Originally Posted by
robertorolfo
And calling it the Zonda level is appropriate, because it's a level all its own, in a good way. For that price, what wheels are you going to buy that come anywhere close in terms of quality and weight?
Aren't Zondas cheap right now because distributors are clearing them out, due to being narrow and non-tubeless? During their main run, I thought they were closer to $500. I could be wrong.
If you're looking for a wheel of their style, it's a decent deal at the moment, but I'm not sure that it's representative of how Campy wheels typically sit relative to the competition.
And once you start to get into carbon, where things are much more expensive compared to most aluminum wheels, Campagnolo is still the clear leader in terms of quality to price ratio. Their Bora line is simply world class, and it's almost always significantly cheaper that stuff from Zipp, or Easton, or Enve, or any of the boutique brands. Compare wheels weights, and the Boras are usually lighter, or very close to, their competitors of similar rim depths. And then compare characteristics...
What do you mean by "characteristics"? ENVE wheels "justify" their price with exotic features like molded spoke holes making for extremely strong nipple seats. Boras seem considerably more vanilla than those halo products. And, like the Zondas, they're unfashionably narrow at present.
And it's not like they can't be undercut for their price and weight point. A 30mm-wide 56mm-deep wheelset that weighs about the same as a Bora can be had for around $600 from Light Bicycle, for instance.
This is where another huge component comes into play: hubs. While being competitive in other specifications and price, Campagnolo does this while offering their own hubs. And please don't try to poo-poo their quality. This company has been making hubs, and top of the line hubs, for so many decades now. And it's not just about design and technology, it's also about production. They have been doing it for a long time, they do it well, and they do it in quantity. How can people really expect a smaller company to put out anything as high quality, high performing and reliable for anywhere near the same price?
Campagnolo's aftermarket hubs are fine, but they're also almost irrelevant for new high-end wheel builds, due to 32H drilling.
Mavic has had some issues with hub quality, but that's more of a Mavic-specific problem than anything uniquely good about Campy.
Originally Posted by
robertorolfo
Campagnolo groupsets are definitely a different story to their wheels in terms of pricing
Not dramatically different. They don't offer good deals for OEM, but in the aftermarket they're reasonably competitive.
I'd actually personally argue that Campy groupsets are a much better deal now than they were during their 60s-80s heyday. Their prices were extremely high, and aside from maintaining good build quality, they were
incredibly technologically stagnant.