Starting with their already updated & most popular, feature-rich aluminum road race wheelsets, Fulcrum has given the Racing Zero a new carbon rim setting a new top level in the family. The revamped Racing Zero Carbon wheels wrap the same stiff carbon & aluminum hubs, USB ceramic bearings, and oversized double-butted aluminum spokes in a new lighter & wider carbon rim to cut a chunk out weight from the Racing Zero wheelsets.
Fulcrum Racing Zero Carbon wider clincher road race wheels
Last summer Fulcrum wheels widened their race-ready aluminum tubeless-ready Racing Zero clinchers to their newer c17 rim profile standard to better cope with the trend of expanding road race tires. The new carbon wheels use that same 17mm internal, allowing Fulcrum to recommend these with 25mm and up tires. Now with an external rim width of 24.2mm, the carbon rim should offer improved aerodynamics as well.
The Racing Zero Carbon hubs use aluminum hub flanges bonded to carbon shells, plus an oversized driveside rear hub flange and 2:1 spoke lacing to build strong, laterally stiff & reliable wheels. Of course, not only does the move to carbon drop 170g off the alloy Competizione wheelset and drop a few grams off the previous carbon rim, it also improves rigidity, responsiveness & even durability. That makes this new Racing Zero Carbon the lightest road wheelset that Fulcrum makes at just 1340g for the set.
The combination of the new carbon rims and Fulcrum’s aero butted aluminum spokes again makes the Racing Zero Carbon wheels unique, both in Fulcrum’s lineup and the industry as a whole. The wheels use the same, all-new 30mm deep rim profile front & rear. Inside is a the “longitudinal twill” carbon fiber material construction we saw in the new Speed tubulars & clinchers. Fulcrum says that it makes for a rim that improves both wheel rigidity and resistance to impact. The wheels also get the improved AC3 carbon brake surface treatment that Campy introduced earlier this summer on their Bora wheels along with exceptional, industry leading wet & dry braking claims.
Like all other carbon rims in Fulcrum’s (and parent Campagnolo’s) road line, the Racing Zero Carbon clinchers are not officially tubeless-compatible. And so they don’t get classified as 2-Way Fit. With that said (like the recent Speed carbon clinchers) the new carbon rim very clearly looks like it gets a tubeless-friendly shoulder lip to lock the bead into place – a big departure from the previous Zero Carbon rim profile. And without anyone from the Campagnolo side going on the record about it, we’ve heard from a number of riders very happily running the similar new Campagnolo carbon clinchers tubeless without problems as long as they don’t get out of hand with extremely high tire pressures.
The low-profile, rim brake, QR carbon road race wheels don’t have an official price just yet. But they should be available at the start of 2018.
