Never have i thought my normal wheels weren’t light or stiff enough to do what i want. Just like i’ve never thought my wheels are too small to get me up or down mountains. Or my tyres don’t provides enough grip so i need fatter ones.

Point is, you really don’t need all this stuff to ride your bike. If you think you do, you are wrong. If you think it/they make you a better rider you are also wrong. The only thing buying stuff like these wheels does is make you poorer. If you can afford the hit, then go ahead. Just don’t try and justify you choice with crap about increased performance and all that other BS.

Use the money on a riding holiday or book a few advanced skills days and learn how to ride lighter/pick good lines and NOT batter the shite out of your bike. It wont make your bike look prettier or impress the car park crowd, but maybe you’ll realise that it’s not about the bike. If you are already awesome and still want the most expensive pointless wheels, donate the money to charity (just make sure you get a sticker so everyone knows how generous you are).

I think their logo is pretty cool but even if i was the richest man in the world, i wouldn’t buy them.

No, not for mtb.

Road, possibly based on aero performance, but I’d have to debadge them!

Dont think I’d want to carry on to the end of a stage with a carbon rim if I got a puncture so probably not.

I have got 4 sets. Some tubular, some clincher. I have also got some Stan’s Crest and some Mavic Open Pros.

They are lovely rims and a nice bit of bling, but anybody who claims that they are appreciably different to a decent alloy rim is kidding themselves/trying to justify the investment.

It’s the same old story – a bad wheel builder can make a dog’s dinner of the best components, but a decent builder can build a much nicer wheel with cheaper alloy rims. I think that spoke tension, lacing and the skill of the builder make more of a difference than the components. But, all other things being equal, ENVE do make a nice rim.

It’s also the same old story on price – if you can afford it, why not? If you can’t, they probably aren’t worth not feeding the kids or selling an organ for.

For me, I like them, but I am not an evangelist for them. In some respects, I should feel better about spending this much on wheels, but ultimately they just go round and hold my tires on. Are they stiff? (yes depending on the quality and tension of the build). Are they light? (yes, but not appreciably lighter than an alloy rim) Are they expensive (yep!). Do they look nice? (in the eye of the beholder). Are they well supported? (in my experience, ENVE really do back up their product).

As for the stiffness debate, surely the width, compound and pressure of the tires squirming away under the rider make just as much of a difference as the perceived stiffness of the rims?

Back to the original question – worth it or not? – only you can decide. On purely objective grounds, probably not, but we are emotional beings us humans. If you have the cash, and like nice things, they are worth it. If you have to make serious sacrifices, only you can decide whether those sacrifices are worthwhile. So it was, and so it ever shall be. And this logic can be applied to any purchase of any product. That’s why hyper expensive and hyper value products exist in every product category, whether cars, watches, groceries or bicycle rims.

Yeah. If I had the cash I’d buy a Foes DH to stick them on and go to Leogang every 8 weeks.

I go every 6 😛

Wouldn’t fancy carbon rims down speedster all season.

I do have the cash but I wouldn’t spend it on Enve wheels or anything like that

It’s also the same old story on price – if you can afford it, why not? If you can’t, they probably aren’t worth not feeding the kids or selling an organ for.

At Ironman Wales the supporting bike shop had a stall, with a sign up offering Carbon Mavics on a special finance package “Just £500 deposit and £100 a month…”. Maybe I’m old fashioned but I found the idea of resorting to finance to buy a bicycle component a little disturbing.

I do have the cash but I wouldn’t spend it on Enve wheels or anything like that

My thoughts exactly. To answer the “if you can afford them, why not” thing, it’s because, IMO, they’re still not worth it!

I think they’re worth it on lots of levels – to me.

But maybe we could all cap our bike purchases at £250 just for consistency.

(Bikes on finance ain’t new either.)

they look a bit tacky to me, what with all the logos.

but if they didn’t have the huge logos how would everyone know how much you’d spent!?!?!

i took the decals off mine

all the road stuff inc stems/bars/posts come with black decals now anyway, looks a lot better imho,

the flashy colours are the domain of the enduro lot

Dirtyrider, much nicer sans logo 🙂

No I wouldnt. My BS theory states that they appear to give far too many away to sponsored riders to consider them good value for money.

Giving product away to sponsored athletes is actually shrewd. The actual cost of the product (that you control) is relatively low compared to spending money on advertising (where you have to pay somebody else’s rates), and you get ‘real world’ advertising.

Any high end product promotes its share of criticism. It’s just the nature of the beast. If you sponsor racers, you get criticised. If you don’t, some people say that the product lacks credence.

Enve won’t sell to you unless you wear a full Troy Lee outfit & have your teeth whitened.

For my off-road bikes then probably not, for my bling road bike – probably. Not sure what advantages they have over my Hope/Stans/Sapim Lasers for off road use.

the flashy colours are the domain of the enduro lot

Don’t forget the cross lot, lots of us like it bright! Funnily enough I like my mtb black and white. Haters are going to hate my custom crosser! Full ENVE

So it’s a no to Enve wheels. Time to close the thread and move on…..

I’m tempted by SRAM etap…. Worth it?

Haters People with fully functional eyes are going to hate my custom crosser!

I’m a bit late to this thread but I have ridden a set of Enve’s a few years ago. I was working in a posh shop at the time and they came hawking their wares. We got a demo set for the shop and I was the first person out on them. Had a few days at Hamsterley and Inners on my Stumpy Evo taking in the trails and the DH tracks.

Yes I could feel the difference but not in a good way in my opinion. They felt stiff but made the bike feel harsh and uncomfortable. They also weren’t any lighter than the standard Rovals. I was initially smitten with the looks and the Chris King hubs and could have had them for a seriously knocked down price. But, I didn’t like the ride. There’s absolutely nothing to gain from all that cash.

Someone else I know rode them, loved them, bought them (at almost retail price), put them on his Patriot and cracked the back one within a month.

So yeah, if you desperately want the ultimate poseur wheels go for it. Personally, I satisfied my curiosity and they do nothing for me. And when I hear people raving about them I immediately think “You’re full of s**t mate”.

Well if (Mavic) Team GB wheels that the French seemed a bit uppity about, were really really round… are Enve wheels really really really round?

Aracer 😆

Yes I could feel the difference but not in a good way in my opinion

And when I hear people raving about them I immediately think “You’re full of s**t mate”.

meh

If I could easily afford them I would no question. Why ? No real reason, probably because they’re nice and I like nice things.
If you’ve got money it’s your duty to spend it 😀

No Tang thats a beautiful bike, glad to hear your riding hard, as you should.

Maybe as they look nice, but I’ve been fine with my 721/Pro2 wheels for years so why change now? Could spend the money on better things than bike wheels.

I can’t see them being any better than the import carbon wheels, I’ve noticed a great improvement with my lb wheels Comming from a budget oem ally wheel set, better cornering and general steering feel, better acceleration from standstill which is very noticeable, I can accidently pop a wheelie from a standing start if I’m not careful, and better comfort.

Now the clincher (excuse the pun) is how much better are they than a high end ally wheel set? Couldn’t say, but I imagine it’s a much closer gap.
I went with lb over a high end alloy set, well, mainly because the difference in price for a fully built set on quality hubs is basically the same… And because carbon fibre!

ive got 2 pairs (AM and M70) and while im not going to dismiss them as totally marketing bolleaux, they are nice rims, they are quite light and very stiff (if that is a benefit is up for discussion, IMO they work better in some situations, not others).

It’s the (not so) little things that will stop me buying more, namely having to take the tyre, and rim strip off then reseal the tyre one you’ve trued the wheel.

That and I dont like the pressure of having to be a riding god when riding with others, as the ATGNI chants cut so, so deep…

(Damn, 4 pages !) 😀

I wouldn’t – I dislike the brand name (sounds like “envy”, which overloads my smugometer though I’ve no idea of its derivation) and the logos are a major eyesore IMO

If they were genuinely better AND I had the cash with nothing better to spend on, then yes. I doubt eiher applies.

Edge was a pretty cool name before they changed. My race partner is on ENVE with NFTO road team and has put thousands of training and racing miles on all their products for 2 years with no problems at all. That includes trainer clinchers being ridden for months in Girona/Majorca/Alps, no mincing about. Quite a few crashes also.
I recently spent a morning with the European head of ENVE and they are well aware plenty of other products are after them and that keeps the R&D team very busy.
I get the cost thing, and like I said on my wage I couldn’t justify it to my wife and kids. I do however like a company dedicated to a material in the way they are and total dedication to making the best possible. I’ve said it before but there is a cost to building in the US as opposed to China.

better acceleration from standstill which is very noticeable

😆 😆 😆 😆

Nope. Even if I had the money, there’s things I’d rather spend £800 on. Like a holiday.

That said, I did buy the “equivalent” Kuroshiro fat bike rims as they are totally unique and miles ahead of anything else. So I would if I could see a noticeable difference. Don’t see that with ENVE so I’ll stick with LB thanks. As said above, I have first hand experience of their warranty policies and they are superb.

GB

As others have said, if I had Euromillions type cash to spend then I probably would simply because I could afford to get them and find out if I liked them.

As it is I could buy some but it would not be sensible due to the money being better used elsewhere.

Saying all that, I don’t really like the look of carbon wheels on MTB’s so might not bother even if I was minted.

tang – Member

there is a cost to building in the US as opposed to China.

A massive cost, but very little benefit to the customer.

Don’t think there is even a very little benefit there!

If I had the cash and wanted a high end carbon wheelset I’d get something like the Roval SL (or Traverse SL if I wanted fat trail rims) which would be every bit as good, have no embarrasing logos, and still have 600+ quid left over to spend on other nice bits of kit.

If I had the cash, which I highly doubt I’ll be in a position that allows me, I’d buy a 50ft yacht, a fleet of hypercars, and a few top-spec bikes.

So why wouldn’t I buy some fancy wheels? Couldn’t give a monkeys about others snobby opinions.

If I had the cash and wanted a high end carbon wheelset I’d get something like the Roval SL (or Traverse SL if I wanted fat trail rims) which would be every bit as good, have no embarrasing logos, and still have 600+ quid left over to spend on other nice bits of kit.

Why waste money on Rovals?! Custom build and save another £500!

Indeed. Was just a hypothetical “I want to buy a high end wheelset off the peg” thing. I’d obviously build my own wheels 😉

If I had the money sure I’d waste it on bike parts for no good reason but I’d make sure I sourced the best parts out there… not that common as muck ENVE nonsense 😉 Some 1kg AX or MCFK tubulars on Extralite hubs would be a reasonable starting point