Continental Terra Speed Gravel Tires

On the Polygon Bend R5 gravel bike, the 1x13 speed Campagnolo Ekar groupset will be installed, along with a new wheelset. The stock wheelset is a 650b wheelset, while the new Fulcrum Rapid Red 300 wheelset is a 700c wheelset. In this case, the stock WTB Venture 47 tires in 650b size cannot be used as it is a different size.

This gives me the freedom to choose a brand new set of 700c gravel tires. As the Bend R5 frame can fit a 650x47 mm wide tire, I was very confident that it can also fit a 700x40c gravel tire. This is from my previous experience on the Cervelo Aspero, where I used both 700c and 650b wheelsets.

I have heard many good reviews of the Continental Terra Speed gravel tires, which is why I decided to try it myself. It is claimed to roll well on tarmac, yet has a knobbly pattern that grips well on loose dry gravel.

Continental Terra Speed TR, which stands for Tubeless Ready.

Campagnolo Ekar: Fulcrum Rapid Red 300 Wheelset

The original intention was to use the existing wheelset from the Polygon Bend R5 gravel bike, but I realized that the Campagnolo Ekar 13 speed cassette requires the new N3W freehub body. There are very few wheelsets that has the N3W freehub body, as this Campagnolo Ekar gravel groupset is still new.

Therefore, the only way to make this work is to get a new wheelset with a N3W freehub body. This is available from Fulcrum, which is a sub-brand of Campagnolo.

This is the Fulcrum Rapid Red 300 wheelset, for 700C tires.

Fabike C3: Fulcrum Racing 5 Disc Brake Rear Wheel

When I modified the Fabike C3 commuting bike from an internal hub + belt drive setup to a conventional derailleur + cassette + chain, I needed a rear wheel for that purpose. Previously the Fabike C3 was using a custom-built rear wheel with an Alfine 11 Di2 internal hub, and a DT Swiss ER 1600 Spline DB 32 mm front wheel.

The rear dropout on the Fabike C3 was converted from a nutted axle type to a 12 mm thru axle type. Therefore, I needed an E-thru rear wheel that was disc brake compatible. When I changed the road wheelset on the Cervelo Aspero to the Ascent Bikes Zenith Elite, the previous Reynolds Assault wheelset was available.

However, I had just sold the Reynolds wheelset a few weeks ago, before I had the idea to convert this Fabike C3. That Reynolds wheelset would have been perfect for this Fabike C3, as it was also 12 mm E-thru front and rear with disc brakes. I greatly regretted selling that wheelset so hastily, and fretted over it for quite a while. However, I am unable to undo it, and up till today I still regret it. Moral of the story, don't sell off good components, unless you are absolutely sure that you will not use it on another bike.

In the meantime, I borrowed a spare rear wheel from a friend, so that I can test out the derailleur setup on the Fabike C3. I also needed a narrow rim so that I can install my existing Continental Grand Prix 4 Season tires without having frame-tire clearance issues. These rims are narrow at just 17 mm wide, which is what I needed. Check it out below!

Fulcrum Racing 5 Disc Brake Rear Wheel. Aluminium rims with a modest 26 mm tall rim profile.

Ceramic coated freehub body for durability, and a large flange for a better spoke angle.

Straight pull spokes, and Centerlock disc brake mounting.

Test fitting it into the Fabike C3 frameset. With the non-turn washers removed from the frame, the OLD changes from 135 mm to 142 mm to fit road 12 mm E-thru wheelsets.

The Centerlock rotor fitting is unconventional, as it does not use a normal lock ring. This is due to the different axle and bearing system used by Fulcrum.

Weight of the special steel lock ring and shim weighs 14 grams.

Rear wheel weighs 964 grams, which is rather heavy. Another regret from selling the more lightweight Reynolds Assault wheelset.

Dura-Ace RT900 rotors installed, and fixed using the special lock ring. A Hollowtech BB tool is needed to tighten this external lock ring, instead of the usual tool for internal lock rings.

Using the DT Swiss thru axle that I had bought earlier to fix this wheelset onto the bike.

New drivetrain! Also 1x11 speeds.

Chain drive conversion completed. Looks even more like a road bike with this new drivetrain.

View of the bike from the other side. This is a fast all-weather commuting bike!

Testing it on the slopes of NTU, on a cool night after rain.

The gearing seems perfect, with a 38T front chain ring and a rear 11-32T cassette.

In order to test out the gearing, I went to the NTU slopes to try it out. I had to use the lowest gear (32T) on the steepest parts of the slope, but it was sufficient. As for the highest gear (11T), it was enough to go fast, but it will spin out once you go past 45 km/h. This is also sufficient for me, because I would not want to go too fast anyway.

The best takeaway from the test ride was how useful it is to have a road bike that you can ride in light rain or on wet roads, without having to do maintenance on the bike afterwards. Normally I would not ride my road bike on wet roads, as it means having to clean up the bike afterwards which will be time consuming.

With the Fabike C3, I now have a bike that rides just like a proper road bike, but is weather proof with the new drivetrain and mudguards.