The Red Metal 5 is our new wheel designed specifically for trail and all mountain use. From training to racing these wheels are the perfect companions for the most disparate situations, including downhills and technical sections, where resistance is key. The new hubs share the same shell as the hubs used in the Red Zone Carbon and Red Zone 3. The differences are found in the axle and the bearings: in the Red Metal 5 we have used sealed, long-lasting and efficient bearings, which can be micro-adjusted with a specific adjustment ring.Red Metal 5 feature a 2-WAY FIT READY rim with a height of only 18.6 mm and a new asymmetrical section, which has been redesigned specifically to ensure the optimal balance of the spoke tension. The width of the rim is wider compared to previous versions, so that they can be used with lower pressures, for improved grip and control in the most extreme conditions. A tone-on tone design, with a partly glossy and partly matt finish, wraps the rim profile around the valve area, whilst the traditional red box, with the logo, can be found on the opposite side of the rim.

TECHNOLOGY

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.

WIDE RIM TECH: Fulcrum’s R&D department, following requests from the competition circuit, has worked to create rims that are wider than before, about 4 mm or more than previously. This technical choice provides an ideal basis for 25/28mm tyres, the sizes currently popular. This ensures stability, excellent handling and superior comfort.

AFS AXLE SYSTEM: The Axial Fixing System is the solution developed by Fulcrum to fix the disc brake to the hub. The constraint granted by the butt area of the release mechanism, greater than in familiar standard ones, makes it possible to obtain greater structural rigidity and therefore more precise and powerful braking.

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!