Campagnolo Levante Wheels: Ridden & Reviewed

We’re a couple of months into actual life driving on Campagnolo’s Levante gravel-specific wheelset, we’ve ridden these at Nova Eroica California as a part of the official launch, after which at a number of gravel occasions and bike packing journeys nearer to dwelling. Right here’s our tackle the long-lasting Italian model’s absolutely devoted Levante gravel wheel set.

This evaluate actually takes place in three elements – the primary two seem in my video under – shot on the official launch in April on the Nova Eroica gravel experience in California the place I talked in regards to the wheels mid-ride, after which the second half the place I interview Nathan Haas (in Sept.) about his experiences driving the Levante wheels in a number of elite-level gravel races this yr.  The third half is under – the place our ToolBox editor and inhouse gravel aficionado Stephen Cheung takes us by his “common man” experiences driving the wheels this summer time at a mixture of occasions, native rides and even on a motorbike packing journey.

Watch my video evaluate from Nova Eroica California, and my interview with Nathan Haas discussing the finer technical & experience points of the Levante wheelset…

Steve’s Season Lengthy Evaluate Breakdown

Highlights:

• Powerful and sturdy paired with gentle weight and full of life really feel.
• No tubeless tape required
• Campy type with laser-etched graphics

Issues:

• Pricing (US $1899 for the set)

General:

• No matter gravel means for you, the Levante ought to match the invoice.

Whereas Wealthy received to play with the Levante wheelset first throughout its launch again in late April, I used to be eagerly chomping on the bit to get myself rolling on a set. With lower than every week to spare for my June journey out to British Columbia, the take a look at Rodeo Labs Flaanimal 5.0 arrived at my door, kitted out with the complete Campagnolo Ekar 13-spd gruppo and Levante wheels.

The graphics are laser-etched onto the wheels, so that you’ll by no means have the decals fade or peel and find yourself forgetting what wheels you’re driving.

After all, like an ideal PBJ sandwich needing each peanut butter and jam, you want the wheels and tires to make driving magic. I used to be rolling with the 40 mm Problem Getaway tires arrange as tubeless, they usually labored nice in all my driving with no noticeable punctures and no cuts.

Campagnolo payments the Levante as appropriate to no matter gravel means to you, so I took that fairly actually and have taken it by numerous massive rides to date this summer time.

Trip 1: A four-day credit-card bikepacking journey with my buddy Chris out in British Columbia. I had a 6 L saddlebag together with a 2 L bar bag and a 1 L prime tube bag, so most likely 4 kg of drugs. Our journey concerned all kinds of terrain starting from steep tarmac granny gear (38×42 standing) climbs and really quick descents (60-70kmh), loopy rocky and steep gravel (driving and hike-a-bike), a 40 km regular gravel descent down the Kettle Valley Rail Path (KVR) in regular rain, and quite a few cattleguards at pace.

Trip 2: A neighborhood fully-loaded in a single day bikepacking journey with about 20 km on rugged singletrack. I had a 15 L saddlebag, full 8 L harness bar bag, 3 L body bag and prime tube bag. Complete weight was about 10-11 kg of drugs. This was fairly critical underbiking, in that the path was extra suited to a hardtail MTB or on the very least an unloaded gravel bike.

Trip 3: The very rugged inaugural version of the Okanagan Graveller bike race hosted at Huge White ski resort exterior Kelowna. I had minimal gear on the bike however the terrain made up for it, with plenty of elevation, jagged gravel, together with a number of steep rock backyard descents like above. I additionally received further time to benefit from the Levantes, as I received horribly misplaced and my 120 km race become 165 km earlier than the course sweepers discovered me. Race situations had been overcast with gentle showers.

Trip 4: A extra conventional and easy gravel race on the Reggie Ramble in Ontario, 130 km of principally sane gravel with 8 ambushes of very technical singletrack or rocky terrain. Climate was lovely.

It needs to be apparent from my driving experiences that the Levante gravel wheels are as robust as you want for many every thing that you just need to do on gravel.

Are the wheels robust? Along with the above “regular” driving, I bottomed out each the back and front wheels on cattleguards at pace throughout my Kelowna bikepacking journey on account of not checking tire strain every day, and the wheels have remained completely true and tensioned. Similar with three video games of air-travel roulette flying the bike throughout the nation.

Higher than simply bomb-proof sturdiness, the Levantes obtain this with out piling on weight. At < 1500 gram complete unshod with tires and rotors, the wheels wouldn’t be misplaced on a high quality highway bike construct. The sunshine weight helps to maintain the experience full of life, particularly vital as you might be already coping with a heavier bike general, loaded or unloaded.

One other take a look at I love to do with testing the liveliness of wheels is to lean right into a nook at reasonable pace after which begin standing up and sprinting whereas in or simply previous the apex of the nook. I discover that useless feeling or overly flexy wheels result in a very wobbly response, however the Levantes felt actually safe and full of life.

Abstract

The Levante is Campagnolo’s first entry into the gravel wheel market. They’ve set themselves an formidable goal of toughness, versatility, gentle weight, and elegance. I believe that I’ve put them by the wringer when it comes to number of use sorts and gravel terrain, and the Levantes have hit an ideal steadiness. The wheels are positively robust, gentle and full of life, and exude the basic Campy flare.

Try the Levante at https://www.campagnolo.com/WW/en/Wheels/levante.