Campagnolo launches brand new Bora WTO and Ultra WTO range
Today Campagnolo surprised us with a completely revised Bora Ultra and Bora WTO range. Revised, but available in the same popular depths, 35mm, 45mm, and 60mm.
We love a Campagnolo surprise here at Unit 2.
Headlines are that the new wheelset drops a not insignificant 100g from the overall package weight on the 35mm, and adds some pretty impressive aero claims at the most extreme yaw angles. In theory this (if verified) should further improve stability in what is already one of my favourite wheels.
And they’re moving on up to 23mm internal rim width which we think is really sensible given where people’s tyre choices are heading.
The other big stand out, and the fact that makes the weight savings here even more impressive is the fact that this wheelset is still hooked.
Why is this cool? Well, it’s harder to make a hooked rim. Don’t let other rim and wheel companies tell you they’re bringing hookless to market for any other reason. If you want a hook, you have to mould the rim bed separately and bond it in. You simply don’t have to do that with hookless designs.
But hookless are lighter? Duh, yes. Things do get lighter when you take something away. But hooks really aren’t that heavy and they definitely aren’t unnecessary. There’s a reason you shouldn’t be thinking about EVER putting more than 70PSI in your hookless rim system, regardless of manufacturer.
Well done to Campagnolo for making some pretty remarkable weight savings, whilst retaining this really sensible safety feature.
We sell plenty of hookless rims, and they’re perfectly safe when used properly with a compatible tyre, but Campagnolo’s two-way fit system is better.
Also, look at them. Regardless of if you’re a Campagnolo fan or not, with this new Bora they’re further extending the gap between their wheels and everyone else’s in terms of the looks.
They really are one of the best looking and best finished wheelsets around, and with even darker decals than the previous version they’re looking better than ever. Argue with me? I dare ya. Look at them.
The moulding process gives it the gloss finish, which in turn means there’s no need for laquer. Campagnolo claims this enhances tyre fit, which makes sense to us, given laquer is applied after moulding. Even the best painters (and we’ve known a few of them) can’t lay lacquer flatter than the surface of a precision mould.
There’s a gorgeous looking carbon hub shell filled with revised versions of Campagnolo’s Cult Ceramic Bearings, but again, who cares what’s inside them when they look this good.
And the 7 x 3 G3 lacing pattern stays. The internal nipple system sees some revisions too, which should be less faff for spoke replacement, providing your wheel builder is G3 competent. For those servicing wheels at home, I’d probably practice on your Mavic Open Pro’s and leave tweaks to Campagnolo or Ben. If you need them. We’ve been selling and riding Bora’s for nearly ten years now, and I’ve had two sets back for warranty work, and that’s pretty special in the carbon wheel world.
Build quality is as good as we have come to expect. They all get spun up in Vincenza and this has always shown in exceptional consistency in the quality of the build from these wheels. They’re one of the very few options we don’t insist on building (or rebuilding) in-house before they go out to customers.
Weight wise, these sit right in between our best selling wheelsets from Enve at 1285g for the 35mm, which is deeper than the 2.3 SES which is actually lighter, but of course it’s shallower than the 3.4 SES at 1390g. So not a direct comparison, but yes, they’re bloody light.
And the price? They’re not cheap, but they’re not as bad as you might think given price rises across the range at some of their closest competitors.
£3300 for a set of Ultras, and £2300 for the ‘standard’ WTO set up. Which incidentally keep most of the upgrades from the Ultra only sacrificing the new material they claim is ‘ultra aerospace’ and intriguingly titled C-Lux and H.U.L.C fibre. The WTO’s substitute the Cult Ceramic bearing’s hardened steel races, for a more normal version in the also ceramic bearings of the USB system.
And, the best thing is they’re in UK Stock with Campagnolo Super Record Wireless Groupsets available now too for Vars Disc, Izoard XCR and HSS builds, and now of course now the system is wireless… for Enve Melee custom builds.