Seems to me you two are
Seems to me you two are basically agreeing with each other – you don’t like riding crap bikes. Me, I quite like some crap bikes… they have their own charm (sometimes) and they make you appreciate riding a good one.
Anyway, as Cactuscat says your Fulcrums should be fine and if you follow the same cleaning regime with your road bike as you do with your mountain bikes you won’t have much to worry about.