Campagnolo announces its first all-gravel wheelset – Levante
INTRODUCING LEVANTE – MADE FOR GRAVEL
REACTIVE, VERSATILE AND DURABLE, LEVANTE IS ‘ENGINEERED FROM THE GRAVEL UP’ FOR POINT-AND-SHOOT HANDLING.
Renowned Italian component brand Campagnolo today announces its first all-gravel wheelset – Levante. Named after the Easterly wind of the Mediterranean, Levante brings a host of proven Campagnolo technologies to the gravel scene and is designed for off-road adventures and racing alike.
As with all of the brand’s products, both form and function lie at the heart of its design. The premium carbon-fiber wheelset adopts a series of subtle styling cues that complement Campagnolo’s groundbreaking 13-speed Ekar gravel groupset, completing an understated yet head-turning aesthetic. Beneath the beauty lies a series of in-house technological innovations designed to enable fast, fun and controlled gravel riding, with a strong focus on handling and ride feel.
Underpinning it all is a considered engineering approach that makes no compromise on durability and serviceability, making the wheelset an ideal choice for off-the-beaten track adventures.
Priced at £1349.99, $1899.95 USD, €1575 with N3W hub, Levante is available now.
H.U.L.C CONSTRUCTION & C-LUX FINISH
Stiff for climbing, light for handling and compliant for descending, Levante benefits from Campagnolo’s Hand Made Ultra-Light Carbon (H.U.L.C). H.U.L.C is used in the wheels’ rim construction and is the result of extensive development over decades of in-house carbon fiber moulding, enabling Campagnolo’s engineers to optimise the usage of both fiber and bonding resin for the perfect blend of strength, stiffness and light weight. This translates into a confidence-inspiring ride feel without undue harshness and an overall wheelset weight of just 1485g with no compromise on strength.
The rim also sports a stunning mirror-like Campagnolo Luxury (C-LUX) finish. This C-LUX finish is so pristinely smooth that it doesn’t require lacquer, saving more valuable grams. When applied to the rim bed, as first seen on the brand’s ultra-premium Bora Ultra WTO wheelset, C-LUX also helps to ensure the safest possible seating of tubeless tyres and further reduces the risk of abrasions to the bead. Levante couples this practical and beautiful finish with durable laser-etched rim graphics capable of withstanding the demands of gravel riding.
DURABLE AND VERSATILE
Campagnolo’s consideration for durability goes far beyond the aesthetic however. Levante is built to last and has been tested extensively against leading competitors on this metric. At the rim, premium H.U.L.C construction combines with an asymmetric offset for a strong and balanced wheel that can take the rough with the smooth.
A simple and familiar cup and cone hub system meanwhile ensures ease of servicing and external nipples allow for on-the-go spoke retensioning if needed, with no new tools required. Equally, Levante’s adoption of a regular spoke pattern, using straight-pull spokes, means that replacements (if ever needed) are easy to source and fit no matter where the road takes you.
Not only is it durable, but versatile too. Campagnolo’s two-way fit rim profile ensures tubeless and clincher compatibility while the 25mm internal rim width can accommodate a broad range of tire widths from 38mm to 76mm (1.5-3.0”). Combined with its middle ground 30mm rim depth, this makes Levante suitable for every ride – from fast gravel races to multi-day off-piste bikepacking trips.
MINI-HOOK
The wheelset’s Mini-Hook has been designed specifically for this rim and matches the ETRTO requirements using the minimal dimension possible. As a result, the slight hook provides a perfect match between the tire – no matter the brand – and the rim. This means a large contact surface area with the terrain, increasing grip and improving comfort at lower pressures. The Mini-Hook system is fully compliant with ETRTO clincher and tubeless safety standards.
N3W
The perfect companion to Campagnolo’s game-changing Ekar groupset, Levante utilises Campagnolo’s Next 3 Ways (N3W) freehub body. N3W is a patented standard for a freewheel body engineered to house Campagnolo 11, 12 and 13-speed cassettes. The wheelset is also available to purchase with Shimano HG and SRAM XDR freehub bodies.
To learn more about Levante, visit http://www.campagnolo.com
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Gravel dedicated wheelset from Campagnolo – ASTM 2 validated
1485g wheelset weight
30mm profile , 25mm internal channel, 30.6mm external profile
Laser-etched graphics on rim & hub
Asymmetric carbon fiber rim with Mini-Hook
H.U.L.C. UD carbon fiber, 2-Way Fit rim, C-LUX finish
Aluminum hub, cup & cone adjustable bearings
24 spokes, 12+12 double butted, aluminum external self lock nipples
Tire compatibility: from 38 to 76 mm
