So these are comfortable wheels, but, let’s be honest, if you’re blowing a grand on a posh pair of carbon hoops, you should be demanding more than just comfort.Thankfully the Fulcrum Racing Quattro Carbon wheels deliver the goods.Good luck finding a road bike with enough tyre clearance for those! I ran the Fulcrum Racing Quattro Carbon wheels both with my usual 25mm Continental GP4000S II tyres and with 27mm Challenge Paris-Roubaix tyres (which were more like 29mm or 30mm tyres when mounted), and was impressed whatever my choice of rubber.Having the wider rim not only means a slight aerodynamic advantage as the sidewalls sit flush against the rim, but also means that you can have a greater volume of air in the tyre at any given pressure, meaning a more comfortable ride, especially when compared to some other carbon wheels.Though they may know it as carbon dating or carbon 14 dating, there is an understood notion that when anything old is found, like an ancient artifact, it can be radiocarbon dated to find out exactly how old it is.Yet, as simple and straightforward as this seems, the process of dating objects via radiocarbon is far from simple and straightforward.The final thing to consider is the weight of these wheels, which is the only thing that lets them down.All in with skewers, the Fulcrum Racing Quattro Carbon wheels hit the scales at 1575g, which seems a little on the high side for a pair of mid-section carbon clinchers.
At 1575g for the pair, there are lighter carbon clinchers out there, but everything else about the Fulcrum Racing Quattro Carbon wheels is outstanding.
With a 40mm deep rim, these can best be describe as mid-section rather than deep section wheels, but I still felt a slight aerodynamic benefit when cruising along north of 20mph, having to put in that little bit less effort than if I had been using shallower rims. Of course if you’re after a full-on race wheel, then it might be tempting to go for a deeper rim that will offer better aerodynamic performance.
However, I felt that the Fulcrum Racing Quattro Carbon wheels provided a more balanced option as they performed well when the wind was behind or in front of me, but, despite being quite a light rider, I never struggled to control the front end when riding in crosswinds. Sharp accelerations and sprints were handled with the greatest ease, and even when running the brakes incredibly close to the rim and using these wheels on bikes with the stiffest of rear ends, I never suffered from any sort of brake rub.
What that means is that the rims have been designed to work perfectly with wider tyres.
According to the European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation (ETRTO), the minimum width of tyre that you should use with a 17mm rim is 25mm, while the maximum is a whopping 52mm.
