CAMPAGNOLO BORA ULTRA 50 TUBULAR WHEELSET

When Team Movistar and Lotto-Soudal line up at the worlds toughest races, the wheels you’ll find on their bikes are most likely this Campagnolo Bora Ultra 50 Tubular Wheelset. It hits the sweet spot of durability, light weight, aerodynamics, and braking performance. You’ll see it glued to 27mm wide tires at Paris-Roubaix, 25mm tire for most road races, and 23mm tires when the roads are perfect and the hills huge.

Campy pulled out all the stops when they designed the Ultra 50 Tubular. Not only do they possess a light, deep, aero shape, but also excellent braking characteristics, and super-smooth bearings.

The carbon hub bodies help shave weight from the wheelset, and look good, but the far more important difference is found inside. Campy has installed their ceramic CULT bearings. These roll smoother and faster than standard steel bearings. This difference should be magnified thanks to the fact that Campagnolo relies on cup-and-cone bearing races, which can be faster than more popular pressed-in cartridge bearings.

Spokes are steel and bladed. The front has 18 radial spokes, while the rear utilizes 21 spokes in Campy’s G3 pattern. This is a two-to-one ratio, where there are two drive-side spokes set on either side of a single left-side spoke. This design is to create a more even load between spokes and strengthen the wheel overall.

Back to the rim. It is 50mm deep, with a 24.2mm external width. The depth is for all-around racing, and is the one that pro racers prefer regardless of whether the terrain is flat or hilly. The width is for wider tires. They’re assuming you’ll want to run 23 or 25mm wide tires for both the comfort and rolling resistance, though wider still works well; you just won’t get the same aero benefits. This is a wheel that’s tough enough to take Roubaix-style 28mm tubulars and 33mm cyclocross tubulars. The shape is a modified airfoil, which slices through the wind. The rim is also designed to come out of the box balanced for the valve stem of your tube. This makes the wheel accelerate smoother and some believe reduces the wattage needed to power the wheels at a given speed.

The braking surface possesses Campy’s AC3 treatment, All Conditions Carbon Control, a texturing of the surface that improves stopping power in the wet and dry. Campy also includes brake pads for the Campagnolo/SRAM/Shimano brake shoe standard to ensure braking quality is high and consistent.

Campy also includes their redesigned quick releases. To keep these as light and powerful as possible, they’ve combined a steel rod with a skeletal lever body and durable eccentric cam. (*)