Saturday, December 26, 2015

Industry Nine Enduro Wheelset Review





I purchased the I9 Enduro wheelset for my Pivot Mach 6 about 2 months ago. My Mach 6 came with DT Swiss Spline 2's (M1700). I decided after talking to a friend that this would be the wheelset for me, I liked what I have read about the hoops, and the hubs. My friend had nothing but great things to say about the torch hub.

Lucky me I was able to get the exact color I wanted directly from Jensonusa.com, I ordered red on red, red spokes and a red hub. Anyways Jenson literally got them to me in two days, but I live in Northern California so I guess that probably isn't shocking.

Out of the box these wheels looked exactly as described. I was a little shocked with how light then felt for being a "bulletproof" wheel. I had STAN FlowEX wheels on my Knolly and these are noticeably lighter. Anyways, they were set up for tubeless, tape and valves pre-installed. I switched over my cassette and put my tires on, used my floor pump and boom...I was ready to ride, of course after I took some pictures of my clean, spotless wheels.

Just a little bit about the different wheesets and hubs I have ridden....As stated above my bike came with the DT Swiss Spline 2 w/ DT swiss hubs. I had STANS Flow EX with Hope hubs on my Knolly and I also tried some WTB Frequency wheels with Shimano Hubs on my Kona. All had the pro's and cons but I didn't think I would find a wheelset that I liked more than my Flow EX with Hope's.....Fast forward to my I9's.

I went for a ride on a local trail that I ride a lot and has a good mix of climbing and technical downhill. I am not the worlds strongest climber so a few hundreds grams in wheel weight doesn't make a difference for me. But where I put wheels to the test is when pointed down, I am not a pro downhill racer but I am fast and I ride hard. I am also not a small guy, I weigh 210lbs so a strong wheel is important to me.

First think I noticed was how solid these wheels felt in the corners, I have demoed a few bikes with carbon wheels and I can honestly say these felt VERY SIMILAR. Next think I noticed was my front tire was a little low, I burped my STANS a few months before on this exact trail and ended up having to jam a tube in my tire. I thought this was going to be a repeat of the that but my tire held strong and didn't burp.

So after a lot of rides and hard hits over the past few months I have a new favorite wheel and hub combo, the Enduro's with Torch hubs are amazing. I have taken them through rock gardens, put them through hard hits, rough landings and hub burning downhills without a hiccup.

If you are annoyed by loud buzzing hubs then this is not the hub for you, I am used to Chris Kings and Hopes, and I would take the Torch any day over them. The hook-up is amazing, maintenance is easy, and I like the loud hub so its a win-win-win for me.

All in all I recommend these wheels and hubs for anyone wanting a carbon feel with out the carbon price. That said these wheel sets are not cheap, they are a premium hand built wheelset but I do think you get what you pay for when it comes to wheels and hubs.

Industry Nine link: http://www.industrynine.net/wheels/8/27.5%22+Enduro

Pro's:
Weight (1680 grams)
Durability
Looks
Comes tubeless ready
Very custom color choices

Cons: (personally I dont thing there are any cons to these wheels)
Price- but you get what you pay for
Hub noise- for some


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