khatfull

Did the requisite searches but didn't find anything terribly recent. Anyone riding them and want to share an opinion? Reasons I'm looking at them:

1) Want to upgrade the Shimano WH-RS10 that came with my CAAD9
2) Looking for a moderately lighter but quite stiffer wheel. Racing 3 seems to fit the bill.
3) Found a killer price with free shipping.
4) One of the two authorized service centers in the US is about 20 miles away from me in Bloomington, MN.
5) Schwag...yeah poor reason but oh well.

The Racing 5 Evo seems to get stellar reviews, and even the Racing 7 for an entry wheel...certainly the 3 has to be a decent wheelset for $500?

scirocco

I have about 18 months and 4000 miles on mine and I love them. Look good, not a bad price/weight tradeoff at $US500 - don't pay any more than that though. They are very stiff - I'm not heavy and I found I run my tyres 10psi lower than with other wheels I own. The rear has great torsional stiffness as well - no springiness or flex when you stomp on the pedals. They've stayed in perfect alignment.

Spokes are proprietary so will not be carried by most bike shops - I bought some spares in case I ever had a breakage but have not needed them.

55/Rad

I originally wanted the 3's, settled on the 5's, like them so much I went straight to 1's.

I'm sure the 3's are all that and more.

bryceepoo

Campy bearings rule... you'll notice how smooth the hubs are immediately when you ride them. Then give them a few hundred miles and you'll never look back.

MONGO!

Be warned, Campy/Fulcrum rims are very difficult to mount most tires to.

I got the 5's, done a few hundred miles, so far, so good.

In the price range I'd be looking at the Easton EA90 too.

khatfull

Yeah, I looked at the EA90 SL that I can get for about the same price. I don't know something about the Fulcrums tweaked me more.

MONGO!

The Fulcrums look great, but I'd be inclined towards the Easton's.

Flak

I have about 4000 miles on my 3's, and while i like them, the low spoke count means they are not bombproof. If you ride roads that have their fair share of bumps, or if you decide to sprint the bricked roads like we do here, you'll need to get them trued periodically. I haven't had any issues mounting Pro race 3's, rubino pro slicks, or specialized mondos. I like that there are no nipple holes in the rims, no rim tape rules.

Under power and climbing they are a significant improvement over my old Alex OEM wheels. They are very stiff, reasonably light, look cool, and sound killer. I'd recommend them, but with 16 front and 21 rear, you cannot expect them to stay true like a 32h wheel might. Go in knowing this, and you'll be a happy customer.

Jay-W

I did the exact same thing. Beautiful wheels.

audioslavery

Fulcrum's are underrated
screw Mavic
the hubs are awesome (well it is Campy)
I have the zero's but they are stiff and power transfer is stellar.

carpediem1230

OP: where do you live? I'm in St. Paul. Never knew there was a service center in Bloomington, but that may be helpful as I just bought a set of R3's today w/ my new rig. First impressions are very good. They seem to handle well under load, yet aren't jarring on rough roads. I'll have to wait to see how they hold up, but I've been told they do pretty well.

sir-fellow

I have Fulcrum ones (actually two pair) and they are truly fine wheels. I've probably got about 3000 miles on the pair I have on a Cervelo SLC and no problems. Very strong wheels and the power transfer is great. If you are a strong rider, you will love the Fulcrums.

I've had Mavic Elites and Bontrager Race X Lites. I like the Fulcrums cause they are good for putting the power down. A lighter wheel (like the Race X Lites) might be better for you if you are a light rider and want to save on weight, but I would say the Fulcrums are MORE bulletproof. I mean, look at the spokes!

rbart4506

Fulcrum 5's here...One season of riding, maybe 4000kms worth....A number of wet rides...Rear bearing shot!

Mavics in same conditions with 3 times as many kms and just as many crappy weather rides are still going strong...

I replaced the bearings and now am waiting on some WW Sys30's, anyone want a set of 5's (make that two, the wife is making the same move)

BTW I'm not just replacing the wheels because of the bearing issue. The hubs are noisy, the wheels are a b!tch to mount tires on and I want black rims *laugh*...

khatfull

I'm in Woodbury, we ain't far 'part.

Per the Fulcrum distributor list here:

https://www.fulcrumwheels.com/jspfulc...=en&world=road

Quality Bicycle Products in Bloomington is one of the two authorized service centers. I actually called them to resolve the long standing hub issue where the user manual PDF on the Fulcrum website says that 11T and 12T 10 speed Shimano cogs don't work on the 8/9/10 hub:

https://www.fulcrumwheels.com/reposit..._3-UK-1207.pdf

(the note under section 5.2.1)

Given they don't deal with end users really (since they're a distributor) they were exceeedingly helpful in clearing it up. The answer was that the website has old doco and that there's no issue with any 8/9/10 speed Shimano cassette except whatever version of DA was different a while back. I can't afford DA so it's not an issue to me

MONGO!

Assuming the Mondo are the S works, then they are made by Vittoria too, which seems to be a good choice for a campy rim, size wise.

My next tire will be the Open Corsa Evo CX, I like my Vredesteins, but making people wait around in the cold and rain while I struggle to get a tight bead on my rim is not my fun, as I found out last weekend when someone else flatted and three people struggled to fit the tire back on.

ridenow

I've had the 3's for 15 months, 12,000 miles. In the first 100 miles 3 spokes came loose on the front wheel at the beginning of a ride. I carefully rode home without further problems. The guy at the shop where I got them used to handle Fulcrum warranties, so he retightened them and they've been flawless since. He hadn't seen this before. They haven't needed trueing since. This was my first set of prebuilt wheels like this, and I was used to riding bomb-proof 32 spoke CPX-33's. So I was wondering how they would hold up. Other than the initial front wheel problem, I'm impressed. I use Conti GP 4 Seasons and haven't had any problems mounting them.

khatfull

Two things:

1) Good to hear your experience and with the GP4s....I use GP4000s
2) Dang I wish I had the time to ride 12000 miles in 15 months. I'm jealous.

Surferbruce

I have had Fulcrum 5's and 7's before, and my favorite wheels are Campy Zondas. The 3's are comparable to those. Smooth bearings, stiff ride. Go with the Fulcrums for sure.

khatfull

Well that's a ton of votes for the Racing 3's. Thanks all.

sac02

I have the Racing 1's and they have been awesome. My anecdote:

I crashed a month ago - the bike needed about $1K in new parts, and I need surgery - and the wheels didn't even need truing. I was seriously impressed.

Mac

Flak

I wonder what kind of difference in terrain and/or riding style exists between myself, and other on here with the same wheels, but theirs never need to be trued?

scirocco

How heavy are you?

At lighter rider weights (I'm only 150lb) I can't imagine anything short of a small thermonuclear explosion knocking the Fulcrum 3s out of shape. In fact they are probably unneccessarily stiff for a lighter rider, unless you spend a lot of time on bad surfaces.

Flak

163lbs

Must be my huge guads