Just a few weeks ago, Industry Nine was showing us their first fat bike builds utilizing their aluminum spokes in Europe. After discussing the use of their rims with Hed Cycling, Industry Nine got the go ahead to build up the Big Deal Carbon rims to their straight pull aluminum spokes and Torch Hubs. As many know, this is a pretty big deal since the rims are still not available individually and very few OEMs have had access to the Big Deals. After receiving the first rims on Friday before the show, their wheel building team managed to turn around the complete wheelset and get it shipped off to Vegas just in time for us to check it out.
The Industry Nine Carbon fat bike wheels are more than just a show special – the complete wheels will be for sale soon, and with a weight you have to see to believe…
Even if the weight wasn’t as impressive, the wheels are beautiful in person. As always, they will be offered in standard I9 colors or in custom colors for the standard markup. The purple/purple above would be considered custom.
Industry Nine has long offered their standard J-bend hubs in all current fat bike sizes, but the straight pull fat bike hub is completely new. Of course utilizing their aluminum threaded spokes, the hubs will also include axle widths and standards for all fat bike sizes. Combined with the aluminum spokes, the appropriately named Big Rig Carbons should be plenty stiff.
About that weight… the wheels above are built with I9’s DH spokes which means the production wheels will be even lighter. Even so, 1770g per wheelset is pretty incredible. Expect the production wheels to come in around 1725g which will make these some of the lightest fat bike wheels around with an 85mm rim, tubeless, and all axle compatibility. In their standard configuration, expect to pay around $2650 for set.
Completely switching gears, Industry Nine was also showing the new i25 classic. The wheelset is designed to be a budget friendly wheel that still offers tubeless compatibility.
Using the same i25 rim, the wheels use a standard J-bend spoke and hub to drop the price from their straight pull counterparts. The 28 spokes are still quality Sapim steel, and the wheels are rim brake only. Price is TBD but it will be less than the i25TL.