeless – all for a measly additional 16g of material, needed to fashion the stronger and tighter bead hooks required for tubeless.
Campagnolo have also kept the process of mounting tyres as simple and efficient as possible, in a design called ‘Ultra-Fit’. The theory goes that an optimised tyre-rim interface improves efficiency as a result of reduced friction – friction that occurs through loose fitting and movement of the tyre on the rim. Given tubeless tech relies on tight tolerances and a snug fit between tyre and bead too, it’s almost as if Ultra-Fit was a precursor to tubeless adoption.
