Industry Nine 101 1/1 Enduro S Wheelset 27.5 [Rider Review]

Our "Rider Review" article series features the honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for.

There is no doubt that a new set of wheels will have a massive impact on the way your mountain bike will perform and feel. You can go two routes with this, build a new set of rims on the existing hubs or a completely fresh prebuild wheelset. Our friend talks about the Industry Nine 101 1/1 Enduro S Wheelset 27.5. Check it out!

Overview

I wanted to upgrade the stock wheels on my 2018 Jeffsy 27.5, which were a little heavy and flexible with low engagement and no upgrades to increase the engagement. So I started researching the best wheels for around $600 that would be lighter, stiffer, and have a high engagement hub. The Worldwide Cyclery youtube videos pointed me to the Industry Nine 101 1/1 Enduro S Wheelset 27.5 and the video about the wheels sold on them. I live in CT, I mainly ride on single track trails, most of them are pretty rocky and rooty with a lot of shorter hills, no epic climbs. I prefer techy trails over smooth and fast, but I'll hit all of the drops, jumps and pump tracks. I do ride park around a dozen times a year with the same bike in Vermont and New Hampshire.

The Industry Nine wheels meet all of my needs, quite a bit lighter with 4' of engagement and with a bonus of being manufactured and hand-built made in the USA. They were slightly above my budget, but everything pointed to these along with my riding style, so I pulled the trigger. Being special order, they did take a bit longer to ship, took about a month to get them, the pandemic probably help with that. When they arrived, the box is almost bulletproof. The wheels were already taped and have the valves installed and they're signed by the builder! I like the laser-etched graphics compared to the usual stickers. Mounting the tires was easy, only needed a floor pump to set the bead.

The high engagement rear hub made me way more confident over technical sections and rock gardens, always having instant engage to push me through.

My first ride was a huge difference, acceleration and overall speed was increased by quite a bit. I did my normal loop at the local trails with my old wheelset, up the new industry nine's on the bike went the next day, and rode the same loop to gauge the difference. I had to soften up the suspension a bit because they were so stiff. They felt solid on rocky/rooty downhills and excellent climbing, especially on steep switchbacks where my stock wheels would flex, forcing to always go wide. This wheelset holds their line nicely. Then there's the sound of the hub, nothing beats the buzz of the I-9's.

Final Thoughts

The industry nine 101's were my first "good" set of wheels. There's nothing that compares to these that I ride on past bike bikes. They also look really good on "Jeff"! I'm super impressed, recommend these to anyone looking at them. I'm hooked, and will only ride with Industry nine wheels from now on.