Rodale

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Fulcrum Racing Zero 2-way Fit wheels review

Weight

As a bare wheelset the Zero is very light at 1460g for the pair. Aluminium bladed spokes help keep weight down, and carbon fibre-bodied hubs fitted with ceramic bearings reduce it further.

With tyre and skewer the front weighs 1kg, the rear 1.25kg. A tough anodised freehub body keeps cassette damage at bay.

Ride

The smooth ceramic bearings help the Zeros glide up to speed, and the lack of mass makes them well suited to climbing.

The rims are solid with no flex or brake rub and, while that stiffness can show when running tyres at high pressure, you can run them at 10-15psi lower than recommended to add comfort without affecting grip or feel.

Braking

The combination of a machined brake track and a very rigid rim meant that braking was brilliant across all our test bikes equipped with brakes from Shimano, Campagnolo and SRAM.

Rubber

Hutchinson’s Fusion 3 (£49.99, www.extrauk.co.uk) weighs in at 291g and features a Kevlar puncture protection belt. They aren't the most supple tyres and, running them at the recommended psi, they felt a bit vague under cornering at first.

After about 75km of use though the surface softens, improving grip and inspiring more confidence, and we haven’t managed to puncture them in around 400km of testing.

This article was originally published in Cycling Plus magazine.



Source: BikeRadar.com Road Bikes & Gear

No comments:

Post a Comment