Fulcrum Racing 5 CX Review
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proprietary spoke design: for pure race wheels, a broken spoke is unlikely and though frustrating during a race, doesn’t impact the following week’s training. A broken spoke on a training wheel can require immediate repair on the road to get home and can impact training on each ensuing day it’s not repaired.
Ritchey and Shimano both use standard hub and spoke designs as part of their offerings. Although you might not find a matching black, bladed spoke at your local bike shop, you will find something get you home and out training the next day.
The Fulcrum spoke design is unique to Fulcrum wheels: it would be nice if they added a couple of spares in the box. As they don’t, we recommend ordering a few spare spokes from Fulcrum if you buy these wheels.
Finally, the hub design hides the spoke ends in the hub leaving a hole in the hub body. In poor conditions, muddy water might sneak through the gap, past the spoke end and against the gasket. There wasn’t an appreciable build up after taking the hubs apart (as the photos show). However, despite the double seals you have to wonder if standard hub designs offer better bearing protection in atrocious conditions. Only time will tell…
Our testers bike ready to put the Fulcrums through their paces.
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Would I recommend these wheels? Absolutely. Minus the few criticisms above, these wheels exceeded my expectations in just about every way. The supple ride and resistance to lateral flex are two characteristics rarely found together in a wheel at any price. This combined with the competitive weight, modest price and attractive appearance help them standout in the £200-£250 wheel market.
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For a cyclo-cross racer in need of a good set of training/backup race wheels or a roadie looking for some solid winter training wheels we highly recommend the Fulcrum Racing 5 CX wheel set.
Words by Tim Granshaw
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