[Closed] Any thoughts on the fulcrum red power HP 29er wheelset?

Not that specific wheelset but they're one of the worst companies I've ever dealt with- parts availability was rotten and very expensive, even when they managed to give me the right part number, which was about 50% of the time. Being told you have to buy a pack of 8 spokes for $40 to replace one spoke... Oh and the weird mavic-ish mix of cartridge bearings with preload adjustment makes no sense, better companies manage without it. Mine weren't terrible wheels but I wouldn't ever buy from them again.

Having said that, at £125 that still looks like a fair amount of wheel for the money.

I owned a pair of Red Power XL in 26" variety (still have the front wheel in the garage). My experience was more or less the same as Northwind's.

Great wheels for a cheap price while they work (if a little narrow by today's standards). Coped well with general XC and trail riding. Problems;

1. The freehub bearings only had seals on one side, hence they got destroyed after a few wet and gritty rides. Fulcrum / iride (the distributors) wanted 70 odd quid for a whole new freehub. Managed to source some of the obscure sized bearings online but was quite difficult to change them due to a strange sized circlip which needed the purchase of a new tool.

2. The rear has a strange preload system (despite running on cartridge bearings) that I could never work out.

3. The spoke nipples are made of cheese and fall to pieces when you try to true the wheel.

4. You need to buy an expensive box of spokes if you need replacement nipples. iride wouldn't sell me the nipples on their own. Fulcrum themselves don't answer the phone.

5. There are 4 specific types of spokes used in the wheelset. If multiple spokes break, you need to buy full boxes of each one (potentially £100+ cost if you have a bad crash and need to replace numerous ones).

Haha ok thats that puts me off thanks for the honesty

Any suggestion on a budget 29er wheelset?

Late to the party and irrelevant if you've been put of, but I couldn't get spokes easily for the straight pull bladed hubs so bike shop made a round one to the right length.

Nice wheels for the money but that put me off and sold them not long after.

Have a look at the Pro Build/Chosen hubs on the Merlin website. You won't find a better build for the price.

Spokes for fulcrum wheels have been a pain on and off
But normally the pinch bolt preload adjuster works fine although it does allow the bearing to be over loaded if you force it up

Those probuild ones looks nice! :0)

any ideas on weight for a set?

1915g

I've got some and weighed them. I'm very impressed with them tbh.