Fulcrum XLR Red Wind Dark Label

The Fulcrum XLR Red Wind Dark Label rims are tubeless compatible: The rim inner is smooth with no spoke nipple holes. Whether running tubeless tires or standard hook and bead clinchers, no rim strip is required. This saves significant hassle when running tubeless and a couple of grams in rim strip weight to boot.

Replacing a spoke nipple can be a bit of a hassle, however. Fortunately, Fulcrum includes a magnet to help the owner guide a new spoke nipple along the inside of the wheel if spoke and nipple replacement is needed.

The wheels are laced to a set of lightweight hubs seen across Fulcrum’s more costly wheel options. They feature an unusual rear hub design with an oversized drive side flange. This design shortens the drive side spoke length, reducing wheel dish, and improving wheel strength. The rear wheel lacing is also different, featuring twice as many spokes on the drive side as the non-drive side.

Rear bicycle wheels are subjected to three different forces: The vertical compression from bumps and user shifts on the bike and lateral forces when the rider corners or stands are common with the front wheel. However, the rear wheel is also subjected to a significant torsional force as a rider accelerates, something the front wheel is not exposed to. Rear wheels have a much shorter life span because of this additional pulling and stretching.

To help improve the rear wheel life span, yet maintain a lightweight design, Fulcrum introduced a 2:1 spoke ratio on their rear wheels. The drive side includes twice as many spokes (14) as the non-drive side (7). This helps the wheel manage the torsional force by concentrating a larger number of spokes where needed and saving some weight in the process.

The spokes are a bladed design laced to an alloy spoke nipple for maximum weight savings. The wheels are not the lightest on the market at a claimed 1590 grams, but are competitive with other carbon/aluminium clinchers.
 
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