Industry Nine 1/1 Enduro S Wheelset [Rider Review]

 Our "Rider Review" article series features the honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for. 

When it comes time to upgrading wheels, Industry Nine should most definitely be on your radar! Their hubs not only have a very sought after sound, their durability is just as good as they sound. Our friend, Christopher, got some 1/1 Enduro S wheels. See what they think!

Overview

"You better get on it!" That's what my wife shouted out from the other room when she overheard me listening to a guy on Youtube talk about how hard bike components will be to find for 2022. That was bad news for someone like myself who just sold his mountain bike in hopes of building up a hardcore hardtail over the winter... a Banshee Paradox v3. So taking what my wife said as her blessing to splurge on what was available, I decided on a set of Industry i9 1/1 Enduro S wheels and I am glad I did.

This being my first bike build I was concerned with getting all the tiny little special things to seat tire, mount hardware, and worse yet "find a freehub that is compatible with the cassette that I'm using? What's a freehub" So yes, the only wheelset available within the whole internet came with a micro spline freehub and I needed HG. SO what I'm getting at is everything was simple when setting these bad boys up. Swapping out the freehub after finding an HG couldn't have been easier (remember, I'm new here). What I was most pleased with was how well the tires seated onto the wheels themselves. I chose the Specialized Eliminator up front and rear and they settled in nicely under 30lbs of pressure all done with a floor pump. Who is to thank? Specialized? i9? Doesn't matter since I was off to the races!

So the work began on building up the frame, finally! Never mind the blue pedals, I'm working on it, hehe. Sourcing parts was a part-time job at the time of me doing this but with everything the same matte black, it all looked so good. There wasn't a lot of time for me to release the Paradox into the wild with the i9 Enduro S wheels, but from what I could make of it, the difference was night and day from the standard wheels that came stock on my previous bike. I read and read about people moaning and groaning over 32 spoke or 28 spoke wheels and being a pretty average build at 6'2'' 165lbs, 28 was just fine.

I live in Michigan with easy-rolling XC-style trails and short punchy climbs. The wheels are perfect for this type of terrain and anything more would have been overkill, not only for the bike itself but also the wallet. There was nice responsiveness and feedback that was familiar, but also made me more alert. I stressed over whether or not to hold out on other manufacturers' wheels with fancy goop injection, but I have a hard time believing I would have needed them and again, I wasn't going to wait until June of 2022 with fingers crossed for something to come available.

So should you buy these if you can find them? Absolutely! When it comes to buying on the cheap or buying quality, I lean towards the ladder, but within reason. Industry 9 has a fine reputation and even though these are budget friendly compared to other products they make, they're not going to make anything that will suffer in quality. Unlike everything else in the world today, the only thing 2021/2022 isn't short on is opinions. You'll read that 28 spokes are "crap" and will break. Carbon is better than aluminum. Hardtails are entry-level. Anything under 700mm for wheel width is from the devil and will give you pinch flats and buck you off on the first root. Blah blah blah and on and on.

Final Thoughts

These wheels are great. Riding bikes is great. The only thing that would suck is for my wife to ride a bike by herself and me not to have one at all. I made a wise, quality choice and greatly anticipate many miles of fun and excitement once the weather breaks. High quality and lightweight with the 1/1 Enduro S will ensure I have all of that.