I received a pair of Bora Ultra 35 and 50 wheels from a customer.
These are wheels from the same customer.
The rear wheel of the 35 had only a slight centering issue—nothing to worry about overall.
This isn't related to that, but in the past our shop ran what we called a "Fulcrum Carbon WO Wheel Festival," pitting the Racing Quattro Carbon, Racing Zero Carbon, and Speed 40C against each other in competition.
Fulcrum's new Speed grade comes in:
Tubular "T" with CULT bearings in 40mm and 55mm heights,
Clincher "C" with USB bearings (※) in 40mm height only—
and they've differentiated themselves from Campagnolo's Bora by raising the rim height by 5mm across the board.
※With this notation it technically reads "Ultra Smooth Bearing Bearing," but let's not overthink it.
For the 2018 model year, the clincher 55mm model "Speed 55C," which had been missing from the lineup, is set to arrive. However, for various reasons, we've learned the pricing is going to be tough.
First, both tubular and clincher versions are being updated to the new "AC3 rim (→here)" with enhanced braking zones.
Second, Fulcrum product prices across the board are being raised starting September 1st. But the new Speed wheels, not even out yet, will have the post-increase prices applied immediately.
Below are all prices excluding tax at list price:
Racing Zero: 115,500 yen → 137,000 yen
Racing Zero Night: 151,000 yen → 166,000 yen
Racing Zero Competizione: 158,000 yen → 174,000 yen
Racing Zero Carbon: 240,000 yen → TBD
Price increases like these.
The new Racing Zero Carbon price is still undetermined.
By stocking up on Fulcrum before September 1st, and then applying the new prices afterward, we could manufacture some apparent discount percentages... which I'm already scheming about as of writing this.
It's not something I can write about here, so I won't.
The key point about Speed is:
Speed pricing is determined only by whether it's C or T—rim height doesn't change the price (so far).
So the Speed 40C and 55C, and 40T and 55T, all have the same list price respectively.
Looking at 2017 model pricing:
40C (USB): 242,000 yen
40T/55T (CULT): 321,000 yen
Besides the bearing difference, the hub shell is aluminum or carbon—but I'd like to say that's only true for the rear hub. The 40C front hub is actually carbon.
So with just the rear hub material and bearing differences creating roughly an 80,000 yen price gap, we could appeal that from a T perspective, the C was a great value buy.
With the AC3 rim in the 2018 models, this becomes:
40C/55C (USB): 336,000 yen
40T/55T (CULT): 354,000 yen
As you can see, this is brutal. At first I thought I'd misread it.
Or maybe the C also got CULT bearings?
I checked—it's definitely still USB bearings.
If we were to do a Speed 55C Festival, based on vague statistics from clincher Bora 35 and 50s brought to our shop, I had some rough calculations about how many we could stock at once and make a real push. But that was premised on Speed C being in the Bora One price range.
Also, from a seller's perspective, the new Speed comes only in what used to be called a Dark Label color scheme, so that's actually helpful on the inventory front.
By the way, Campagnolo and Fulcrum spare parts pricing gets revised on September 4th, but Campagnolo's products themselves aren't scheduled for a price increase at this time.
Here, if I list Bora One's list price (excluding tax) as:
2017 conventional rim → 2018 AC3 rim
35/50 Tubular: 232,000 → 248,000 yen
35/50 Clincher: 261,000 → 279,000 yen
you can really see how massive the Speed 40C jump from 242,000 → 336,000 yen really is.
Fulcrum, unlike Campagnolo, doesn't change price with freebody spec, but Campagnolo wheels go up 1,000 yen if you switch to Shimano freebody.
The prices above are for Campagnolo freebody versions.
Given all these circumstances, the Speed 55C Festival looks pretty tough from a value standpoint, so we might not do it after all—that's what I'm saying.Just laying the groundwork here.
Racing Zero, Racing Zero Night, Racing Zero Competizione, Racing Zero Carbon, and the old Speed 40C are all completely sold out at the distributor, so except for retail stock in circulation, you can't buy at the old price anymore.Wonder why they suddenly disappeared (deadpan).
The recent XLR 35 (→here) was actually part of this whole scheme too.
These are wheels from the same customer.
The rear wheel of the 35 had only a slight centering issue—nothing to worry about overall.
This isn't related to that, but in the past our shop ran what we called a "Fulcrum Carbon WO Wheel Festival," pitting the Racing Quattro Carbon, Racing Zero Carbon, and Speed 40C against each other in competition.
Fulcrum's new Speed grade comes in:
Tubular "T" with CULT bearings in 40mm and 55mm heights,
Clincher "C" with USB bearings (※) in 40mm height only—
and they've differentiated themselves from Campagnolo's Bora by raising the rim height by 5mm across the board.
※With this notation it technically reads "Ultra Smooth Bearing Bearing," but let's not overthink it.
For the 2018 model year, the clincher 55mm model "Speed 55C," which had been missing from the lineup, is set to arrive. However, for various reasons, we've learned the pricing is going to be tough.
First, both tubular and clincher versions are being updated to the new "AC3 rim (→here)" with enhanced braking zones.
Second, Fulcrum product prices across the board are being raised starting September 1st. But the new Speed wheels, not even out yet, will have the post-increase prices applied immediately.
Below are all prices excluding tax at list price:
Racing Zero: 115,500 yen → 137,000 yen
Racing Zero Night: 151,000 yen → 166,000 yen
Racing Zero Competizione: 158,000 yen → 174,000 yen
Racing Zero Carbon: 240,000 yen → TBD
Price increases like these.
The new Racing Zero Carbon price is still undetermined.
By stocking up on Fulcrum before September 1st, and then applying the new prices afterward, we could manufacture some apparent discount percentages... which I'm already scheming about as of writing this.
It's not something I can write about here, so I won't.
The key point about Speed is:
Speed pricing is determined only by whether it's C or T—rim height doesn't change the price (so far).
So the Speed 40C and 55C, and 40T and 55T, all have the same list price respectively.
Looking at 2017 model pricing:
40C (USB): 242,000 yen
40T/55T (CULT): 321,000 yen
Besides the bearing difference, the hub shell is aluminum or carbon—but I'd like to say that's only true for the rear hub. The 40C front hub is actually carbon.
So with just the rear hub material and bearing differences creating roughly an 80,000 yen price gap, we could appeal that from a T perspective, the C was a great value buy.
With the AC3 rim in the 2018 models, this becomes:
40C/55C (USB): 336,000 yen
40T/55T (CULT): 354,000 yen
As you can see, this is brutal. At first I thought I'd misread it.
Or maybe the C also got CULT bearings?
I checked—it's definitely still USB bearings.
If we were to do a Speed 55C Festival, based on vague statistics from clincher Bora 35 and 50s brought to our shop, I had some rough calculations about how many we could stock at once and make a real push. But that was premised on Speed C being in the Bora One price range.
Also, from a seller's perspective, the new Speed comes only in what used to be called a Dark Label color scheme, so that's actually helpful on the inventory front.
By the way, Campagnolo and Fulcrum spare parts pricing gets revised on September 4th, but Campagnolo's products themselves aren't scheduled for a price increase at this time.
Here, if I list Bora One's list price (excluding tax) as:
2017 conventional rim → 2018 AC3 rim
35/50 Tubular: 232,000 → 248,000 yen
35/50 Clincher: 261,000 → 279,000 yen
you can really see how massive the Speed 40C jump from 242,000 → 336,000 yen really is.
Fulcrum, unlike Campagnolo, doesn't change price with freebody spec, but Campagnolo wheels go up 1,000 yen if you switch to Shimano freebody.
The prices above are for Campagnolo freebody versions.
Given all these circumstances, the Speed 55C Festival looks pretty tough from a value standpoint, so we might not do it after all—that's what I'm saying.
Racing Zero, Racing Zero Night, Racing Zero Competizione, Racing Zero Carbon, and the old Speed 40C are all completely sold out at the distributor, so except for retail stock in circulation, you can't buy at the old price anymore.
The recent XLR 35 (→here) was actually part of this whole scheme too.