23 December 2008 - 2:10These just in…

New to the world of 29er-ness is Fulcrum. Fulcrum is a relatively new company, founded in 2004, based in Italy. but they have built a solid reputation for themselves as making some very nice, flashy and of course quite expensive road wheels. Would you expect anything less from the same country that brought forth Sidi, Ferrari and Lambourgini?

Well, their first foray in to the 29er world is a solid one. They are currently offering two wheelsets, one is price conscious, the other, a no holds barred UST lightweight race wheel. Yes, I said UST. The one thing that sets these wheels apart from the rest, is a very well though out 1-piece 20mm axle in both the front and rear wheel. Not only does this make for ridiculously easy bearing preload adjustments, it stiffens things up nicely.

We’ll start with the Red Metal 29 SL. This wheelset has a traditional J-bend spoke interface, and is laced up to some seriously beefy deep section rims using 28 butted and bladed spokes. One of the technologies used by Fulcrum is something they call 2:1. Basically, they double up the spokes on the side of the hub that bears the most force. In the front wheel, this would be the disc side, in the rear, the drive side. This wheelset weighs 2030g without the included skewers. These wheels retail for $450. Killer huh?

The second set of wheels is the Red Metal 29 XLR. This wheel incorporates straight pull spokes laced to a UST rim, meaning it is compatible with all UST 29er tires out there. What, there aren’t any UST 29er tires out there? Sure there are! Geax has the Saguaro, and is also introducing the Barrow in UST flavor early in 09. I’m not sure how these would work with a homebrew set up, and unfortunately, all this annoying snow has prevented me from finding out. This wheelset weighs in at 1850g and retails for $1099.

My first impression is that these are top notch wheels. Not necessarily the lightest out there, but I feel that they will certainly be stiff enough for anyone that wants to put them through their paces. Is UST a dead horse? We’ll see. One positive indication about these new UST systems, is that more tire manufacturers are taking this 29er tubeless thing seriously, so this can only be a good thing. 

The SL wheelset seems like a no brainer. Despite that it is a tube specific rim, I think the axle system and price make this a great choice for the performance oriented rider on a budget. The XLR wheelset is pretty spendy. I’m sure that this comes from the more expensive straight pull hub design  and UST specific rim, expenses carrying over from 26″ UST wheelsets…

After bashing 29ers for years, it seems like European companies are starting to wake up and smell the crema…