Fulcrum Racing Zero Competition Wheels

Hitting the shops from Early April, Fulcrum have a limited number of a new wheelset, the Racing Zero Competition.

While it shares many features with the great performing and well regarded Racing Zero - namely milled rims, aero spokes, 2:1 spoking pattern and oversized hub spindles - it gains in one important area. The rear hub has what Fulcrum have dubbed a Mega Drive, drive-side hub flange. This taller flange has a number of benefits. One obvious one, despite its increase in scale is a weight reduction. The hub is over an ounce lighter than the standard Racing Zero's. This 3% weight reduction is only half the story as torsional stiffness is up a claimed 8%. If this is the case, this will improve the acceleration and reduce wind up in the wheel under power as the hub better resists the rotational forces as power is applied.

Mega Drive rear hub flange

On top of the hub updates, the Competition editions also gain adjustable CULT series ceramic bearings. In roll down tests, these bearing have been shown to roll for up to 45minutes. We clearly cant verify this, nor can you expect your bike to roll unaided for the best part of an hour, but as the brands bearing roll well in their standard form, improvement by a factor of nine is bound to reduce the wattage required at a given speed.

Lighter than the standard Zero wheels

With a price of £1099.99 per pair, these will be a special use set of wheels and with only a few hundred sets available worldwide, you're unlikely to see too many people sporting the same, graphically updated, fast rolling and fast accelerating hoops on your sportive, race circuit or club run.

Contact: i-ride

Alternative

Want the benefits but cant drop that much money? Don't fret; there will also be a Racing 1 version available for £799.99. It gains the Mega Drive hub flange for improved torsional stiffness, but looses out in the expensive CULT bearing stakes. Don't despair though; the all aluminium hub body does mean that weight reduction is comparatively greater at nearly 50 grams (or 8%). Less is definitely more!

Older models with modern upgrades