Italian team to ride new tubeless, €3,418 Campagnolo Ghibli 0.9 disc wheel at track World Championships

Tubeless tech and wider internal rims adopted in velodrome

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By Jack Evans

Published: August 3, 2023 at 3:00 pm

Italian cyclists will ride a new tubeless Campagnolo Ghibli 0.9 disc wheel in the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome at the World Championships in Glasgow.

Campagnolo says the previous Ghibli, a favourite with track riders, was the first full-carbon track wheel. Its successor now breaks with tradition by relinquishing tubular compatibility, in favour of tubeless technology.

Made from carbon, the rim width of the Ghibli 0.9 is broad for a track wheel, measuring 25mm internally and 27.4mm externally. It’s designed to work with wide tyres, too.

For context, the 25mm internal rim width is the same as the ENVE SES 4.5 wheels found on Tadej Pogačar’s Colnago V4Rs at the Tour de France, which ballooned his 28c Continental tyres beyond 31mm in width.

Campagnolo says Italy’s sprint and endurance track cyclists in Glasgow will race the €3,418 Ghibli 0.9, which weighs a claimed 990g.

Campagnolo explains the internal width of the C21 rim bed has increased from 20mm and is now only compatible with clincher and tubeless tyres.

While tubeless tyres have become popular with WorldTour riders on the road, tubulars have remained the go-to option on the track. That will change with the Ghibli 0.9, while the new disc wheel could also signal a move to wider tyres on the track.

Italian track riders involved in the development of the new wheel wanted to use 23c to 28c tubeless tyres for their performance and safety benefits, according to Campagnolo.

Again, 28c tyres were commonplace at this year’s Tour de France, but 20c rubber has remained popular on the track.

The Italian brand claims a reduced camber angle on the Ghibli 0.9 reduces its frontal profile and consequently drag.

Campagnolo says the switch from tubular to tubeless tyres decreases rolling resistance.

The new C.U.L.T. (Ceramic Ultimate Level Technology) bearings in a cup-and-cone system offer little friction, according to the brand.

Digital Writer

Jack Evans is a digital writer for BikeRadar.com Jack learnt to ride on rough Cotswold trails before switching to tarmac in his teens. Gravel riding and cyclocross racing (badly) has since taken him back to his roots. Most at home scaling south Wales climbs, Jack more commonly escapes his home in Birmingham via the lanes and bridleways of Worcestershire, riding either his Canyon Ultimate road bike or Canyon Grail gravel bike. He wishes he was as good at riding as he is drinking espresso. But he has completed the 296km Dragon Devil sportive in under 10 hours and finished in the top 100 at the 2022 UK National Hill Climb Championships. Jack is an NCTJ-trained journalist and a former press agency hack with bylines in The Times, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mirror. He was once electrocuted for a Sun frontpage exclusive and taste-tested camel milk for The Times.

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