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Thursday, February 7

Wheelzors

I've gotten in a few rides on the new Industry Nine Torch Trail 24 wheels.  Enough to make a long term assessment?

No.

Enough to just talk about them a little bit?

Why not?

Now that the new Industry Nine Torch website is up and running (and Tyler "Tool Bag" Benedict over at Bike Rumor has his), the talking points are out there.  I don't know if the I9 site is running on all cylinders, as some of what I wanted to know isn't there.  No step-by-step rebuild manual in full color like with the old hubs (yet), but a nice blow-up diagram that should get me pretty far.  The technical data that answers the questions one might have is there, so let's chat.

The 24 spoke wheels look odd at first.   Staring down at 8 spokes on one side goes against convention.  There's an educated reason they are doing it, other than reduced weight and being different.  Mind you, if you click that link, you still have to click "Description" in the upper left hand corner to find out more.
I had trouble finding it.  The little interactive button things don't appear immediately and nowhere near fast enough for my limited attention span.

Anyhoo... the front wheel is adaptable to all the standards currently out there with swappable endcaps, except for that strange Shimano/Fox one that never took off and the "What were they thinking?" Maverick 24mm hubs.

My front wheel weighed 710grams... on a real scale.


I also have a rear wheel that matches the front quite nice like.

What's new here?

Same 24 spoke count as the front and an all new updated rear hub.

An all new drive ring/pawl design, new springs, tool-free servicing, and 100 grams lighter than the previous model. What does all that mean?  You can bust it open, clean the innards, and re-grease everything nice and sexy with your bare hands.  Granted, you should be a mechanically inclined sort before working on your own bike, but it's not rocket surgery.   Endcaps are easily swappable to the different 142/135 standards and the whole shebang builds up pretty light.


Both the front and rear wheels on my Trail 24's are built on Industry Nine's new rimzors.


23.5mm inner width... that's what we care about, right?  2.5mm bigger than the Stan's Crest I was running on my SS race wheels.   At first, I thought the tire volume had been compromised with the new rim.  I had my theories about bead hook design and the space-time continuum.  I sent an email to the Industry Nine Dick Handler.  I was told in an indirect way I was crazy and in a more direct manner, just wrong. 

I bought some calipers.  They were right that I was wrong and perhaps crazy.  I wasted my time buying calipers.  Meh.

Setting up the tires sans tubes was just as easy as any other rim I've tried (Crest, Flow, and Arch).  The rear is currently running an XX1 compatible driver, but it's nice to know an easy tool-free swap is all that's required if I shitcan the geared bike concept (again) and wanna run a standard freehub body to put the wheels on a sensible single speed.

The new wheels are stiff just like the old ones.

The new wheels have quick 3° engagement just like the old ones.

The new wheels are pink just like the old ones.

The new wheels are new unlike the old ones which are old.

If I have to do it, and I do, I will still only give them my...

SEAL OF SEMI-APPROVAL


 Why?

No white rim option on the Trail 24's.  I like white rims.  They are falling out of favor with the general populous, but that only makes me like them all the more.  Small complaint, but that's what I'm here for.  Silver is a new option, except for me, which it's not.

13 comments:

dougyfresh said...

Can you run the XX1 driver on the old hubs?




WV: gyrRake 10171

Kind of like G'N'R, right?

dicky said...

The old hubs can take an XX1 driver, but it is a different design than the new Torch hubs.

Peter Keiller said...

your blog is informative.
i like your use of pictures.
would you like to see my picture?

Anonymous said...

The Industry Nine site has never been running on all cylinders. Such great products, but crap website.

dicky said...

The SS hub would have more distance between flanges and a shorter driver body. They are not available... yet.

fastforward said...

Thinking about putting an order in today. Still obsessing over the 24 vs 32 spoke option. Would you say the 24 spokes feel plenty stiff? Looking for a set of wheels I can train on every day, but also light enough to race on. These look perfect, on paper....

Anonymous said...

Here's a question:
What about these wheels justifies the full retails price? If you had to pay it over other high end wheels at full retails, how would you justify it for the average consumer?

On Universal Cycles, Hope Pro2's with Stan's Arch EX's and Dt swiss butted spokes are 748 with change.

Curious, not trying to troll.

dicky said...

The two things that are selling points (to me) are stiffness and engagement. Now that I've had incredibly stiff wheels and 3° engagement, anything else feels like pooh. You could probably get a set of carbon rimmed wheels to feel equally as stiff, but add $1,000 to your wheel build.

Made in America

Fancy colors

Versatile (swappable end caps)

That's enough for me.

fastforward said...

29" Torch 24s in all black with red spokes on order! Your posts helped convince me to take a chance on the 24 spoke wheels. If they blow up in the next few days please let us know so that I can switch back to 32 spokes ;-)

Jon said...

Hi
Are you still running the Trail 24?
How have you found them?
I'm trying to decide between the 24 and 32.
They'd be going on 650B Ibis HDR and replacing my Mavic Crossmax Enduros.
Thanks

dicky said...

I don't have that set any longer, but I am getting another set soon.

ANXIOUSLY AWAITING THEM RIGHT NOW

Jon said...

Did you find the 24s stiff enough? Or are you going 32 this time?
It's a nice weight savings if I can get away with the 24.

dicky said...

They were plenty stiff enough. My other wheelsets had 32 spokes since I wanted SS specific and the 24s were not an option.

This set will be geared so I ca take advantage of that huge weight advantage.