Evening folks,

I recently bought a CX bike that came with some Fulcrum Sport DB wheels. Now I’ve only ridden it a handful of times but one of the bearings in the rear hub has completely seized already. It hasn’t been pressure washed either. I was certainly expecting it to last a little longer!

I will contact the original retailer and see if they’ll fix / replace but bearing in mind this wheelset costs just £129.99 brand new…. I think it’s probably wise to look for an alternative wheelset. From what I’ve read online I’m not the only person with this complaint either.

So what wheelsets are recommended? I’m new to the CX scene. Im not looking to spend a fortune but would like some durability. Disc brake wheelset obviously!

Cheers

James

I don’t own these, but for CX you’ll be hard pushed to beat them on price and hand built too.

Go for the Dugast for pimp factor.

BORG22T Disc Wheels – The Cycle Clinic

Review on road.cc

Heard good things about the pro build wheels (built by Raleigh), merlin have them at good prices, there’s one wheel set with cx28 rims that is standard QR front and rear, or one with Alex Draw 1.9 rims that is through axle front and rear but convertible back to QR with adapters.

Mrs got an aksium disc rear wheel a while ago seems to be ok

Got a pair of unused mavic askium disc wheels for sale if your interested?

£100 + postage.

I have the same wheels, and the same problem with the bearings. At least one of the bearings only had a single seal. Swapped them out for some Enduros.

Also built up a second set of wheels: Stan’s Iron Cross, DT Revolution spokes and Novatec hubs. Came in at 1450g and £200 (Merlin have/had an insanely good price on a pair of rims). Can’t comment on durability yet!

Would 29er wheels not fit?

Running 29er wheels in my cross bike.

I have Stans Grail rims on my Croix de fer which I like, they’re wider than my mountain bikes rims and give a lovely shape to my tyres, not too heavy either. They’re tubeless and pretty aero, I put my on XT hubs and built them myself.

I like.

Just riding along. Mine are 28h hope pro2 with a23 rims.

Done 3 3 peaks, 4 seasons racing and countless long gravel rides. Done one bearing replacement but otherwise been good, not even needed truing.

This is disgraceful, the wheel are not fit for purpose.

If they were sold as “for CX” and you’ve used them a handful of times, take them back and don’t take no for an answer, they should replace them.

If then you don’t have confidence in them then sell them on and get some decent wheels.

Really hate it when things are sold for a purpose and then fail to serve that purpose, no matter what the ticket price.

https://www.huntbikewheels.com/

Do some nice wheels, at a fair price.

Interesting. I’ve got the same wheels on a recently purchased planet x xls. They haven’t failed yet but they were selected as an upgrade during the speccing process. Planet x don’t list them as CX wheels though, they are under the road wheels section i think. The Gipiemme ones that the bike was listed with as stock are 29er mtb ones which were a good bit heavier.

Can’t fault my stans grail on superstar switch hubs

Cheers guys.

Mos – Mine are on an On One Pickenflick. Its the non-driveside bearing in the rear wheel that’s dead. Will ring OnOne in a mo and see what they say. Replacement bearings for this wheelset ain’t cheap. I guess you could get some from a non bike specific shop a but cheaper maybe.

I guess you could get some from a non bike specific shop a but cheaper maybe.

probably generic bearings which will be substantially cheaper from a bearing supplier (from memory our Fulcrum R7s take the same 6902 bearing as Hope and a bazillion other hubs so looks like Fulcrum use standard not unique bearings). When Fulcrum use the suffix ‘CX’ on wheels they just have double-sealed bearings, whereas as the road ones only have single-sealed to reduce rolling resistance.

I’d google the bearing type and buy them off ebay or a bearing supplier and fit them myself rather than buy new wheels (unless you want to use it as an opportunity to uprade, in which case what’s your budget?).

If they were sold as “for CX” and you’ve used them a handful of times, take them back and don’t take no for an answer, they should replace them.

not a chance that’s gonna happen:
1) it’s planet X
2) wear and tear.

You can’t define what is reasonable wear as it’s down to how it’s been used and maintained. I had to replace EVERY bearing bar the pedals on my CX race bike (3 months of doing only 10-15 miles a week) as it was being used in crap conditions and then repeatedly power-washed.

The front bearings were normal size,just not well sealed, I bought replacements easily and cheaply enough on line. Having changed the bearings the front wheel had been ok. Not really used the rear one enough to comment

So in terms of cx wheels, does anyone ride challenger open tyres with latex inners on normal clinchers?
Also tubs or tubeless. Does anyone have experience of both as I’m also in the market for another set of wheels and like the op, I have the fulcrum racing dbs.

simo1970 – Member

So in terms of cx wheels, does anyone ride challenger open tyres with latex inners on normal clinchers?
Also tubs or tubeless. Does anyone have experience of both as I’m also in the market for another set of wheels and like the op, I have the fulcrum racing dbs. Tubs probably get the nod on race day but I’d say a tubeless wheelset was way more versatile – you can use them year round just switching race / training tyres.

Also built up a second set of wheels: Stan’s Iron Cross, DT Revolution spokes and Novatec hubs. Came in at 1450g and £200 (Merlin have/had an insanely good price on a pair of rims). Can’t comment on durability yet!

Which hubs did you use?