Wheels -Giant PSL1 Vs Fulcrum Racing 7

RoadRunner

Hi Guys.

I currently have two good condition carbon frames bikes for the short term. I'm moving to a slightly smaller frame and bought a new (to me) used bike. I'll be getting rid of the bigger one and I'm trying to keep for myself the best set of wheels between the two below:
Giant PSL1 - these are currently on the giant.
Fulcrum Racing 7 - these are currently on the ridley.

I don't know much about wheels so here's my observations.

- With both bikes upside down if I freewheel spin both wheels the fulcrum's spin for longer. (I've no idea if this is in anyway important as I'm sure the one with more grease will spin less with no weight on the bike)

- Weight. Both are fairly much the same weight.

- Tyres. All are the same continental 4000.

- Noise there is a lot more noise (normal) from the fulcrum rear hub. This is a very loud wheel. This came in handy on the ROK, when people would hear me and move to the side!

- Cost. Both seem to be similar cost, perhaps the Giant psl1's are slightly dearer.

Any opinions on which is actually the better wheels. People say wheels make a big difference, I've yet to notice much of a difference, which might mean I'm just not sensitive to this. Or they are both the same.

Cheers.

devonp

RoadRunner wrote: »

Hi Guys.


- With both bikes upside down if I freewheel spin both wheels the fulcrum's spin for longer. (I've no idea if this is in anyway important as I'm sure the one with more grease will spin less with no weight on the bike)


Rule #49 // Keep the rubber side down.

(I'd keep the Fulcrums)

RoadRunner

devonp wrote: »

RoadRunner wrote: »

Rule #49 // Keep the rubber side down.

"The only reason a bicycle should ever be in an upside down position is during mid-rotation while crashing" #49

Oops. Cheers.

Cee-Jay-Cee

I'd keep the Fulcrums.

jon1981

Is this a silly test?

Find a long flat stretch... spin up to a certain speed and freewheel till you stop, measure distance. Repeat for the other wheels.

How do you measure the efficiency of wheels when climbing or cycling fast while ruling out things like your personal influences such as strength or energy on the day, wind...etc.?

smacl

I've had Fulcrum 7s on my road bike for the past couple of years and they seem pretty bomb proof. No broken or loose spokes, and no damage even after hitting potholes at speed and going down a fair number of unpaved bohereens. Only drawback I can think of is they're a bit noisy free wheeling.

jon1981

Meant to add i'm also running fulcrum 7s. 4 yrs and must be well over 6000km on them now and still true as the day they came. Most of the 6000km done in the last 18months (i was a slow starter )

jon1981

smacl wrote: »

Only drawback I can think of is they're a bit noisy free wheeling.

+1 extremely noisy. Who needs a bell... just freewheel for a few seconds

Though the gf got a new bike this year with the latest Fulcrum 7s and they are far quieter.

RoadRunner

Thanks guys. I've decided I'm keeping the fulcrums.

I suppose at this point I'm at a bit of a loss to understand what the real world difference is between a €200 set of wheels and say an €800 set of wheels. Is it simple as Jon said take em both and freewheel till you stop?

I know dearer wheels are slightly lighter, and people say this "noticeably" helps them when climbing. Taking climbing, where the aerodynamic characteristics of different wheelsets are negligible, and I'm pretty sure difference in wheel bearings play close to zero importance also. I'm assuming there may be a difference of say 200g between an excellent wheelset and an average set (this is a guess!). Now, is there some reason in physics that I don't understand yet which would explain how a weight saving of 200g in a wheelset is preferable to, for example, just simply pouring out 200ml of my water bottle at the base of a hill before the climb for an exactly equal weight saving. Reason I ask is that I know I would be bloody far pressed to notice any difference if there was 200ml more or less in my water bottle during a climb. However cyclists seem to make sweeping statements such as "X wheelset is FAR superior to Y wheelset when climbing".

Do they really mean:
- "X wheelset looks or sounds much cooler on my bike when climbing than Y wheelset"?
- or even "I am much better able to tell the difference an additional 200g's makes to my climb than Roadrunner is".
- or is there some other reason that I don't understand yet?

I just want to point out that I have never cycled or climbed with a set of €800 wheels on my bike. Maybe I too would also say something like "wow they are right, that's does make it a lot easier"

smacl

Good questions. I'd say for those that race, wind resistance is a factor hence aero wheels. Outside of that and weight, the other factors worth considering are reliability, longevity and serviceability. Wheels like Fulcrum 7s are sealed, so not easy to service in terms of a fault. One thing to compare between two wheels is how they behave after a few years of hard riding, where the Fulcrum 7s have a decent enough reputation.

jon1981

It's funny I remember ringing up a shop in Galway ( won't be named) when looking for the Cube Peleton for the other half, the guy on the phone told me the wheels were, and I quote: sh*te and not suitable to Irish weather.

As i've mentioned, I have the wheels a few years now and ridden some terribly wet conditions and commuted daily on them for about 4 months now and find them grand.

cuculainn

jon1981 wrote: »

It's funny I remember ringing up a shop in Galway ( won't be named) when looking for the Cube Peleton for the other half, the guy on the phone told me the wheels were, and I quote: sh*te and not suitable to Irish weather.

As i've mentioned, I have the wheels a few years now and ridden some terribly wet conditions and commuted daily on them for about 4 months now and find them grand.

Well I know that the bearing went on the rear wheel of my fulcrum 7s after only a few hundred km. Not sure if reason but always put it down to water. The replacement has lasted a few thousand km

jon1981

Where did you get the replacement bearing? Could you replace it yourself?

cuculainn

jon1981 wrote: »

Where did you get the replacement bearing? Could you replace it yourself?

I just brought it back to where I bought it. So not 100% sure what they did

RoadRunner

jon1981 wrote: »

Where did you get the replacement bearing? Could you replace it yourself?

My front bearing was starting to go on the fulcrum 7. I've removed the old bearing and waiting for the new to arrive. I'll take some photos or lash up something on youtube on how to do it. The only tricky bit is that there is a difficult to get circlip on each side which allows you to take the wheel covers off and get down to the bearings. It took me a good 5mins+ each side to get the circlip off (watch your eyes when taking it off!)

happytramp

RoadRunner wrote: »

Now, is there some reason in physics that I don't understand yet which would explain how a weight saving of 200g in a wheelset is preferable to, for example, just simply pouring out 200ml of my water bottle at the base of a hill before the climb for an exactly equal weight saving.

Basically yes, very much so. It's to do with rotational weight as opposed to static weight. I do not remotely understand it myself but have tried to read many articles that explain it (I usually give up half way through)

Here's some other people thoughts on the matter...
http://forums.roadbikereview.com/wheels-tires/rotating-weight-versus-static-weight-272432.html

RoadRunner

happytramp wrote: »

Basically yes, very much so. It's to do with rotational weight as opposed to static weight.

Excellent, cheers.