The new Industry Nine Hydra2 offers a staggering 870 points of engagement – that’s an incredible 0.41° between pick-up points.
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As with the previous Hydra hub, the Hydra2 is designed to handle a broad spectrum of mountain biking from trail bikes all the way up to downhill race bikes. They are also approved for full-power eMTB use.
The new Hydra2 used data from over a 100,000 Hydra Gen 1 hubs out there in the real world to eliminate potential issues and failure points. That is a lot of data.
Besides strengthening the hub design, Industry Nine have also somehow managed to improve the performance factors too. The already bonkers fast pick-up (0.52°) has been made even quicker; the new Hydra2 offers a staggering 0.41° between engagement points!
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Digging deeper into the tech, the new Hydra2 has six pawls, a 145 tooth drive ring, resulting in 870 points of engagement. The pawls are housed in 5.5mm pawl pockets (Industry Nine’s largest ever) and there’s an additonal tooth on each pawl now as well (three teeth per pawl). The drive ring is 7% larger and is now made of a tougher metal. These toothy tweaks have resulted in a slightly quieter freehub noise, but you can still very much hear the buzz as you coast.
As with the previous Hydra Gen 1, the engagement is designed to work with the flex (flex that is found in all freehubs). After the first pawl engese, the freehub flexes ever-so-slightly and this is when the subsequent pawls click into engagement. The higher engagement of the new Hydra2 reduces the amount of flex required by the freehub to engage the subsequent pawls. This, in conjunction with a spacer between the hubshell and the freehub body, reduces shear loads by nigh on 50% (which also has the benefit of reducing the force required for the bearings to rotate on said axle).
Oh yes, the axle. The rear axle has been updated. It is externally butted (17/15mm) with a stress washer and 2.5mm wall thickness at the hubshell bearing seats (68% thicker walls).
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Despite all of this strengthening and quickening, the Hydra2 hubs aren’t any heavier than Hydra Gen 1 hubs. In fact they’re a teensy bit lighter (15g lighter front hub, 5g lighter rear hub).
Not only that… Industry Nine has managed to reduce the coasting drag of the system by a whopping 60%. This is the result of an updated preload method – the bearings utilise additional radial preload and are no longer laterally preladed – this all increases the lifespan of the bearings too. The Hydra2 hubs use larger 6903 bearings throughout by the way.
And can we just mention how pretty the things are as well? Industry Nine proudly describe the new Hydra2 hubs as “brains, brawn, and beauty – a piece of rideable art”
Our goal with Hydra2 was to create a hub that could endure the most extreme conditions and the most demanding riders. By leveraging real-world data and pushing the boundaries of engineering, we’ve achieved a hub that is truly bomb-proof, bullet-proof, and Brandon [Semenuk]-proof. – Jacob McGahey, Head of Product Development at Industry Nine
If you’re British and reading this, you will want to know about weather sealing no doubt! There’s a new labyrinth channel and full-contact radial lip seals on the freehub and endcaps for impressive protection against the elements.
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UK pricing
For complete wheelsets, prices start at £1080.00 for a pair of Hydra 2 Enduro S all the way up to £2645.00 for the DH Carbon or Enduro Carbon. If you want go all-out you can upgrade to ceramic bearings for an additional £480 per wheelset.
Examples of mid-tier bestsellers are the Enduro Alloy or Grade Alloy at £1515.00.
Customisation
If you want to customise the look of a wheelset there are three levels to choose from, accessible via the online Industry NIne Anolab portal page (which is simple and actually rather fun to do):
Level One Custom, 12 Single colour accent spokes. Up to 8 spokes of a single colour on a black wheel. Add £67 per wheelset.
Level Two Custom, unlimited number of single accent colour spokes and/or hubs. Add £157 per wheelset.
Level Three Custom, unlimited customization. unlimited colours of spokes and/or hubs. Add £252 per wheelset.
If you just want the hub(s) only, they come in J-bend spoke (not direct thread) and cost £675.00 for a pair (£455.00 for rear, £225.00 front).
Our test wheelset
We’ve had these wheels for a few weeks now. They’re a set of Industry Nine Hydra2 Enduro Alloy mixed-wheelsize with silver hubs and pink spokes and tubeless valves. They feature the signature direct thread hub shells and machined aluminium spokes.
Weights: 850g front, 920g rear (1,770g), taped inc. valves.
Full review coming pretty soon once they’ve had more miles put through them.
Based in Asheville, North Carolina, Industry Nine products are proudly designed, manufactured, and assembled in the USA and Spain.
