Enve Rims showed us what is new at last month’s Press Camp event in Deer Valley, Utah. If the name’s not familiar to you, it used to be known at Edge Composites, but apparently someone decided that name was too close to something similar and so it changed its name to Enve Composites. Anyway, it’s the same folk and same product, so let’s get looking at it.
The main focus of its showing was its new aero road rims, designed in conjunction with a well-known UK wind tunnel expert Simon Smart (ex-Formula One and all that, he’s based on the same site at the Mercedes Petronas team and helped develop the Giant Trinity and Scott Plasma time trial frames) Anyway, that’s also not what we’re here for. We’re here to see mountain bike stuff! And Enve has been busy here too – with a new UST rim and some 29er offerings.
Enve will also be offering fully-built wheels through its UK importer Saddleback – and there’ll probably be options to have Hope or Chris King hubs for the ultimate (and ultimately expensive) wheelset.
Enve will be offering both 26in and 29in full UST tubeless (as well as 26 and 29in tubular rims for flat-out racers). The UST rims have a UST-approved rim profile and will use an Enve rimstrip and valve stem. There are also XC and All Mountain versions of both sizes. So that’s six different models, right?
Enve is keen to point out that they use carbon mainly for strength and stiffness, not for weight savings – however, it doesn’t hurt the weight either. A 26in XC rim is 350g and 385g for 29in. (Tubular ones are 260g and 280g) – that’s for 28 hole rims. 32h is available too.
Here’s the comparison between an all-mountain and an XC rim. The XC rims are 24mm wide, while the all-mountain is 28mm wide for a better tyre footprint. Weight on the 26in AM is 405g and for the 29in is 450g.
Enve also makes seatposts, stems and handlebars. Here’s its range of mountain bike bars. There’s the Sweep (middle, for 29ers and those looking to get the front end lower) the Riser (regular trail bar, top) and the DH (massive thing on the bottom).
The Sweep is 175g and 9deg, 700mm wide, the Riser is also 700mm, 9deg and 175g and the DH is a whopping 800mm wide and a not heavy 225g. The Riser and DH bar both have 23mm rise.
About now, you’re probably saying ‘Ahh, but I bet it all costs a fortune’ – which, to be fair, it does. However, Enve reckons that its products are so tough (everything has a two year limited warranty) that you’ll probably get over twice the life out of its rims than an equivalent aluminium one, so the costs in the long run don’t work out that bad. It’s up to you to decide – but we reckon you already know if you’re going to be getting some Enve, regardless of price.
And talking of which, here are the RRPs, straight from importers Saddleback. www.saddleback.co.uk
ENVE 26″ XC Tubular 32h £650.00
ENVE 26″ XC Clincher 32h £700.00
ENVE 26″ AM Clincher 32h £700.00
ENVE 29″ XC Tubular 32h £700.00
ENVE 29″ XC Clincher 32h £750.00
ENVE 29″ AM Clincher 32h £750.00
ENVE 31.8 Sweep Mtn Bar 700mm £120.00
ENVE 31.8 Riser Mtn Bar 700mm £120.00
ENVE 31.8 Downhill Mtn Bar 800mm £130.00
ENVE 25mm Seat Post 27.2mm £200.00
ENVE 25mm Seat Post 30.9mm £200.00
ENVE 25mm Seat Post 31.6mm £200.00
ENVE 0mm Seat Post 27.2mm £200.00
ENVE 0mm Seat Post 30.9mm £200.00
ENVE 0mm Seat Post 31.6mm £200.00
ENVE 0mm Seat Post 34.9mm £200.00
ENVE 31.8 Stem 75mm £200.00
ENVE 31.8 Stem 90mm £200.00
ENVE 31.8 Stem 100mm £200.00
ENVE 31.8 Stem 110mm £200.00
ENVE 31.8 Stem 120mm £200.00
ENVE 31.8 Stem 130mm £200.00
Mountain 26″ XC 24mm Rim Strip (each) 26″ £2.50
Mountain 26″ AM 28mm Rim Strip (each) 26″ £2.50
Mountain 29″ XC 24mm Rim Strip (each) 29″ £2.50
Mountain 29″ AM 28mm Rim Strip (each) 29″ £2.50
Comments (20)
Leave Reply
Post Comment
Is that £700 per unbuilt single rim?
Might be able to afford the rim strips…….
LOL !! £700 a rim
quote :
” However, Enve reckons that its products are so tough (everything has a two year limited warranty) that you’ll probably get over twice the life out of its rims than an equivalent aluminium one, so the costs in the long run don’t work out that bad ”
I still run some D521s from around 2000 on the dh bike …. whoever believes their marketing rubbish is a fool!
So cheap! I’ll have one of everything! 🙂
Madness
Expensive, but massively awesome. Would love some of the wider 29er rims.
madness.
Are the widths quoted internal or external?
I wonder how those rims will hold up in the real world? I managed to dent a two ride old Flow rim on Sunday, and went on to crack the rim when trying to make it “better” so I could still run tubeless. What would a carbon rim have done?
£520 for a bar, stem & seatpost………
Ok, then.
Jesus wept. £700? It’s about time the bike industry got a grip. Sadly, some numpty will pay that though. Fail.
“However, Enve reckons that its products are so tough (everything has a two year limited warranty) that you’ll probably get over twice the life out of its rims than an equivalent aluminium one, so the costs in the long run don’t work out that bad”
Seriously, how have they worked that out?
My Stans Olympic’s have been going for five years without a problem. A single rim cost me £60 at the time. If I changed them every five years assuming the same cost, I’d get through 12 rims before I’d reached the cost of the Enve. I’d also by 98 years old. Even if I changed the rim every two years, I’d reach retirement before it’d paid off and/or the Enve would need to last for 25 years.
show bikes and show offs only.
do you think they might chuck in the rim strips for free?
They might chuck in a rimstrip if you ask nicely. In terms of durability, I’ve seen a Easton carbon rim and a Flow rim both hit with the same snakebite-rock-like weight on the edge of the sidewall. The Flow rim dented and the carbon one didn’t.
On a 29er wheel, I certainly noticed a lack of wag and deflection with an Enve rim – but your mileage may vary. Hopefully we’ll get some in so that we can rag them into rocks at 18psi (so you don’t have to). To be fair, we did that with the DT Swiss All Mountain carbon rims with absolutely no ill effect.
Diminishing returns isn’t it? If was feeling very flush, a pair of AM Enves handbuilt by the best wheel builder I know of would be my choice over a top-end fork and shock (bear in mind I’m thinking finishing touches for my best bike, not upgrades for a susser)
The rrp of this type of thing is irrelevant. Nobody in their right mind would pay it (I’m pretty sure chipps will get his for free?). However it enhances their perceived value, so someone will think they’re getting a bargain when they get a discount, and they might impress someone who read this article.
[q]Easton carbon rim and a Flow rim both hit with the same snakebite-rock-like weight on the edge of the sidewall. The Flow rim dented and the carbon one didn’t.[/q]
Flow rims are made of cheese. I’d love to give some ENVE/Haven/DT Carbon rims a real world testing… but not at those prices.
The rims are not cheap, I’ve ridden the Edge AM rims and the stiffness is noticeable, they felt great, as do many things in this world that cost lots. I wonder if you could choose either a carbon frame and alloy rims or an alloy frame and carbon wheels, which would give the ‘best’ result? The rotational/inertial advantage goes to the rims over the frame… Chipps, if you want some testing I’d be happy to help out 😉
fwiw, ive been mucking about with 2 sets of edge am 29er rims for 2 years and ~1 year respectively. i run 20 psi to 24 psi depending on what i do, weigh 87kg butt naked and ride a fair bit.
in one of the comments above someone talks about the law of diminishing returns. Nail on head. These rims are peerless, but they also are incredibly expensive. You can buy a £3000 hardtail frame, or a £300 hardtail frame. is there a £2500 difference? depends on perspective. although money is only one aspect of all this, and really the diminishing returns of cost vs improved performance (light strong cheap etc etc) is a more valid argument, think of it this way:
in years gone by, i have typically gone through a flow/or bonti duster rim roughly per year if used similarly. So, i need to rebuild the wheels and find spokes and etc etc…so far i havent touched the edge rims, yet they weigh 100g less per rim than either of the above alloy rims.
I would be surprised if they dont last me another 5 years or more. really, at which point i may have used 6 or 7 £65 rims/£20 spokes and nipples. so if you look at it that way. for 7 years i suspect i will have a stiffer, stronger, wider, lighter rim for very little additional cost….
but the finances are only *really* relevant if you can afford to lose it…same as placing a bet – dont bet what you cant afford to lose…
if you *can pony up, they offer more of a hop up than almost anything else on your bike….who here has a £600 fork? a £200 dropper post? etc etc…
The edge/enve rims are the stiffest, strongest and lightest rims out there atmo. And they are amongst the most expensive. if that works for you, you wont regret having a set.