Carbon + Alloy = Fulcrum Racing Zero

The Fulcrum Racing Zero has always meant one thing, the pinnacle of Fulcrum technology – a super stiff, super durable, super light wheel. It’s an alloy wheel at home pounding out long training miles with incredible durability or attacking in the hills on race day with next level reactivity.

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It is a light alloy rim and wide, bladed alloy spokes that make this possible. For 2016 Fulcrum wanted to squeeze more performance out of the Racing Zero and in some ways the move was obvious – carbon. But Fulcrum did not want to give up the incredible stiffness and reactivity the alloy spokes provided. The solution was to combine alloy spokes with a carbon rim – for the first time ever.

The result is a 30mm deep, 1385gram clincher with less rotational weight, but the same incredible stiffness from wide and flat bladed alloy spokes. It’s not just the alloy that gives the spokes so much liveliness, the width gives the spokes incredible sheer strength, essentially the ability to resist bending under load in the direction of drive. This new Racing Zero is 55grams lighter than the alloy version and the majority of it comes from the rim, helping the wheel spin up even faster.

Other technology, well known in the Fulcrum line , 3Diamant braking track surfacing, ceramic bearings, Momag construction to avoid drilling holes in the rim bed, 2:1 spoke lacing to reduce hub wind up and spoke tension reduction under drive, and much more, is still present. Much of this technology is taken directly from Campagnolo, the parent brand responsible for the Fulcrum name. What the new carbon does not have is Fulcrum’s TwoWay Fit, or tubeless compatibility.

We’ve mounted a set of Fulcrum Racing Zero Carbon wheels on our Trek Domane SLR test bike, shod in Vittoria’s new Corsa G+ tires. Look for a full test in the pages of peloton soon.
Racing Zero Carbon: $2272 Weight: 1358g
More: gitabike.com