Fulcrum Red Metal Zero MTB wheelset

[GuyP]

Look awesome, feel awesome, and were absolutely brilliant for most of the first ride out - light, stiff, responsive, and apparently tough enough not to go out of true on some quite gnarly downhills.

 

However, at about 100Km of dusty trails, the freehub started getting sticky. By now I was seriously annoyed though, given the price of the freaking wheels. So I dismantled the entire thing back home, pawls and all, cleaned everything up, appropriately regreased everything, and put everything back together. This fixed the problem, and I'm happy again, even a good few hundred dusty offroad kilometers later.

 

The observation (and concern) during the whole episode though was how seriously thin the hub seals were. Indeed, I'm quite surprised they can keep anything out from the bearings and pawls, and I suspect you would need to service the hub at least once a season, more if you're a frequent rider or ride through water often.

 

For you folks that like those high pressure washes after a race ... and who have a premium set of wheels ... watch out. There is no way those seals can keep out even a fraction of the water pressure from those washers! If those wheels have anything like the seals on my Fulcrums, best have your hubs serviced regularly!

 

Would I buy them again? No, not with my money, irrespective of how beautifully light and pimped they are. For my needs, I need better seals, so would probably stick to XT or similar.

[JarradVZ]

Nice review. They are bitching sexy though...

[gummibear]

I heard that the Fulcrums are made by Campagnola.

[GuyP]

I heard that the Fulcrums are made by Campagnola.

 

Yeah BeOne, read that too in one of the local cycle mags. All that heritage and mystique apparently didn't do much for seal design though ... reminds me a bit of the MTB groupset they launched in the early 90's somewhere. Not one of their finest moments

[Santa C]

Great thoughts, thanks.