# DT Swiss, Easton, or Fulcrum?



## dmanthree (Aug 22, 2014)

Looking for a second set of alloy wheels, and wondering if any of the more experienced members here have a brand preference between those three brands. I'm a road rider and will be mounting (likely) some 700 x 25 Contis. Club riding, no racing.


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## Lombard (May 8, 2014)

All these are respectable brands. May I ask why you want a second set of wheels and what do you want to achieve that you don't have in your existing wheel set?


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## changingleaf (Aug 20, 2009)

From my experience the DT Swiss hubs are the most reliable.


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## dmanthree (Aug 22, 2014)

Lombard said:


> All these are respectable brands. May I ask why you want a second set of wheels and what do you want to achieve that you don't have in your existing wheel set?


Mostly convenience to run a second, and different set of tires. I switch between Conti GP 4000s and Conti GP 4 Season tires frequently depending on the ride. If I can get an upgraded and lighter set that would be a bonus.


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## Jay Strongbow (May 8, 2010)

Just an anecdote but the number of complaints and problems I've seen people I ride with or have heard about with Easton wheels would be enough to put me totally off the brand for wheels. Broken spokes and not staying true has been the problem I hear about and see which I assume comes from poor build quality/lack of QC.


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## dmanthree (Aug 22, 2014)

Jay Strongbow said:


> Just an anecdote but the number of complaints and problems I've seen people I ride with or have heard about with Easton wheels would be enough to put me totally off the brand for wheels. Broken spokes and not staying true has been the problem I hear about and see which I assume comes from poor build quality/lack of QC.


May be anecdotal, but still worth hearing. My ride came with DT Swiss, and the rear wheel needed a few spoke replacements during the first year of riding. It's been good since then, but I didn't expect that.


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## Clipped_in (May 5, 2011)

OP have you considered the HED Belgium+ ? It's really a great rim!


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## veloduffer (Aug 26, 2004)

You might want to consider hand-built wheels. Cost is about the same and build quality is often much more consistent. I have had a few wheels built by Ergott and November Bicycles. It can be customized to your weight and you can choose colored hubs (Chris King, Industry 9 and White Industries) and nipples to add some bling.

Fulcrum, which is actually Campagnolo, are excellent factory wheels. I’ve had Shamals and Racing Zero for years with lots of mileage. Campy makes some of the best hubs in the industry - they spin forever.


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

veloduffer said:


> You might want to consider hand-built wheels. Cost is about the same and build quality is often much more consistent. I have had a few wheels built by Ergott and November Bicycles. It can be customized to your weight and you can choose colored hubs (Chris King, Industry 9 and White Industries) and nipples to add some bling.
> 
> Fulcrum, which is actually Campagnolo, are excellent factory wheels. I’ve had Shamals and Racing Zero for years with lots of mileage. Campy makes some of the best hubs in the industry - they spin forever.
> 
> ...


The only issue is they're totally proprietary. And spinning forever means nothing in the real world.


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## Pisgah2000 (Nov 24, 2015)

Jay Strongbow said:


> Just an anecdote but the number of complaints and problems I've seen people I ride with or have heard about with Easton wheels would be enough to put me totally off the brand for wheels. Broken spokes and not staying true has been the problem I hear about and see which I assume comes from poor build quality/lack of QC.


On the other hand, I've run Easton wheels for the past 7 or 8 years and thousands of miles on and off-road, and I've only had one issue (that was probably due to negligence - cracked rim from possibly overtightened spokes on a rear EA90 XC). People have bad luck with all sorts of brands. But now that expensive Eastons don't go on regular massive closeouts at Nashbar, I'd shop other brands (or go to eBay or Pinkbike for a lightly-used wheelset).

Anyway, I currently have a set of EA70 SLs and EA90 SL/SLXs (and Havens and Heists), and they're all great, strong wheels. DT looks to make some nice wheelsets as well. You can often find take-off Rovals with 240 or 350 hubs for 50% off on eBay.


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## dmanthree (Aug 22, 2014)

Clipped_in said:


> OP have you considered the HED Belgium+ ? It's really a great rim!


I looked at the HED Ardennes, but they limit your tire pressure to 90psi. I frequently ride at higher pressures, so they're a no-go for me.


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## Wetworks (Aug 10, 2012)

veloduffer said:


> *Fulcrum*...* Racing Zero*...they spin forever.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


Yes, I recently put them on my Allez Sprint, they're delightful.


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## dmanthree (Aug 22, 2014)

veloduffer said:


> You might want to consider hand-built wheels. Cost is about the same and build quality is often much more consistent. I have had a few wheels built by Ergott and November Bicycles. It can be customized to your weight and you can choose colored hubs (Chris King, Industry 9 and White Industries) and nipples to add some bling.
> 
> Fulcrum, which is actually Campagnolo, are excellent factory wheels. I’ve had Shamals and Racing Zero for years with lots of mileage. Campy makes some of the best hubs in the industry - they spin forever.
> 
> ...


I saw a pair of 4db wheels on line for about $350. Seems like a steal. Would you?


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## dmanthree (Aug 22, 2014)

*Fulcrums Proprietary?*



cxwrench said:


> The only issue is they're totally proprietary. And spinning forever means nothing in the real world.


If they're proprietary, does that mean my LBS can't work on them?


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## veloduffer (Aug 26, 2004)

dmanthree said:


> If they're proprietary, does that mean my LBS can't work on them?


Maybe. Nowadays, many shops send the back to the factory, in part to not void the warranty and some shops don’t have experienced wheel builders. 






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## veloduffer (Aug 26, 2004)

cxwrench said:


> The only issue is they're totally proprietary. And spinning forever means nothing in the real world.


True. But Campy wheels have a long history of solid, reliable wheels but they are in the middle of the pack on the weight side. 


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## veloduffer (Aug 26, 2004)

dmanthree said:


> I saw a pair of 4db wheels on line for about $350. Seems like a steal. Would you?


What’s 4db?


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## Sojodave (Apr 7, 2015)

Competitive Cyclist is having a sale on the Easton EA 90 SL wheels. They weigh 1490 grams, 19.5 internal width and 24.5 external width. I have put 3k miles on them and I haven't had one problem. https://www.eastoncycling.com/products/details/ea90-sl-wheels


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## Sojodave (Apr 7, 2015)

You could also get some DT rims with a Powertap hub and get a power meter for $500.
https://www.powertap.com/product/dt-swiss-r460-alloy-wheels


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## Lombard (May 8, 2014)

Sojodave said:


> Competitive Cyclist is having a sale on the Easton EA 90 SL wheels. They weigh 1490 grams, 19.5 internal width and 24.5 external width. I have put 3k miles on them and I haven't had one problem. https://www.eastoncycling.com/products/details/ea90-sl-wheels


3K miles is not much. I would expect at the very least least 10K miles without a problem.

I do know someone who has a pair of Fulcrums with over 21K miles. The rear brake track is now concave, but they have never had any problems otherwise. Granted that she is slight. A 200+lb. rider would probably have trashed those sooner.


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## Sojodave (Apr 7, 2015)

I had some Fulcrum Racing 5's, I had problems with popping spokes. I liked the Easton's better.


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## dmanthree (Aug 22, 2014)

veloduffer said:


> What’s 4db?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Sorry. Fulcrum Racing 4db. Their top alloy road wheel.


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## dmanthree (Aug 22, 2014)

*Need disc wheels.*



Sojodave said:


> Competitive Cyclist is having a sale on the Easton EA 90 SL wheels. They weigh 1490 grams, 19.5 internal width and 24.5 external width. I have put 3k miles on them and I haven't had one problem. https://www.eastoncycling.com/products/details/ea90-sl-wheels


Those are rim brake models, but I need disc models. I should have specified.


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## Lombard (May 8, 2014)

Sojodave said:


> I had some Fulcrum Racing 5's, I had problems with popping spokes. I liked the Easton's better.


How many miles before the Fulcrums started popping spokes? How much do you weigh? Are you a spinner or a masher?


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## Sojodave (Apr 7, 2015)

I had the Fulcrum about 1.5k when I started having spoke problems. I weigh 190 and I'm a spinner. I had them repaired twice. I got in a serious accident last year and the Fulcrum folded like a bad hand.


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## Lombard (May 8, 2014)

Sojodave said:


> I had the Fulcrum about 1.5k when I started having spoke problems. I weigh 190 and I'm a spinner. I had them repaired twice. I got in a serious accident last year and the Fulcrum folded like a bad hand.


Interesting. So there we have it. Anecdotes at both extremes. Of course, just because one product of a single brand is good doesn't mean another of that same brand will be. I don't know which model of Fulcrum wheels the successful 21K mile user had.

As the saying goes, YMMV.


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## veloduffer (Aug 26, 2004)

dmanthree said:


> Sorry. Fulcrum Racing 4db. Their top alloy road wheel.


That’s a pretty good price. Actually their top alloy wheel with disc brakes is the Racing Zero.

FWIW, I use Campy Shamals and Fulcrum Racing Zero on my road bikes, and have a set of Easton EA 90 SL with Industry Nine hubs for my disc gravel bike that were built by November Bicycles. 

Boyd also makes nice wheels and their rims are very good (November and many other use them for their wheel builds). I had a set of Boyd Altmonts (alloy rim brake wheels) for a long time until I sold the bike that they were on. Solid and reliable.


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## cnardone (Jun 28, 2014)

dmanthree said:


> I looked at the HED Ardennes, but they limit your tire pressure to 90psi. I frequently ride at higher pressures, so they're a no-go for me.


How much to you weigh? the extra wide internal width on those means you bring down your psi. I had November build me a set with the HED B+ rims. I am currently 205lb and run the rear at 90psi with 25s. I pump up once a week and never had an issue.


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## dmanthree (Aug 22, 2014)

veloduffer said:


> That’s a pretty good price. Actually their top alloy wheel with disc brakes is the Racing Zero.
> 
> FWIW, I use Campy Shamals and Fulcrum Racing Zero on my road bikes, and have a set of Easton EA 90 SL with Industry Nine hubs for my disc gravel bike that were built by November Bicycles.
> 
> ...


Sigh...

Too late. They sold out.


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## FasterStronger (Jun 6, 2014)

Had a set of fulcrum Quattro that I bought new and rode about 6-8 000 km on and were trouble free until I sold them.
i also had a set of he’d Belgium with king r45 hubs built by November and popped a rear spoke after maybe 1000 km. At the time I weighed about 195 and ran then at about 90 psi with Michelin pro 4 25s.


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## dmanthree (Aug 22, 2014)

Sojodave said:


> You could also get some DT rims with a Powertap hub and get a power meter for $500.
> https://www.powertap.com/product/dt-swiss-r460-alloy-wheels


Do they have a disc option?


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

dmanthree said:


> Do they have a disc option?


Did you bother to use the link Sojo provided and look at the site? I'm amazed that people will ask an easily answered question here and wait for the info instead of taking the initiative and figuring it out for themselves. You could click on the link (it's even hot!) and find out the answer in a matter of seconds.


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## dmanthree (Aug 22, 2014)

cxwrench said:


> Did you bother to use the link Sojo provided and look at the site? I'm amazed that people will ask an easily answered question here and wait for the info instead of taking the initiative and figuring it out for themselves. You could click on the link (it's even hot!) and find out the answer in a matter of seconds.


Uh...yes. And while I did not see the option I though the poster might see something I missed. It always amazes me how people always assume something...


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

dmanthree said:


> Uh...yes. And while I did not see the option I though the poster might see something I missed. It always amazes me how people always assume something...


I didn't need to assume anything, it was obvious.


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## Lombard (May 8, 2014)

FasterStronger said:


> Had a set of fulcrum Quattro that I bought new and rode about 6-8 000 km on and were trouble free until I sold them.
> i also had a set of he’d Belgium with king r45 hubs built by November and popped a rear spoke after maybe 1000 km. At the time I weighed about 195 and ran then at about 90 psi with Michelin pro 4 25s.


Popping spokes is not the fault of the rims. It's either a faulty spoke or a poor build. I doubt it's a poor build as November has a pretty good reputation, but who knows, maybe the builder had a bad day.


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## dmanthree (Aug 22, 2014)

cxwrench said:


> I didn't need to assume anything, it was obvious.


I asked a simple question YOU incorrectly assumed I had not perused the site. 

Wrong. If you have something constructive to add, please do so. If not, well...


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