Ambrosio i20 wheels

The Ambrosio i20 wheels are well worth consdering for their good looks, tubeless compatibility and cracking value – strong hands are required to get tyres on though.

• Pros: Good value, tubeless-compatible, wide rims
• Cons: Hard to fit tyres to; no rim tape

The wheels are lookers, with an all-black finish including the brake track and bladed spokes (24 front, 28 rear), slim hubs and minimalist logos giving a very stealthy appearance. On the rear the own brand freehub is a nice anodised red – obviously covered up with a cassette mounted, but it looked nice while you could see it.

Unboxing the parcel when it arrived unveiled a nice surprise: the logo on the outside of the box gave the contents away but to find two branded wheel bags inside was unexpected on a budget set and a good sign that Ambrosio cares about how it presents its products. Within the bags were the respective front and rear wheels plus steel open-head skewers.

Fitting

Spinning them unmounted they were buttery smooth as expected on the sealed cartridge bearings, while the freehub spun nicely if a little loudly. One thing missing was any form of rim tape – possibly Ambrosio thinking you could choose your own depending on whether you were going tubed or tubeless. Personally I'd have liked some included, especially as tubeless rim tape will support tubed tyres. It also meant I had to go out and get some before I could use the wheels.

I had planned to run them tubeless, using one of Schwalbe's excellent tubeless ready kits that has the tape, valves and sealant, but the tyres I was after hadn't arrived at the time of writing the review, so I decided to get some standard rim tape and run them with tubes.

> Tubeless tyres: Is it time to switch?

Now, I'm well versed in fitting tyres and it usually takes a minute or two before I'm ready to roll, but I had a bit of a challenge on here. My first try was with a tubeless tyre as they are harder to fit by nature and also my intended end goal. I expected resistance but this was a straight up fight. My palm and thumb technique to roll the tyre on works effortlessly usually, but I had to give up before resorting to levers – not much point fighting with a tyre I didn't intend to use.

Fitting a standard clincher was a little easier but still hard, and again needed levers for the final couple of inches. I tried a few brands and all were pretty much the same, so care is needed for the final mounting with tubes in place to avoid pinching.

Once on and inflated, we were almost good to go, with just one last job required – adjusting my brakes. With these being 25mm wide on the outside they are a few mm bigger than the rims I've been running, and even with the cam fully open they were a squeeze to get in. A little cable slack was needed to get them set right, and the pads also needed adjusting to meet the brake track squarely.

On the road

With a few miles under the rubber to bed them in, first impressions were okay. Nothing to set the world on fire, but these aren't super-light race wheels or deep carbon speed demons.

Most of my riding is distance – I don't race much (hardly ever) any more, so these sort of wheels are my bread and butter: dependable and hopefully sturdy enough to cover big distances. Living in a rural area we have a mixed bag of road surfaces, none of them particularly good. I'm also on the larger side at 95kg, so wheels do tend to take a bashing, and the combination soon weeds out the less than capable sets.

I don't run anything less than 25mm rubber nowadays, and fitted to these wider rims it pulls them out slightly to round the profile – this supposedly adds a slight aero benefit but I also like the feel of the rounder profile. I'm also in the habit of running lower pressures for comfort, in this case 85psi front and 90psi rear; another 10psi or so lower when running tubeless. These pressures combined with the rims give a comfortable ride; stable and smooth with no excessive road buzz on the worst surfaces.

Having 28 spokes at the rear helps with stability and stiffness, even if it does add weight, and one way to tell with a bigger rider is flex when riding out of the saddle. I run the brakes close to the rim as a preference and it does show up even small amounts of flex. Here, I had very little issue unless on a very steep gradient and putting down a fair bit of effort.

Accelerations and climbing efforts highlighted the 1.8kg overall weight, plus more with tyres, tape and tubes; they're competent rather than quick, but again you aren't going to be buying these if speed and climbing are top of your list.

The build would lend itself well to light off-road duties too I reckon, suiting gravel and 'cross bikes running rim brakes; the potential issue there is that most off-road bikes run disc brakes, and Ambrosio doesn't produce a disc version of the i20s yet.

Conclusion

After a good few hundred miles these wheels have impressed. They still look as good as the day they arrived, even the black-coated brake track – although we haven't encountered winter road salt yet. The bearings and freehub are still smooth, though the freehub is to my mind annoyingly loud (you may not care). The front is true still, the rear has a couple of mm runout but not enough to worry about and will easily tweak out with a spoke key, and the spokes themselves are all tight and the blades correctly orientated. Not bad considering the punishment.

> Buyer's Guide: 24 of the best 2017 road bike wheels

At £220 (and £200 at most outlets) they offer great value for a wheelset with bang up to date standards, and tubeless-ready to boot – something a lot of the budget wheelsets don't yet offer. Others you can buy for a similar price online include the Fulcrum Racing 5s at around £190, which offer a wider rim but aren't tubeless compatible (we have a review of the disc brake version to come), and the Mavic Aksium Elites, again around £200 online and again updated with wider rims but not tubeless. Against these two alone the Ambrosio i20s represent a great option with increased benefits and extras straight out of the box. We just need a disc version now please Ambrosio.

Verdict

Great looks, features and price for a solid performing winter/training wheelset