Fulcrum, broken spokes and bullsh*t excuses...

giffsa

A friend and riding partner is going through a hell of a time with his Fulcrum wheels at the moment, and i'd be interested to know if others have had similar experiences or can advise on the best approach:

He purchased a new bike about 18 months ago, with Fulcrum 3's. In August last year, he had a spoke on each of the front and back wheel break while riding (normal use, I was with him at the time), each within a couple of weeks of the other. The first was replaced by LBS at his own cost, the second by Fulcrum under warranty. Last week, he had another spoke go (front wheel), and Fulcrum this time refused to repair the wheel under the warranty, claiming that level of spoke breakage was 'normal wear and tear' (a fairly amazing claim, when you think about it). He has since had another spoke break this weekend, making 4 broken in less than 6 months.

The Fulcrum distributor (in Australia) continues to refuse to repair or replace the wheel, insisting this is all 'usual wear and tear'. Which begs the question really - are Fulcrum wheels really so appallingly unreliable that spokes should be expected to break on a monthly basis from regular road riding? (obviously, not the case, but it does sort of follow from the distributor's claim)

Have others experienced this sort of attitude form Fulcrum and/or their distributors, in Australia or elsewhere? And does anyone have any advice on how to deal with them?

Any advice appreciated.

cheers
Sam

cycleops66

Mate!!!

Fulcrum 3's are really strong wheels.
I am quite short for my weight( fat) and have done over 3000KM without my 3's even looking like having a problem.
Haven't even had the spoke tension checked

You need a new LBS
8)
Phil

giffsa

Nothing to do with the LBS - this is all coming from Fulcrum and their distributor directly.

And i agree - they're bomb-proof wheels normally - making it even more clear these are duds, and should be replaced under warranty! Hence the outrage.

cycleops66

Try an E-Mail directly to Fulcrum wheels.

http://www.fulcrumwheels.com/jspfulcrum ... world=road

Worth a try anyway.

yaya

And here are all the T&C of their warranty:

http://www.fulcrumwheels.com/jspfulcrum/faq.jsp?faqcatid=2&lang=en&world=road

Mine are about 2,000 mile old so far dod not require any tuning. So either your friend's are duds or the have not been tuned properly...

Good luck!!!

MaxwellBygraves

Sounds like your friend has a dud pair of wheels, Fulcrum 3's are usually super strong.
Try contacting them directly as said above, in my experience distributors can sometimes be w*****s...

clx1

I had exactly the same problem with R3s 2 Way Fit. Within 1000 miles I had a broken spoke in both the front and back wheel.I reluctantly paid for the first one putting it down to one of those things. I refused to pay for the second one and the UK distributor did it under warrant.
Several thousand miles later and I have had no trouble so I have put it down to experience and there is no question that they are strong and very good wheels.

However a wheel builder told me that there are only two ways a rider can break a spoke, neglect over a period of years and rust sets in or a serious impact with an obstacle or pot hole and such an impact would probably buckle the wheel if it was bad enough to break a spoke.

If I were your friend I would raise a big fuss with the shop where he bought the bike, they are not exactly looking after him are they?
They should be fixing the wheel FOC and not hiding behind the Fulcrum importer.

clx1

I had exactly the same problem with R3s 2 Way Fit. Within 1000 miles I had a broken spoke in both the front and back wheel.I reluctantly paid for the first one putting it down to one of those things. I refused to pay for the second one and the UK distributor did it under warrant.
Several thousand miles later and I have had no trouble so I have put it down to experience and there is no question that they are strong and very good wheels.

However a wheel builder told me that there are only two ways a rider can break a spoke, neglect over a period of years and rust sets in or a serious impact with an obstacle or pot hole and such an impact would probably buckle the wheel if it was bad enough to break a spoke.

If I were your friend I would raise a big fuss with the shop where he bought the bike, they are not exactly looking after him are they?
They should be fixing the wheel FOC and not hiding behind the Fulcrum importer.

spooky1980

I broke a spoke twice on the rear wheel of my racing 7s couldn`t be bothered anymore so i binned them

JRooke

never had a single problem with my fulcrum 1's, no spokes broke or wheel gone out of true, over a year old from extremely regular riding and racing.

balthazar

CLX1 wrote:

However a wheel builder told me that there are only two ways a rider can break a spoke, neglect over a period of years and rust sets in or a serious impact with an obstacle or pot hole and such an impact would probably buckle the wheel if it was bad enough to break a spoke.

I think your wheelbuilder is labouring under the (common) misapprehension that such impacts overload spoke tension past some threshold. In fact, spoke tension only decreases during such events. Rims may be destroyed, but the spokes are fine.

Broken spokes are nearly always the result of fatigue failure, wherein a crack has been propagating through the spoke for thousands of load cycles (revolutions). Eventually it gives way, perhaps during an event like a pothole, though as likely not. The causes of such fatigue failure are varied, including poor wheelbuilding process, material defects, mismatched components, or poor wheel design. Quality spokes have been stainless steel for decades, so rust isn't usually a problem.

rsg929

Same problem with the spokes which are rarer than a trustworthy politician to source as a part.

Good wheels but spoilt by shocking after sale service for the UK. Maybe the italian or american market gets a better support.

Shall be avoiding Fulcrum wheels for future purchases.

ugo.santalucia

I don't understand.. you expect Fulcrum to keep repairing wheels which are out of warranty at their cost?
Spokes break by fatigue as explained above, which is a fairly normal process, no matter how much you spend

Fulcrum, Mavic, Campagnolo and Shimano wheels are notoriously difficult to repair due to proprietary parts and lack of them... if you buy them you get the life you can get out of them, whether that is a little or a lot and then you bin them... that's the game, they can't realistically be seriously fixed, let alone fixed free of charge... I think you are expecting too much out of something that weighs three-four pounds and has to carry your weight.

rolf_f

spooky1980 wrote:

I broke a spoke twice on the rear wheel of my racing 7s couldn`t be bothered anymore so i binned them

Whereas if you'd been a little brighter you would have thought that maybe you could sell them taking into account comments such as the below indicating that someone would have probably been delighted to take them off your hands for the spokes alone......... Never mind eh...

rsg929 wrote:

Same problem with the spokes which are rarer than a trustworthy politician to source as a part.

old tin can

I've been riding for 20 years and I've never snapped a spoke.. until the last 4 weeks where i've twice suffered a broken rear off-side spoke on my racing 3's. (In yesterday's Ride100 too so had the get the train back the last 20 miles). They've both snapped near the nipple when travelling on an even surface. They're 5 years old and have probably done about 10k miles so perhaps they're just past their sell by date?

jazgill

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19671577#p19671577]old tin can[/url] wrote:

I've been riding for 20 years and I've never snapped a spoke.. until the last 4 weeks where i've twice suffered a broken rear off-side spoke on my racing 3's. (In yesterday's Ride100 too so had the get the train back the last 20 miles). They've both snapped near the nipple when travelling on an even surface. They're 5 years old and have probably done about 10k miles so perhaps they're just past their sell by date?

Why didn't you ask the marshalls to lend you a spare wheel. 20 miles in,my friend got taken out by another rider, hit the deck and obliterated his front wheel. He was able to borrow a Mavic wheel which was returned to the Mavic stand at the finish. Battered and bruised but still completed the ride.