Fulcrum Wheels - SERIOUS PROBLEM

661-Pete-oldversion · Post by **661-Pete-oldversion** » 17 Feb 2009, 8:58pm

I wonder if anyone can help me - I don't understand this and it is causing a hell of a lot of trouble for us.

In the past six weeks I have put two different brand-new Fulcrum wheelsets on my son's road bike: one of them a fulcrum 5, the other a Fulcrum 7. Both of them have Campag-compatible 9-speed freehub.

Both freehubs have failed - under warranty. The pawls simply stopped engaging and the hubs spun uselessly. Leaving my son stranded.

They were bought from different retailers. When the first one failed and had to be returned to Evans for repair, I decided to get another set (from elsewhere) to use temporarily, then when the first wheel was fixed use the new set as a spare. The hub on the second set has now failed too. Evans have just told me the first one is fixed, under warranty, but I haven't collected it so I don't know what the mechanic's report is. Nor have I taken the other wheel back to the LBS where I bought it.

My son is adamant that he hasn't abused the wheel in any way - just been riding normally with a few modest hills - nothing of mountainous proportions and no violent manouevres. He hasn't been going through deep snow or floods or anything like that. OK it has been cold weather lately, but no colder than the rest of the UK. But the second hub is only two weeks old {FFE - family-friendly edit }! He is seriously upset at this double failure and talking of chucking in the cycling.

I am inclined to suspect that there is a serious design problem with Fulcrum, and that's what I'm going to be telling both retailers.

Can anyone shed any light on this? Note: I have a third set of Fulcrum on my own bike, been using it for 2½ years, no problems. But both the faulty sets were bought in the past two months.

I'd really appreciate advice on this. And please don't just say "it's down to my son's riding" or something like that. I've accompanied him on rides and he doesn't deserve that.

(moved from Bikes & Bits section)

hamster · Post by **hamster** » 17 Feb 2009, 10:25pm

Is it excessive grease causing the freewheel pawls to stick open perhaps?

661-Pete-oldversion · Post by **661-Pete-oldversion** » 17 Feb 2009, 10:46pm

hamster wrote:Is it excessive grease causing the freewheel pawls to stick open perhaps?

Well, that would be down to the manufacturer then

. I didn't put any grease in the new hubs, myself. There was nothing in the instructions about pre-use lubrication, nor would I expect to have to strip down a brand-new hub.

Post by **Graham** » 18 Feb 2009, 8:34am

Manufacturers do sometimes produce bad batches.

e.g. The jockey wheels on my Campag Chorus rear derailleur ( yr. 2000 ) screeched like a banshee a couple of hundred miles after each attempt to lube them ( oil / grease / oil&grease. Nothing worked ). They were replaced under warranty.

Problem with materials? Outsourcing problem ? Failure of quality control ?

zenzinnia · Post by **zenzinnia** » 18 Feb 2009, 8:42am

I had a similar problem with a Shimano hub some years ago. I had just put together a good bike with some proper wheels for the first time and was out riding to test it all out when the free hub just started spinning. I got off looked at it and span it round a couple of times and it engaged again. Further up the hill it did the same thing but with a bit if a crunch first. I was a bit miffed thinking it would all need to be sorted out and how was I going to get home but after a bit of a bounce of the back wheel it engaged again, since when it has worked perfectly. I put it down to teething trouble and forgot about it but it could well be something like exessive grease or just the need to be used a bit after a long time of inactivity after manufacture.

hamster · Post by **hamster** » 18 Feb 2009, 11:31am

Ratatouille wrote:
hamster wrote:Is it excessive grease causing the freewheel pawls to stick open perhaps?
Well, that would be down to the manufacturer then . I didn't put any grease in the new hubs, myself. There was nothing in the instructions about pre-use lubrication, nor would I expect to have to strip down a brand-new hub.

I didn't say it was you. Campagnolo (who make Fulcrum) generally make pretty good hubs - my Record ones have done thousands of miles and I don't hear of the pawls failing. However the design does make the bearing grease mix with the freewheel pawls.

But as far as you are concerned it's still a case of being standed, even more frustrating as it's down to something so silly.

661-Pete-oldversion · Post by **661-Pete-oldversion** » 18 Feb 2009, 9:28pm

Well I've just collected the first wheel from Evans, fixed under warranty, they told me it was the bearings which had seized rather than the freewheel ratchet which I find a bit puzzling, the bearings seemed OK when I took it in. Ah well. At least they ordered the parts and fixed it in their own workshop, it wasn't sent off to Italy to be fixed. One down one to go...