Way back in February we gave you the very first ultra-exclusive look (with video!) at Industry Nine’s second generation road wheels, the I30. Company face man Jeff Baucom even let us video tape him explaining their awesomeness.
Well, now, finally, after almost ten long months of sleepless nights, we’ve got our hands on a set to review…and you can get some, too. Yep, they’ve officially announced that they have stock on hand and are filling orders. If you don’t care what we think about them, don’t dally, chances are these’ll be backordered in no time.
We know, it’s late on a Friday afternoon, so here’s the quick recap (you can check out all the other posts linked herein for all the goods over the weekend): They use ultra-wide bearing placement inside the hub, a big axle and wide-set spokes. Together this claims to provide a very, very stiff wheel.
The hubs are made the same way their mountain bike hubs are made, which is amazing and fully covered in this post of our factory tour of I9’s grounds.
UPDATE: Here’s what they sound like.
They’re available in a whopping 11 colors, and the rims you see here (30mm deep, hence the I30 wheelset name) aren’t the only options. Check out all the deets and actual weights, close up photos and more after the break…
The photos above are from I9, everything below are from our “studio” of the wheelset we’ll be flogging alongside some killer hoops from Stans and Mercury over the next couple months.
Stock colors available are red, silver, black, blue, gold, purple, pink, green, pewter, brown and the orange shown here, which should match up nicely with the new orange ano option from Cane Creek. You can completely customize your wheelset just like with the mountain bike wheels, except spoke options appear to be only silver and black, but you can match up the nipples with your hub color (except pewter and brown). Rims are available in silver or black (silver brake track on both).
Our test set came in at 1450g, exactly what I9 claims. There’s also an I25 set that uses a HED C2 23mm wide rim, weight TBD, and an I25sl wheelset option that uses Stan’s 340 rim with their BST (Bead Socket Technology) that has tubeless tire compatibility. Those weigh just 1260g (claimed) but have a 180lb rider weight limit. Eventually, when Edge, er, Enve Composites catches up on their production schedule, you’ll presumably still be able to order up the 970g wheelset they showed at Sea Otter built with their carbon rims and these spokes and hubs.
The rim on the I30 wheelset is a proprietary 450g, 30mm deep aluminum rim with a bit of aerodynamic shaping. The original Id, Ego and SuperEgo wheelsets they developed used their own aluminum spokes, but didn’t fare well over time unfortunately. For this second generation of road wheels, they went with standard straight pull bladed spokes and alloy nipples…which makes them a little more service friendly.
Rear hubs are available with standard Shimano/SRAM or Campagnolo freehub bodies and are interchangeable. It has “optimized non drive flange placement, and a diagonally “stacked” flange profile to maximize drive-side spoke bracing angles – all designed to improve lateral stiffness. This also allows for a true crossed lacing pattern for better spoke support and eliminates the spoke twisting you get from many bladed spoke systems. These combined features offer one of the stiffest wheel systems on the market as well as exceptional power transfer.” (quote from Industry Nine’s promo rep)
Highlights include (from I9):
– High quality, high precision, US made freehub designed specifically for our road wheels.
– Drive ring and pawls are manufactured in house from tool hardened steel utilizing electrical discharge machining – commonly known as wire EDM. This process uses extremely thin high-voltage wire submerged in water to cut some of the hardest/strongest steel available, and results in extremely robust and precise drive components.
– A 39 tooth drive ring with three pawls offer secure power delivery and a 9 degree engagement range – over twice as fast as the industry standard of 20-25 degrees.
– Pawls utilize a shallow angle of attack and leaf springs for exceptionally low drag.
The front hub sets the spokes as wide as it can and still being able to fit in most common forks.
We’ll do our best to put some miles on them and report back quickly, but we want to make sure we test them properly.
