The Fulcrum Speed 42 and Speed 57 wheels are the latest additions to the brand’s aero road wheel line-up, and they spearhead a wider relaunch of the Fulcrum brand.

The Fulcrum Speed 25 arrived last year, but with the last update to the deeper wheels in the range now three years ago, the new wheels unsurprisingly have a significant number of changes.

Superficially, Fulcrum’s classic red decals have been removed, with the brand leaving a more modern laser-etched design in their place. The wheels now feature a series of logos to denote different technical features, in a bid to make the included technology easier to convey and understand.

Fulcrum

The new Speeds are marginally deeper at 42mm and 57mm – 2mm deeper than their predecessors – and can be purchased either as matching pairs or as a mixed-depth wheelset. The rims are wider too – internal width has been upped to 23mm from 19mm, and the profile is blunter, in a bid to improve crosswind behaviour. Despite this, the brand says that with 28mm tyres, the wheels are 10% faster than their predecessors.

Where the rims have grown, the hubs have shrunk, as Fulcrum has ousted its classic oversized flanges. The new flanges are said to be 40% smaller on a 10% smaller hub body, which Fulcrum says helps to reduce their aerodynamic drag without compromising torsional stiffness.

Fulcrum

Fulcrum says the Speed 42 wheelset is 60g lighter at 1,410g than the outgoing Speed 40, while the 57s are 85g lighter at 1,495g. The price remains relatively competitive though, starting at £1,999 / $2,692 / €2,264 for either depth, which the Italian brand hopes will bring its new ethos of ‘form and function’ to a wider audience.

The Fulcrum Speed 42s are available now, with the Speed 57s and the mixed depth option available in June.

What’s what?

Fulcrum

Fulcrum now features a symbol-based guide on its rims as an indicator of what technology is featured in the wheelset. Here’s a rundown of what each icon means from left to right:

2-Way FitMoMag TechDIMF (Direct InMold Matt Finish)C-Lux Mirror Finish rim bedUSB Ceramic bearings

The only brand-new feature on this list is the Direct InMold Matt Finish, with the others all featuring on the previous Speed models. The 2-Way Fit denotes Fulcrum’s fully sealed rim bed, which the brand says allows for both clincher and tubeless tyres to be fitted to the rim.

Fulcrum says the C-Lux Mirror Finish provides a highly ‘polished’ surface, which reduces tyre friction on installation and works with the 2-Way Fit to provide easy tyre mounting.

Fulcrum

As the rim bed is inherently airtight, magnetic nipple attachments are required for wheel building and spoke replacement, using technology dubbed ‘Mo-Mag’ that’s shared between Fulcrum and Campagnolo. A threaded steel head is fitted to the alloy nipple, which then allows the nipple to be guided to through the inside of the rim to the correct spoke hole.

Fulcrum says the holes in the rim are built directly into the moulds, which are made for the brand in Vicenza. With the holes an intrinsic part of the rim, a DSRC – read Directionated Rim-Spoke Coupling – is used to provide even support across the nipple. This is done by using a small insert at each nipple, which acts as internal brace against the rim.

Fulcrum

The outer finish – the DIMF – provides the rims’ final matt finish, with the logos and details laser-etched and metal-foiled in for contrast.

The new hubs continue to use Ultra Smooth Bearings – USB – with a cup-and-cone system, which Fulcrum says provides the highest level of bearing smoothness and a reduced weight versus cartridge bearings.

Deeper, wider, lighter

Fulcrum

The Speed 42/57s use a new unidirectional carbon layup, called Custom Carbon Fibre FF100. Fulcrum says that the undrilled rim bed and moulded-in spoke holes allows for the fibres to run uninterrupted, making for a stronger and more durable rim.

The new rims are now 23mm wide internally, as opposed to the outgoing 19mm, and have been designed with a 28mm tyre in mind. Fulcrum says that this tyre/rim pairing provides 10% better aerodynamics in headwind wind-tunnel testing compared to the previous model.

Despite being 2mm deeper and 4mm wider internally, Fulcrum says the new wheels scored better in both its handling and reactivity tests, due to a blunter nose profile on the rim.

The Speed 42s now have a claimed 7% improved handling and 3% better reactivity while the 57s are 17% and 10% better respectively than the last iteration. The wheels use hooked rims, a choice Fulcrum says it made to allow riders to choose whichever tyres they prefer.

Central changes

Fulcrum

The hubs have been significantly reduced in size for the latest Speeds. The flanges lose their distinctive frilled design, while the rounded spokes have been replaced with bladed ones in the name of improved aerodynamics.

The flanges and hubs are said to be 40% and 10% smaller respectively, and the freehub body has also been redesigned. Fulcrum says the new freehub body has been reinforced and now uses 36 teeth for quicker engagement, and as a consequence the engagement angle has dropped to 10°.

Road Bike Connection – Mirror Media

Fulcrum says that it ‘doesn’t make components, [it] makes wheels as a complete system’ and, as such, has built the new hub on a single aluminium axle that leaves no need for push-fit spacers or adapters. The brand says the wheels have been designed with a specific purpose in mind, and to allow others uses would open the wheels up to being structurally compromised.

Fulcrum keeps its Two-to-One spoke pattern for the new Speeds, whereby the spoke count is doubled on the side with the most mechanical stress. This means that the front wheel features 16 spokes on the disc side and 8 on the other, while the rear wheel uses the higher spoke count on the drive-side to counter force from the drivetrain.

Another remaining feature carried over is Fulcrum’s Non-Touching Spoke design, which the brand says increases durability and long-term performance as the spokes don’t contact and abrade each other over time.

Riding the Fulcrum Speed 42/57s

Road Bike Connection – Mirror Media

I got to ride on Fulcrum Speed 42/57s at the Road Bike Connection event in March, but it is important to note that I was riding on newly launched tyres, unknown roads and an unknown-to-me bike, so further testing with fewer variables would be needed to give a more conclusive opinion.

That said, my first impression of the Speed 42/57s was a good one. The new stripped-back look gives the Speeds a more mature, refined feel which would look at home on a wider variety of bikes than the more pigeon-holed red decal design.

I will note that, though Fulcrum said it wants to fully distinguish itself from its cousin Campagnolo, the overall effect aligns them more closely in looks to Campag’s newer wheels. The difference in branding is likely still enough to separate them sufficiently, such that Shimano or SRAM users would have no qualms using Fulcrum wheels when Campagnolo-brand designs would give them pause.

Road Bike Connection – Mirror Media

I welcome the new hub design as, despite looking pretty, the lace-like pattern of the old hubshells was impractical for cleaning. If they perform as well aerodynamically as Fulcrum claims, while maintaining their torsional stiffness, all the better.

There’s little doubt that the deeper profile rims will have an aerodynamic advantage and the weight differences will be easy enough to verify, so it’s more a case of maintaining the other performance elements around these figures.

Road Bike Connection – Mirror Media

I didn’t spend the time on the wheels, in the right circumstances, to confidently attest to the claimed 10% aerodynamic improvement or the 7-17% better handling, but I can say that the wheels paired beautifully with the 28mm tyres fitted and my experience using them, limited though it was, did nothing to suggest that these claims wouldn’t be accurate.