Fulcrum racing 3

[warthog1]

Anyone tried these wheels? They get a good review.
I have some lower grade fulcrum wheels and like the 2:1 spoke lacing.
Interested if they are any good, it is only one commercial review.

[le_quiet_uno]

I had them for about 6 months on my bike. I personal think its a great set of wheels. Strong and light enough for all types of riding.

Hope this helps you make your decision.

Alternatively, you can check out its sister wheel - Campagnolo Zonda.

[warthog1]

Thanks, the zondas are cheaper too

[macca33]

I have R3s on my 'work' bike and they are fantastic. I have R1s on my 'home' bike - they are a bit stiffer than the R3s and are also great. Both were purchased secondhand and only took a slight bit of effort to true up - and have remained true after a few thousand Km, respectively, under my substantial-mass, which is an indicator of their quality.

The Campag equivalents would be just as good and interestingly enough, are a tad cheaper - at each level of wheelset. I 'spose some don't like the word Campagnolo on their Shmano / SRAM equipped bikes, but I don't see it as an issue if it means you'd save a few bucks on wheels that are of the exact same quality / standard.

cheers

[scirocco]

I have R3s on one bike for about 4 years now and think they are a great wheel, strong, stiff and bombproof (although having said that I did break a spoke last year, and I'm not heavy).

Had to replace the freehub recently as one of the bearings got water and dirt into it and was corroded. It's a standard campy part, not hard to get.

[danny the boy]

No problems with mine, must be getting close 12 months old and maybe 8-9000 k's. I still use the Giant wheels that came with my bike every now and then and the difference in stiffness is worlds apart, have to back off the brake pads a couple of turns compared to the Fulcrum's.

6 posts in and waiting.....

[warthog1]

As I said I like the 2:1 spoking. They sound good, thanks for the feedback.
I'm probably leaning toward the zondas. Not only are they cheaper but I like to confound the purists by having (then) components from all 3 major groupset manufacturers on my bike

[warthog1]

Bit of an advertising spiel on 2:1 spoking but has some valid points.

[shareyoutube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKWIJsWi ... E97E70E667[/shareyoutube]

wt? is going on with that you tube sharing.

[winstonw]

On the brakes descending the very steep bit of the backside of Mt Glorious this morning, 1/4 of the way through a 230k ride, no mobile reception, and a long way from home, I had a Fulcrum Racing 3 rear wheel spoke snap at the hub end. Total PITA. eventually hailed down a Motorcyclist heading down the hill to where my ride buddy would be waiting, and he obligingly agreed to tell him what happened. Meanwhile, a miracle occurred when a savy man in a commercial van came up the hill....and was heading all the way past my place. He told me about the more than dozen people he has helped out on the mountain (cyclists, motorcyclists, motorists). Lovely guy...offered him $50 but he wouldn't take it.

Won't be buying anymore Fulcrums. I have no confidence in the spokes used.
Instead, I'll look at Shimano Ultegra or a custom build (ultegra hub, sapim spokes, kinlin rim)

BTW, I weigh 85kg and had about 2kg of gear on board (water etc).

[Dave R32]

I did 50kms on a set and returned them. They arrived slightly out of true, alloy shavings floating around inside the rim and the freewheel started slipping on the first ride.

From what I have read, Fulcrums run very hot and cold, some sets are trouble free and others are lemons.

My opinion...Shimano or custom built wheels.

Cheers
Dave.

[warthog1]

I did 50kms on a set and returned them. They arrived slightly out of true, alloy shavings floating around inside the rim and the freewheel started slipping on the first ride.

From what I have read, Fulcrums run very hot and cold, some sets are trouble free and others are lemons.

My opinion...Shimano or custom built wheels.

Cheers
Dave.

On the brakes descending the very steep bit of the backside of Mt Glorious this morning, 1/4 of the way through a 230k ride, no mobile reception, and a long way from home, I had a Fulcrum Racing 3 rear wheel spoke snap at the hub end. Total PITA. eventually hailed down a Motorcyclist heading down the hill to where my ride buddy would be waiting, and he obligingly agreed to tell him what happened. Meanwhile, a miracle occurred when a savy man in a commercial van came up the hill....and was heading all the way past my place. He told me about the more than dozen people he has helped out on the mountain (cyclists, motorcyclists, motorists). Lovely guy...offered him $50 but he wouldn't take it.

Won't be buying anymore Fulcrums. I have no confidence in the spokes used.
Instead, I'll look at Shimano Ultegra or a custom build (ultegra hub, sapim spokes, kinlin rim)

BTW, I weigh 85kg and had about 2kg of gear on board (water etc).

Thanks for the feed back fellas. I'm currently leaning towards Zondas as they are cheaper. Good reviews on wiggle.

Also considering RS81's but I've had a previous bad experience with low end 20 spoke shimano rear wheel.

The G3 spoking on Campag makes more sense to me and I note that Shimano is using 2:1 spoking on many of its higher end wheelsets. C24 misses out though

[biker jk]

Thanks for the feed back fellas. I'm currently leaning towards Zondas as they are cheaper. Good reviews on wiggle.

Also considering RS81's but I've had a previous bad experience with low end 20 spoke shimano rear wheel.

The G3 spoking on Campag makes more sense to me and I note that Shimano is using 2:1 spoking on many of its higher end wheelsets. C24 misses out though

The RS81 is not a low end wheelset. Pretty much identical rim to the Dura-Ace C24.

There are pluses and minuses of 2:1 rear spoke lacing. It's done to equalise the spoke tension between the non-drive and drive side, a problem exacerbated by the move to 11-speed hubs. But with only seven non-drive side spokes, breaking one means the wheel becomes unrideable. The hubs used for 2:1 lacing need a stronger non-drive side flange for radial lacing and also the flange pushed further out to keep lateral strength unchanged given the fewer spokes. Note that the C24 doesn't use 2:1 spoke lacing on the rear but does use an offset rim (spoke holes to the left of centre) which helps equalise the spoke tension.

[warthog1]

Thanks for the feed back fellas. I'm currently leaning towards Zondas as they are cheaper. Good reviews on wiggle.

Also considering RS81's but I've had a previous bad experience with low end 20 spoke shimano rear wheel.

The G3 spoking on Campag makes more sense to me and I note that Shimano is using 2:1 spoking on many of its higher end wheelsets. C24 misses out though

The RS81 is not a low end wheelset. Pretty much identical rim to the Dura-Ace C24.

There are pluses and minuses of 2:1 rear spoke lacing. It's done to equalise the spoke tension between the non-drive and drive side, a problem exacerbated by the move to 11-speed hubs. But with only seven non-drive side spokes, breaking one means the wheel becomes unrideable. The hubs used for 2:1 lacing need a stronger non-drive side flange for radial lacing and also the flange pushed further out to keep lateral strength unchanged given the fewer spokes. Note that the C24 doesn't use 2:1 spoke lacing on the rear but does use an offset rim (spoke holes to the left of centre) which helps equalise the spoke tension.

Understand all that thanks. As I also understand it, pushing the non drive side flange further out to even the spoke tension, means the wheel achieves the same stiffness as a traditionally laced wheel that has twice the number of spokes on the non drive side.

ie; the 21 spoke zonda with 2:1 lacing, 14 drive-7 non drive, should have the same lateral rigidity as a traditional 28 spoke wheel.

I know the rs81 is a high end wheel however it still has only 20 spokes. Breaking a spoke on my whr 550 20 spoke rear wheel also rendered the wheel unrideable.

[macca33]

Thanks for the feed back fellas. I'm currently leaning towards Zondas as they are cheaper. Good reviews on wiggle.

Also considering RS81's but I've had a previous bad experience with low end 20 spoke shimano rear wheel.

The G3 spoking on Campag makes more sense to me and I note that Shimano is using 2:1 spoking on many of its higher end wheelsets. C24 misses out though

The RS81 is not a low end wheelset. Pretty much identical rim to the Dura-Ace C24.

There are pluses and minuses of 2:1 rear spoke lacing. It's done to equalise the spoke tension between the non-drive and drive side, a problem exacerbated by the move to 11-speed hubs. But with only seven non-drive side spokes, breaking one means the wheel becomes unrideable. The hubs used for 2:1 lacing need a stronger non-drive side flange for radial lacing and also the flange pushed further out to keep lateral strength unchanged given the fewer spokes. Note that the C24 doesn't use 2:1 spoke lacing on the rear but does use an offset rim (spoke holes to the left of centre) which helps equalise the spoke tension.

Understand all that thanks. As I also understand it, pushing the non drive side flange further out to even the spoke tension, means the wheel achieves the same stiffness as a traditionally laced wheel that has twice the number of spokes on the non drive side.

ie; the 21 spoke zonda with 2:1 lacing, 14 drive-7 non drive, should have the same lateral rigidity as a traditional 28 spoke wheel.

I know the rs81 is a high end wheel however it still has only 20 spokes. Breaking a spoke on my whr 550 20 spoke rear wheel also rendered the wheel unrideable.

When I made my first secondhand road bike purchase in October last, it was fitted with WH-500 wheels 16f/20r spoke configuration - they seemed very delicate and ALWAYS concerned me , as a rider the wrong sde of 100Kg. I bought some Pro-Lite Comos and they were good, but very heavy.

Now I have a few sets of Fulcrums - R1, R3 & R5 (spare wheelset at a stupidly good price from Wiggle a few months ago) and they are all good wheels in my humble opinion. I usually ride the R1s on my 'dale and the R3s on my work bike, but had to rebuild the R1 freehub (bearings imploded and bearing shop wasn't open on Saturday!), so put the R5s on to race yesterday. With slightly less stiffness and slight weight penalty, the R5s performed almost as well as the R1s do - as ridden by a rider of lowly calibre.

cheers

[warthog1]

Thanks Macca, good to know. You are a fair bit bigger than me, they must be reasonably strong.

[datanerd]

R3s came on my bike when I bought it a year ago (incidentally when I was 91kg, now 80). Never had a problem with them, roll nicely. Obviously not a high-end set, but don't cost as much as Zipp 303FCs either!

[winstonw]

Thanks for the feed back fellas. I'm currently leaning towards Zondas as they are cheaper. Good reviews on wiggle.

I'm over "most" user reviews. They're generally colored by a buyer's confirmation bias, being written within a month of buying. Rarely do I see a review after someone has put 20-30,000 k's on, which is when a review actually means something.

My evolved view is lighter wheels last less long. If you want a set of wheels to stay true, be able to handle the occasional pothole or bunny hop, be less susceptible to speed wobble, and be able to ride on long country rides over horrible surfaces, then you are better on wheels over 1600-1800g (depending on your bodyweight). Wheels under 1600g are just not as durable.

[warthog1]

Thanks for the feed back fellas. I'm currently leaning towards Zondas as they are cheaper. Good reviews on wiggle.

I'm over "most" user reviews. They're generally colored by a buyer's confirmation bias, being written within a month of buying. Rarely do I see a review after someone has put 20-30,000 k's on, which is when a review actually means something.

I would like to see some of those cycling websites; road.cc, velonews etc do long term reviews of wheels. Doesn't happen though, best you can find is feedback on forums

[sir_camel]

I've done a few thousand km on a set of Zondas now and they've been faultless and roll considerably better than my mates set of RS80 c24's. They're a great wheel.

[winstonw]

I've done a few thousand km on a set of Zondas now and they've been faultless and roll considerably better than my mates set of RS80 c24's. They're a great wheel.

what do you weigh and what surfaces?
I presume they have the same spokes as the Fulcrum 3, which have broken twice now.

[warthog1]

I've done a few thousand km on a set of Zondas now and they've been faultless and roll considerably better than my mates set of RS80 c24's. They're a great wheel.

Thanks SC. I am pretty well decided on them at this stage. Seem good value and good performance. I won't be racing on them, but need a good wheelset for training rides as there are some very fast riders where I live.