Leon wanted a new pair of carbon wheels for his 29er – after looking at all the options he settled on a pair of Wheelworks-built Enve XC rims.

We used the DT Swiss 240s hubs to keep the wheels light and reliable.  To future-proof the front wheel we used the 20mm thru-axle version of the 240s and fitted QR endcaps – this means if / when Leon buys a new fork that these wheels will be ready to go.

Bladed DT Swiss Aerolite spokes keep the weight down and two red spokes at each valve add a touch of colour to match the custom Wheelworks decals.

Thanks for your order Leon!

Mat’s new Merida 29er came with a great pair of DT Swiss 240s hubs but a pretty average pair of aluminium rims.  After noticing a huge improvement on his old 26″ bike when he upgraded to Enve carbon rims Mat got in touch to see if we could re-use his hubs with some better rims.

The Enve XC rim is a similar weight to a light-weight alloy rim but with much greater stiffness making for sharper handling and better climbing.  In this case we Mat dropped over 500 grams of rotational weight while increasing durability and stiffness – simply amazing!

DT Swiss bladed Aerolite spokes were used with two white spokes at each valve.

Mat will be racing the Wellington Nationals round this weekend on the new wheels.

Fay wanted a new pair of Enve All Mountain (AM) wheels for Christmas.  She’d chosen the same Hadley hubs as we’d used for the last pair of wheels I built her and in the same beautiful red colour.

Hadley hubs are a rare beast indeed – they’re made in the USA by a company without a website and are notoriously difficult to track down but their quality is top-notch which is why riders like Fay keep coming back to them.  The rear hub uses a unique 72 point engagement system which gives great feedback and instant hookup through the pedals.

The Enve AM rims speak for themselves: light, stiff, durable carbon hoops.  It wasn’t that long ago that only weightweenie XC racers would use carbon anything so it’s interesting to follow the use of carbon in high-impact situations like AM.

DT Swiss Aerolite spokes hold everything together and custom white decals with Fays name add some personality.

Andrew is upgrading the wheels on his Lynskey from 26″ to 650b which will fit into his current bike.  He wanted to re-use his ultra light Tune hubs and I converted the front to QR15 to fit with his new fork.

The Enve 650b rims are light, strong, and come with a 5 year warranty.  They’re also incredibly stiff which means precise steering, and are tubeless-read.

All spokes are DT Swiss Aerolites with Enves internal nipples.  The spokes are laced in the same 32×3 pattern as the hubs were laced previously which is best-practise with used hubs to make sure the spokes lie in the groves in the flanges caused by the old spokes.

Marco wanted to fit a 650b front wheel to his Cannondale Flash.  The Enve is the lightest, stiffest 650b rim out there, and is ready to run tubeless.

I laced it to a green Project321 Lefty front hub with ceramic bearings.  I also supplied a green Lefty bolt.

Bladed DT Swiss Aerolites will match Marco’s rear wheel.

After re-building Mat’s Tune hubs with some new Enve tubeless XC rims Mat went on to give them a good thrashing.  Here is his writeup after a few rides:

http://mathewwaghorn.webs.com/apps/blog/show/15060990-my-new-bling-enve-composite-rims

Just before the T42 race, I received a nice upgrade to my race bike. My old rims were getting buckled and dented, as light weight rims do with age. Tristan, from Wheelworks informed me that it would a good idea to replace them before I went overseas, as they may not be able to last the entire trip. For a while I was thinking about another set of Notubes rims, but I would eventually have to replace them again. Tristan then suggested I look at the Enve Carbon rims. After a few emails and some thought consolidation I decided to go for them. They weigh about 30g per Rim heavier than my old rims, but they easily make up for this unnoticeable weight difference with their control and the peace of mind you acquire from them. I have got the the T42 race, a club race, and the 24 hour Moonride under my belt on these rims as well as a training session to get used to them and find for myself the performance benefits received. As soon as I hit the first corner of my first ride I could feel the difference. These Rims are extremely stiff. They handle like a dream; you point the wheel in a certain direction and you WILL go there (traction permitting). The tracks at Santoft are some of the more twisty and tight tracks that I ride. At the club race there I was loving it. Flying around corners and being able to trust my wheels 100% to do their job. I see these wheels as a Hybrid between my Crossmax SLR wheelset and my Notubes wheelset. Stiffer than my Crossmax with weight of my Notubes. It’s great to be able to have the peace of mind that these rims offer. They have just bumped up their warranty to 5 years. That is some serious confidence in their product, and therefore some serious confidence for their customers. They say “The ENVE XC rim is made for cross country racers and trail riders alike, and is only limited by the amount of time you have to ride them”. That sounds good to me! I have been running them with my 2.2 continental tires, and the combination makes for such an incredible ride. The extra absorption from the tires, plus the dampening effects of the carbon rims make it extraordinarily smooth. I really feel that the balance in this wheelset between light weight and handling is perfect. They have tremendous control around each corner and still great acceleration and speed. And to top it all off, they look great. The slightly deeper rims with my fat 2.2 tires make them look extremely meaty and fast. Just the look they deserve, and live up to. On top of that, the decals are done with perfection. An awesome Logo by Enve and the ever impressive wheelworks decals, customized with my name. Perfection.

  

If you are currently looking for a great upgrade to your bike then go no further than these rims. I couldn’t rate them any higher; 5 stars from me.

HUGE thanks to Wide Open (the distributors of ENVE) and Tristan from Wheelworks for sorting these wheels out for me. I rate Tristan’s wheel builds very highly; he’s your man if you need to know anything about wheels, or if you need a set built or maintained. Feel free to contact him, a link to his website is on my sponsors page.

A couple of years ago I built Mag Waghorn a pair of light weight mountain bike wheels with Tune hubs and Stan’s Race rims.  Mat’s had a lot of use out of these wheels (including a trip to the Worlds in Canada) and the rims were starting to look a bit second-hand.  The Stan’s Race rims are just that – a very light weight rim which works well for racing but isn’t the most durable rim in the world.

Mat’s light Tune King and Kong hubs were in great shape so we rebuilt them onto a pair of Enve XC tubeless rims.

The Enve rims are slightly heavier than the Race but are much stiffer and will have better durability.

Spokes are DT Swiss Revolution.  The rear wheel is laced 2-cross on the driveside because that’s how the Race wheels were built and it’s always best to use the same lacing pattern on a used hub.  The rear non-driveside and both sides of the front wheel are 3-cross.

1319 is a slight weight increase but I’m looking forward to Mat’s feedback on how the stiffer rims ride.