The Rapid Red Carbon wheels from Fulcrum are a premium gravel option that blends ‘low weight, strength and reactivity’; or at least that is what Fulcrum claims anyway. They build on the high-end road range, but add extra strength and width to make them ideal for fat-tire antics.
Wheel upgrades have long been one of the best ways to improve a bike from stock, with a good set offering a lighter ride, easier handling, better stiffness and greater strength. As these are gravel wheels aero gains are less of a concern than with road wheels, but I’ll add a nicer aesthetic into the list of plus points, as there aren’t many gravel bikes that aren’t improved visually by a nice pair of carbon wheels.
Construction
The basic specs of the wheel sound fairly standard; 30mm deep carbon rim with 25mm internal width and a very decent but not exceptional weight of 1490g. However, the Rapid Red Carbons are a lot more interesting than this, and it’s clear that Fulcrum has put some careful thought and consideration into the design.
The most noticeable element of this is the carbon rim itself, which looks normal on one side but is S-shaped on the other. This asymmetric profile is said to allow more balanced spoke tension when dishing for the cassette on the rear and the rotor on the front is taken into account. It also improves stiffness by 2.5% apparently, but you are a much more sensitive rider than me if this is tangible to you.
The rim bed has no spoke holes, so tubeless tire set up is easier and the impressively shiny C-Lux Finish of the bed helps the tire bead pop out of it on initial inflation. The downside to this is that spoke replacement is a more complicated as the nipples have to be pulled into place by a magnet; Fulcrum’s Mo-Mag Technology - not too hard in a decent workshop but perhaps not so simple in the back of beyond on a bikepacking trip. A final neat touch that I really liked is that the valve hole is built up to a flat platform that helps when tightening the tubeless valve in place and ensures a nice, secure fit.
Cup-and-cone bearings rather than the more usual sealed cartridges are also an interesting feature. These allow greater serviceability and adjustment that should enable the wheels to be kept running smoother for longer. Adjustment is a very quick job that only involves a 2.5mm Allen key rather than juggling multiple cone spanners. Round, straight pull double butted spokes complete the build.
All in all, the finish and quality of the build are very impressive, and although these are by no means a cheap set of wheels neither are they the most expensive on the market by a long shot.
The ride
Fitting tubeless tires to the Rapid Red Carbons proved to be about as straightforward as it ever gets. The 45mm Goodyear Peak tires went on without tire levers, sealant added, quick blast from the Airshot and that was it all sorted in about 10 minutes. I didn’t need to top up the air for a couple of weeks either. Whether this was down to the C-Lux Finish, the holeless rim bed or just good luck I can’t say, but it was certainly very satisfying. The rim’s 25mm internal width allowed the tire to inflate up to its billed 45mm and aesthetically the slightly matte unidirectional carbon rims and etched hubs looked great on my gloss black Cannondale Topstone.
As you’d expect from a premium set of carbon gravel wheels, general riding was trouble-free and without incident. Whilst large gravel tires mask a lot of a wheel’s performance nuances, the Fulcrum’s seemed to spin up quickly when required, making technical climbs just that little bit easier (helped also by their low weight).
A lot of my riding is on rocky trails where a rigid gravel bike can take a bit of a battering and it’s easy to get knocked off line - again, the Rapid Red Carbons were unfazed by sideswipes and tracked well through rock gardens. In the long term, the wheels have also remained completely true despite a few hard knocks and alarming noises as they pinged off rocks.
The hubs needed no maintenance and continued to spin very freely after a couple of months of use, which bodes well for their long term durability. The freehub is one of the quietest that I’ve ever used which adds to the wheel’s quality feel, but isn’t so good for alerting pedestrians to your presence with a swift, ratchety back pedal.
Value and conclusion
Whilst there are cheaper or lighter gravel wheels available I think that the Fulcrum Rapid Red Carbon gravel wheels provide very good performance with some thoughtful design touches and an air of quality that suggests years of service should be possible. Tubeless setup was superbly straightforward and faff-free too with no rim tape to worry about. Fulcrum's ‘low weight, strength and reactivity’ strapline seems fair enough after all.
This makes them well worth the cash if you fancy a wheel upgrade.
