Rear bicycle wheel Fulcrum E-Metal 3 29 2WF-R 6-bolts Boost HH12/148

The wheel designed specifically for Trail riding. E-Metal 3 is a solid benchmark in terms of dynamic qualities in a wheel set for today’s E-MTBs. This wheel set ensures stability and ease of handling when tackling and clearing any obstacle, going up or down hill. The choices made during design all had precise objectives in sight: exceptional ease of handling and confident response in any condition. E-Metal 29 has a lightning response to stress thanks to the record-breaking stiffness of its rim-spoke-hub set-up, to the total advantage of transmission speed from the handlebar controls and pedals to the ground. This is made possible thanks to a higher and more directional wheel designed specifically for the front, and a rear end one reinforced thanks to “In-frame” and ready to provide maximum power transmission. When you set out to tackle a single track at top speed, pushing yourself to the limit for your best ride, your only reaction will be amazement. It all happens in an instant. A few seconds are all it takes and everything becomes the pleasure of riding, automatically, instantly.

TECHNOLOGY

DIFFERENTIATED PROFILE DELTA FOR E-MTB: The front and rear wheels of a mountain bike have two very distinct roles. While they both must must roll in an efficient manner the front wheel is tasked more with rideability and handling while the rear must carry more weight and transfer power from the drivetrain. The increased weight, added power and more extreme forces represented by the E-MTB only serve to make great design for the specific needs of each wheel all the more necessary. As a result, Fulcrum E-MTB wheels incorporate specific profiles for front and rear. The front rim is more rigid and aids in maneuverability while the rear rim (with lower in profile) is flatter and reinforced to deal with the larger impacts in a more efficient and comfortable manner. Asymmetrical: this is a well know solution for Fulcrum, and it is also confirmed for the E-Mtb project. The asymmetry makes it possible to leverage on the inclination and length of the spokes to optimise the forces coming from the cogset and from the disc brake during the braking operation. This makes it possible for all elements to work together and create the ideal balance.

IN-FRAME: The wheels are the contact element with the ground, where the shocks from the ground first discharge. When the suspensions work at maximum capacity, the frame collects and distributes the stress, the system is subjected to really high forces.It is during jumps, when we go over potholes, or take bends at high-speed, during the most exiting moments, and the more thrilling downhills that we demand the most from our bike. The wheel-tyre system, in this respect, must guarantee stability during repeated stress. At the same time, our engineers certainly could not guarantee this by adding material: weight must always be low, to keep the ride pleasant and reactive. It was decided to develop an internal support architecture, a bridge insert positioned diagonally, so that it can counter the front shocks. By leveraging the structure geometry, the load is distributed on the whole rim, preventing thus excessive compression. The maximum result with the minimum weight load: this detail allowed a 10% side rigidity increase and a 14% increase on the vertical one, changing thus drastically the overall performance.

REINFORCED HEAD SPOKES: 13% more resistant. For the new E-Mtb Fulcrum range, only oversize spokes, with a specific reinforcement design on the heads, will be used: this makes it possible to have the best quality of response to stress both in terms of resistance and in terms of transfer of the propulsive power. The technical refinement does not stop here. Changes were made to the profile too, which in some versions is variable. An elaborate section, which varies from 2.2 mm of the head to 2/1.8mm in the thinnest point, makes it possible to save the very important grams without affecting performance.

REINFORCED DISC FLANGE: 5% more rigid. A lot of speed and increased weight obviously affect the braking system just before approaching a bend. The disc flange become a fundamental part because it is the interface between the disc, where the callipers grip, and hub, which transfers to the rim the braking force. The new flange is thicker compared to the previous one. It is also 5% more rigid to ensure a robust support when braking.

REINFORCED FREEHUB SYSTEM: 4X more reliable. Attention to detail was also paid to the freewheel body system, which is the point of junction and transfer of the driving force from the cogset to the wheel body. The drastic increase of power and jerks, due to the intervention of the motor, made it necessary to use a freewheel body with tempered steel dedicated gears, which are able to withstand a breaking tension by 30% greater. The laboratory analysis observed the behaviour of the individual ratchets on cycles greater than one billion of uses: the carburised steel ensures an estimated lifetime that is 4 times longer compared to the Ergal model used for the non-E-Mtb models.

2WAY-FIT READY (MTB): We have developed our 2-Way Fit technology to ensure the perfect compatibility of our tubeless rims with normal clincher types and tubes. 2-Way Fit MTB bike wheels are perfectly multipurpose for tackling every situation. Thanks to a special impression in the valve area, the tubes are fitted with the maximum precision while keeping the tube perfectly stable inside the tyre. Housing the valve for tubeless tyres is also risk-free, with the unquestionable advantage that there are never any air infiltrations caused by non-ideal positioning when fitting.

ASSYMMETRIC RIM: The asymmetry is designed to improve rim tension, balancing the forces from brakes and sprocket cassette.

SPECIFIC NIPPLE HOUSING: 7% more reliable. Such a small part, yet so important. The nipples and their housing are one of the most important element that are taken into account during the design of a wheel. During the development of the new E-Mtb Fulcrum rims, a lot of work was put into this aspect. The housing has been re-designed and now it makes it possible to eliminate completely the nipples' hard work. Thanks to a special housing, with side guides on both sides, the nipple sets on a stable base, perfectly in position, oriented towards the spoke. This makes it possible to make the distribution of the tensions in the rim more even, creating thus perceptible benefits in terms of effort and rigidity: this prevents misalignments under stress and, as a consequence, deformation to the structure.

MICROSPLINE FREEHUB: We understand technical evolution as painstaking attention to product development, and it’s one of the cornerstones of all projects that come out of our R&D Department. The Fulcrum spirit entails a constant effort to pick up and seize on new trends and keep pace with the most advanced technologies available. This is why we adopted Shimano's MICROSPLINE standard as soon as the new racing drivetrains for 12-speed mountain bikes were presented, and will introduce the ground-breaking technology throughout our range. WHAT IS MICRO SPLINE? With the arrival of 12-speed cassettes, Shimano engineers had to re-design freehub to fit the new cassettes and smaller 10 tooth sprocket on the freehub body. That gave Shimano a chance to also look at the way the cassette is mounted on the hub body. Shimano were able to create a stiffer connection with a MICRO SPLINE fitting, which gives 23 equally spaced saw-tooth angled splines for more positive engagement with the cassette. This also allowed Shimano engineers to forge the MICRO SPLINE freehub body from aluminum without risking the deformation and gouging that conventional aluminum cassette bodies suffer. One important point to note is that the MICRO SPLINE hubs fit all current frames whether you have a boost (148mm) or non-boost (142mm) frame. MICROSPLINE hubs ONLY can be used with MICROSPLINE compatibe cassettes!