We know, we know, at times working at Flow really sucks. When a courier stands at your door holding a big black cardboard box with ENVE written on it, you just want to throw the towel in and go home and sulk.
But there are times when we force ourselves to look at the positives, and accept the reality that fitting these wheels to our test bike will make it look totally sizzling hot, to the envy of our mates, but most importantly the riding performance of the bike they adorn will shoot through the roof.
ENVE wheels are the cream of the crop, and also freaking expensive. The set we’ve got here are worth $3499, about as pricey as wheels come. BUT, we’ve had many stellar experiences with these carbon wheels and as we all know, wheels are one area of the bike that is always worth upgrading. So much of the bikes riding performance lies in its wheels.
Recently ENVE expanded and remodelled their entire mountain bike lineup. Now you can spend mega bucks on four wheel types, in various diameters to suit four levels of riding. 50 Fifty for cross country, 60 Forty for trail, 70 Thirty for more gravity oriented trail riding, and the downhill specific 90 Ten wheel set.
We’ve just fitted the 60 Forty set in 27.5″ (650B) to our Lapierre Zesty long term test bike. We weighed our pair at 1540g with the tubeless strips and valves fitted, which is pretty damn amazing for a rim with 23mm internal width. The 1650g Easton Haven wheels (no valves) they replace had an internal width of 21mm, that may not sound like much, but the whole internal section of the big carbon rims is also larger in the ENVE wheels allowing for a greater air volume. A greater air volume maximises the benefit of the tyre, effectively giving the bike more cushion and dampening without adding the weight a larger tyre would. The tyres also look bigger.
Carbon wheels also aren’t just about weight though. These guys are known for taking a beating for far longer than a comparable weight set of aluminium wheels, and have a very direct and fast feel on the trail.
So, they are fitted to our already incredible bike, and we’ll be giving them hell, so stay tuned for more.
