Fulcrum has released two new trail wheelsets, the Metal Carbon and Metal ALX. Up until now, the Fulcrum had focused almost entirely on XC riding and e-MTB with only the Red Metal 5 wheels catering to trail riders. The new Metal Carbon and Metal ALX add performance and budget options for trail riders and lightweight e-MTBers.
Fulcrum has been steadily growing its best mountain bike wheel range adding a new flagship Red Zone Carbon + XC carbon wheelset at the end of last year. Prior to that, Fulcrum shored up its budget MTB wheel offerings with the Red Zone 5 and Red Metal 5.
The Italian wheel manufacturer has now turned its attention to its Metal wheel range, releasing two new trail bike wheelsets. The slightly confusingly named flagship Metal Carbon and a budget-focused Metal ALX.
The Metal Carbon is built around a proprietary FF80 carbon fiber rim with a wide 32mm inner diameter which Fulcrum claims is the optimal width to support 2.4 to 2.6in tires. The rim uses a double Carbon NIP(PLE) Force asymmetric spoke pattern (6 mm on one side and 3.5 on the other) that was introduced on the Red Zone Carbon XC wheel and is claimed to offer "greater resistance to stresses".
The 6069 aluminum rim of the Metal ALX is narrower at 30mm and shallower at 18.6mm than the carbon rim. Fulcrum has CNC machined the rim in between the spokes to save weight.
Both wheels spin around Fulcrum's low-flange cup and cone bearing hubs and are built up using 24 double-butted steel spokes up front and 28 on the rear. Hubs are compatible with XD, Microspline, and HG freehub standards but the Metal Carbon will only be sold with either XD or Microspline. A steel freewheel body version of the wheelset will also be available as OEM spec for light e-MTBs (maximum torque 60 Nm, total rider+bike weight 125 kg), although Fulcrum doesn't confirm whether this will be available aftermarket.
The claimed weight of the Fulcrum Metal Carbon is a respectable 1,550g for the XDR version while the Fulcrum Metal ALX is stated to weigh 1,860 g in the XDR version. There is a rider weight limit on these, the maximum total weight of the system (rider and bike) is 125 kg.
Pricing starts at $605 / £742 / €650 for the Metal ALX or $1,872 / £1,525 / €1,640 for the Metal Carbon wheels. For more details, head over to Fulcrumwheels.com.
