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

WTB Vigilante Review

I decided to give the WTB Vigilante's a roll. I couldn't be happier! I ordered the 27.5 tough and fast compound. I put them on my new Industry Nine Enduro wheels (review on them coming soon). Out of the box everything was as described, I inspected the tire thoroughly inside and out, nothing to note. So on to mounting. First thing like many others have said these tires are a tight fit, but manageable if you have some levers and patients.

I set them up tubeless and was able to set the beads with a floor pump, no issues what-so-ever. My first ride on them was in Auburn, CA a few months ago. We were on some prime single track and the ground wasn't great but better then the bone dry earth I have been riding in Marin County. I could defiantly "feel" the tire rolling, the resistance is more than the High Roller II's I came off of but that was expected. Once I hit some faster portions of the trail I instantly felt the hook up and felt a lot more confident. This was the first time ever riding this trail for me so I took it a little slower than I normally ride.

After returning to Marin County I took my bike to some familiar trails and was able to put these tires to the test. I am very impressed with how confident I feel with these tires coming into corners and through out all angles of my lean into and out of the corners, they are also great in hard and soft braking situations, I felt confident braking a little later than normal for sure.

We have blessed with some rain here in Marin so I have been able to ride in some wet/muddy/slick conditions. The vigilante holds it's own, I think the only thing I noticed was on a slow accent (climb) they did build up with mud but once I put the pedal down it didn't take long for them to clear themselves.

These tires have been awesome, I have about 200 miles on them and they are still like new, I don't or try to avoid at all cost riding on pavement so my tires seem to last a little longer than the average.

PRO's:
Price
Durability
Traction
Breaking

CON's:
Weight
Mounting