When it comes to photographing bikes, I’ll always opt for dirty over clean, but some things are just too damn good to wait for that all-so-familiar Southern California gold dirt to cake itself inside every crevice. Case in point: Industry Nine’s new i9.35 Disc road wheels. Previously, we’ve looked at their AR25 disc road wheels, which are still some of the best disc wheels I’ve ridden*. However, if you’re looking to shave a little bit of weight, add the durability of carbon rims, and better aerodynamics, then the i9.35 wheels are another great option in the marketplace. Let’s take a look at them in detail below.
Industry Nine brands these wheels as being their straight-up road disc wheels. They’re available in three rim profiles, with the i9.35 being the 35mm tall rim, the i9.45mm being 45mm and so on with the i9.65. The thing is, I don’t ride a disc-equipped, straight up road bike, so I took some liberties here. Using my trusty Firefly as the lab rat in this experiment, which will take place over the next few weeks. Sure, I’m bending some rules, like exceeding the recommended tire width by 2mm, riding a ‘cross’ tire, and by riding more dirt than asphalt over this review period, but if anything is a good measure of a wheelset’s durability, which is my main concern with wheel reviews, it’s dirt roads. Although, if something should go awry, these wheels come with a lifetime warranty.
Before we get ahead of ourselves here, let’s end this post with the simple gist:
LIFETIME WARRANTY
Hand Assembled in North Carolina using Asia-sourced Carbon 380g rims.
24h 2/1 lacing pattern
Center lock or 6-bolt
A Variety of axle configurations
Hubs: US-Made i9 Torch disc hub system with a three-pawl, 6º freehub mechanism.
Widths: 21mm internal, 29mm outer, 35mm tall
Wheelset weight: 1,355g
240lb suggested rider weight limit
$2,300 MSRP / $2,350 for Ano Labs custom build
Check back in later for a more thorough review. If you want to try these out for yourself, they’re available now through your local Industry Nine dealer.
*The AR25 wheels are customizable through i9’s AnoLabs, weigh 1450g for the set, and cost $1,195.00.
