Campy Zonda's - anyone got any experience of them?

[MadDad]

Giving the winter bike a quick clean and service this weekend and I noticed the rear wheel has a very pronounced buckle, on further inspection the rim is VERY worn (but to be fair has a good 10k+ dirty miles on it).

I think the buckle is in part down to compromised structural integrity due to a very thin rim. The wheels are Shimano RS80's bought from Planet-X a couple of years ago for £220, the replacements are the RS81's but the cheapest I can find are circa £350+.

I want to try to stick with a wheelset of around 1,500-ish gms and don't really want to spend much more than £250-ish as it is my rainy day bike and gets to see the worst conditions the UK has to offer.

Campy Zonda's seem like an exceptionally good deal on CRC and Wiggle at the moment and more or less fit the bill, but I don't know anyone with any experience of the Zonda's..........so, over to the PH massive! Is anyone running them?, what are they like climbing?, any issues with them etc etc etc?

[TwistingMyMelon]

Guy in my club has them, he recommended them to me , says they are bullet proof and he covers big miles , never had any issues and I ride with him most Saturdays so can confirm this, he doesn't hang about either!

He recommended them to me, I wanted to save some cash and got Fulcrum 5s, they are OK, but I wish I got the Zondas

Several on here have said how good they are.

[anonymous-user]

MadDad said:

Giving the winter bike a quick clean and service this weekend and I noticed the rear wheel has a very pronounced buckle, on further inspection the rim is VERY worn (but to be fair has a good 10k+ dirty miles on it).

I think the buckle is in part down to compromised structural integrity due to a very thin rim. The wheels are Shimano RS80's bought from Planet-X a couple of years ago for £220, the replacements are the RS81's but the cheapest I can find are circa £350+.

I want to try to stick with a wheelset of around 1,500-ish gms and don't really want to spend much more than £250-ish as it is my rainy day bike and gets to see the worst conditions the UK has to offer.

Campy Zonda's seem like an exceptionally good deal on CRC and Wiggle at the moment and more or less fit the bill, but I don't know anyone with any experience of the Zonda's..........so, over to the PH massive! Is anyone running them?, what are they like climbing?, any issues with them etc etc etc?

I've probably done about 1000 miles on mine now, love them, absolutely fantastic value for the money. The bearings are incredible and roll forever, being cups and cone rather than sealed bearings means you can keep an eye on the grease in the bearings and keep them in good condition.

Mine were something like 1580g without cassette and skewers. Pawl engagement isnt super fast however but then no better or worse than anything else at the price range. I dont really sprint so its not an issue for me.

You do notice the weight (or lack of) on the hills, especially if you need a quick burst of speed. I would suspect you would really need to be wrenching the bars on a steep climbing and trying to twist the frame to get much flex from the rear.

I was a bit wary of the G3 pattern but neither that nor the front have shown any signs of buckles and I'm 80kgs riding on some pretty rough country roads at times.

The only issue is spare spokes, the spare spoke kit isnt cheap and you only get 2 of each length (so 6 spokes in total, 2 front, 2 drive side rear, 2 non drive side) for £25. I think I bought mine from Sigma but I'll get the code as they have changed the length of the spokes from various models over the years. Other than that, cant fault them and will probably get Campag Neutrons or Eurus for the next bike.

[thiscocks]

Had mine for a month or so- very speedy compared to my previous handbuilts (ambrosio evolution rim) but also a noticably harsher ride, although part of that is probably the 23s im running compared to 25s on the handbuilts.