Fulcrum Wheels have introduced their first ever wheelset specifically for road and gravel e-bikes; the Fulcrum E-Racing 4. Alloy rims lace to an aluminium hubset running a steel freehub body, deigned to withstand the extra stress that comes from an e-bike motor. Starting at €467 for a set, we think it’s worth taking a closer look.
Fulcrum E-Racing 4 Road & Gravel e-Bike Wheelset
The Fulcrum E-Racing 4 e-bike wheels run a 22mm internal width alloy rim, compatible with 30mm-45mm tire widths. The rim is designed around Fulcrum’s 2-Way Fit technology, meaning it is Clincher/Tubeless ready.
The 28″ diameter rim has a height of 34mm and runs an external width of 27.1mm. Twenty-four spokes lace them to an aluminium hubset; on the rear wheel, 16 run from the drive-side and eight run for the NDS. For the front wheel, its vice versa.
The rounded, straight-pull stainless steel spokes have a double-butted profile. Long head, self-locking aluminium nipples secure them to the rim bed.
e-Bike Specific Wheels
The Fulcrum E-Racing 4 e-bike wheelset is designed specifically to withstand the greater loads and torsional stresses that come with the addition of a motor.
Fulcrum learnt a lot about the specific design requirements of e-bike wheelsets during the development process for their E-Metal 3 and E-Fire 5 e-MTB wheelsets. Though the brand started out as a road wheel manufacturer, in this case they are applying technology developed for mountain bikes and applying it to road and gravel.
If you were to take an analogue bike and compare it to its e-bike equivalent, you’d find the presence of a motor increases the load on the freewheel. This is primarily where Fulcrum focused their attention in the development of the E-Racing 4 wheelset.
As the freewheel body is where drive force is transferred from the cassette to the wheel, it is subject to higher stresses due to the increased power and jerks caused by motor activation. It’s because of this that Fulcrum opted for a heavier tempered steel freewheel body. They reckon it is able to support a tensile strength greater than 30%.
Fulcrum’s lab analysis on the the single pawls on cycles higher than a billion estimate that the life of cemented steel is 2 times higher than Ergal models seen on traditional road wheels.
Pricing & Availability
The new Fulcrum E-Racing 4 road and gravel e-bike wheelset is available now direct from Fulcrum with HG11, XDR and optional Campy N3W driver bodies.
- HG11: 467€
- XDR: 475€
- Campy N3W: Price not currently available
