Fulcrum 5 or Mavic Ksyrium Equipe

treaclepig

Hi everyone.
Am just about to order my new sportive off Ribble, but which wheels should I choose?
What is the difference between the 2 (apart from £100)?
Can anyone help me here with any advice/suggestions please.
Will I, as a (keenish) recreational rider only, notice any real difference in the 2 , also is there a difference in the reliability and longevity between them.
I don't want to pay more than the price of the Mavics, so choice needs to be in that price range.

thanks all.

DavidJB

treaclepig wrote:

Hi everyone.
Am just about to order my new sportive off Ribble, but which wheels should I choose?
What is the difference between the 2 (apart from £100)?
Can anyone help me here with any advice/suggestions please.
Will I, as a (keenish) recreational rider only, notice any real difference in the 2 , also is there a difference in the reliability and longevity between them.
I don't want to pay more than the price of the Mavics, so choice needs to be in that price range.

thanks all.

Ridden 8,000 miles on the Fulcrum 5's and not had one broken spoke or needed to true them once. bomb proof!

Phill Thom

I have Fulcrum 5's on my spare bike which I have used in all weathers, only needed one new spoke in 18 months,crackin wheel. Word of warning about the equipe's which I had on best bike. If you are a little larger like myself at almost 16 stone you may encounter problems. I had to have rear wheel changed twice from new as the spot weld on the wheels broke free twice and rattled around inside rim. Probably down to weight I would have thought, tho stockist pointed out that it may be a faulty batch of wheels. I exchanged them for some open pro's on pro 3 hubs and am very happy with new wheels.

Herbsman

Neither. Hand built.

pianoman

I'm tempted to say I'm a member of the handbuilt wheel club myself, at least for training; the wheels I got to replace a light set that broke and were unrepairable are the Miche Mach1 Versus hoops. Handbuilt at the Dolan factory, they comprise a 30mm 580g rim, fully replaceable, with Miche RX5 hubs (again well regarded and available separately) and 28 fat spokes front and rear. You can probably save a bit of weight and get into Fulcrum 5 territory by using something like a Mavic Open Pro, or even one of the lighter Mach 1 options.

paulc33

I have a set of fulcrum 5's and love them. Never had a problem, using in all weathers and conditions.
Still as true as the day I bought them. Also fairly ligt wheel for the money.

Only part some people may not like is the free wheel is fairly noisy.

ugo.santalucia

Value for money... the Ksyrium are too pricey for what they are while the Racing 5 are kind of good value at £ 206.

To be honest, I have just built a set for a club mate at less than £ 200 with better components than those you have selected... with the right offers, handbuilt is the better option... 1.7-1.8 Kg are realistic for a durable set of wheels... less will cost more or last less

Herbsman

I think mine are going to be 1.67, £240 though.

nochekmate

I would hope that Ribble might be doing the Fulcrum 5s at less than £206 - Merlin were knocking them out at about £160 (although may be out of stock now). As a result of this, I recently bought some from www.bike-discount.de, which cost me about 170 Euros I seem to remember - delivered in about 3 days!

As for the question, don't think the Equipes are worth the extra over the Fulcrum 5s, which I've always found to be a decent all-round wheelset for the money.

rolf_f

Herbsman wrote:

Neither. Hand built.

Pointless suggestion - there isn't the option

treaclepig

Thanks all

I think I will go with the Fulcrums after reading your replies, plus as an ex mountain biker (aaargh, sorry) i like noisy free hubs, being used to hopes.

Ideally I'm sure handbuilts are the best, but when price is a factor it does restrict choices. I would love some of the Hope handbuilts but they are just a bit expensive. anyone got any?

Cheers.