Has anyone here tried the Campagnolo Levante gravel wheels? I have an opportunity to get them on a great deal with Cycle2Work but I’m hesitant as I’ve not tried them and Campy’s warranty policy isn’t great. They get rave reviews but I’m wondering if anyone here has any real-world experience. I live in Wales where the gravel can be quite technical, and the weather is ‘mixed’ to put it generously! Thanks
It’s all the same hamburger- this isn’t 2010; all the carbon wheels are all the same formula. Any wheel can take anything - hitting a pot hole or curb on the road is the same as hitting a rock on the trail - but you do tend to hit a rock just on one side on the trail. The tire and air pressure does most of the work here. These aren’t aero, so the specs tell the whole story. Really, what you’re looking at is a Campy wheel with a 30deep x 30 wide rim.
These aren’t all that different from other Campy/Fulcrum (same company) wheels. Campy/Fulcrum would be on the same tier as Shimano, Mavic, and a bunch of other mainstream companies as far as quality, and I’d only put DT Swiss based wheels on a higher tier. Their CF wheels generally have a very nice finish. If you have a Campy drivetrain, this saves you the hassle of tracking down a Campy freehub. The 30deep just means the rim is super stiff , you can run less spokes than a MTB wheel, and it might be aero-ish with 28 or 30c road tires. The 30 wide, just means not much, but it’ll be aero-ish with some road tires. Campy hubs use traditional cup and cone bearings and (IIRC) a somewhat noisy but otherwise common pawl style freehub. These are the same as Fulcrum Rapid Red Carbon. If you want the cool spoke lacing pattern, the Shamal C21 is about the same price and would work just fine.
If you’re going to bash them into rocks, CF rims are generally better at dealing with that than AL…. But you can buy 2-3 sets of Fulcrum Rapid Red 3 (or 300) or DT Swiss CR or GR wheelsets for the same price- the carbon rim will be more likely to save you from walking.
For the price: I think most places have these for around $1200-1300 (Bikeinn $900 but you need to buy the right freehub), which is about the right price these days.
Alternatives, of major brands, I think the Roval Terra C is on sale for $750 (plus DT 370 freehub); Zipp 303s is $1000. I think a generic carbon wheelset would be $600 (CRC prime Orra & freehub) these days.
Anyway- if you’re going to get a new, brand name carbon wheelset, they’re not a bad choice and will look great. Don’t bother looking at wheel reviews unless you’re buying something cheap or exotic. If you think you’ll break them, get the CRC Orra
Where are you seeing 303 Firecrest for $1000?
303s
https://www.bike24.com/p2381054.html
and
Looks like they only make a Campy freehub body, not a N3W
I’m not sure who makes the 176/177 hubs, but I bet if you do some homework, you can find a formula or similar freehub body that fits perfect
303 S, not Firecrest.
Firecrest would be the closest match to the Levante, right? 303 S is narrower at 23mm - pretty sure the Levante is 25mm.
That I don’t know…not really familiar with the Levante wheels. I was just clarifying that it was the 303 S which were ~$1000, not the Firecrest.
No. Zipp doesn’t have anything here. The 202 is narrower and the 303 is way deeper.
Roval Terra cl
Bontrager 3V 37v
Swiss CRC
Edit: I guess the 303 is less deep now. So it is an everyday, lightweight, semi aero allroad wheel, which is what I’m calling this segment. It is priced stupid still
Stupid priced options include
Zipp 303 fire
Enve Ar
Bontrager Rsl
Roval Terra CRC
Many others
I have them!
I do really like them - they look absolutely fantastic. I’ve never had a single issue with any fulcrum/campy wheels so I am quite brand loyal in that regard.
That said, I might have gone 303s instead if zipp actually released the freehub so that I could use my ekar groupset.
The micro-hook idea is neat - i’m not a massive fan of hookless wheels as a concept - this is a bit of a half-way house.
Thanks for the detailed reply, super helpful! Cheers.
Cheers. I have tried the 303s and their 45mm depth makes for a very rough ride on some of the gravel around here! I think maybe 30-35mm is the sweet spot for me.
Thanks for this! Glad to hear you’re enjoying them. I have tried the Zipps but they’re just a bit too deep for the gravel I ride - they feel very jittery compared to the 19mm AL stock wheels on my gravel bike. Can I ask why you might have chosen them over the Campags?
At the time the 303s were almost £300 cheaper and I like the aesthetics of a deeper rim.
I certainly don’t regret the levantes though
To be perfectly honest, performance wise I don’t actually rate them that much higher than my aluminium fulcrum rapid red 3 wheels when they are fitted to the same bike with the same tyres.
They’re just lighter and look nicer.
Awesome. They’re on sale at the moment, plus with Cycle2Work they end up around £690 for the pair with an XDR hub. Seem like a good shout - I have a Scott Addict Gravel which I love but the stock wheels are lacklustre.
Gorgeous bike. The Levantes look superb!
Scott / Syncros stock wheelsets are pretty good from what I’ve seen. In some cases, they are just a rebranded DT Swiss. The lower level ones use a nice DT Swiss 350 hub and ‘generic’ rim/spokes (usually Alex rims with a pinned joint). These are the RP2.0?
At 1750gr and good dimensions, They are probably flexy when hitting potholes/curbs/rocks, but I’d keep them around for an alternative tire set if it makes sense. That or keep the hubs and have someone put different rims/spokes on them.
The mid-tier Capitol line can be a good used takeoff deal
https://www.syncros.com/us/en/product/syncros-capital-1-0-40mm-rear-wheel?article=4211350135850
Otherwise, one nice thing about using lower profile rims for gravel is that wind can move the bigger tire/wheel combo around a lot with “mid” depth rims. The wider and shallower rims move around less.
Hi @DewiJ have you bought the Levante wheels? I am also considering them for my Scott Addict Gravel… I have some cheap carbon BMC takeoffs (21mm wide, 35mm high) but somehow I don’t really like them… Had cheap 25mm wide alu Boyd wheels on my old gravel, I could swear they rode better than the carbon BMCs… So considering some wider gravel specific options
How did the depth affect the ride quality?
I didn’t buy them in the end. I couldn’t justify spending over a grand on an upgrade that I don’t think wasn’t entirely necessary. The alloy wheels on the bike are not heavy, plenty stiff and look good. Maybe if I was less concerned with budget I would have bought them, or if the stock wheels were awful. In the end, though, it wasn’t worth it for me. YMMV. Cheers