Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Industry 9 Single Speed Wheelset




Way back in the early fall I tested a Badger Dorothy prototype hardtail 29"er. The bike was equipped with Industry 9 wheels which I had heard alot about but had never seen any or ridden any previous to the Dorothy. Well, I must admit, I was pretty smitten by them.

What's not to like? A free hub engagement that's nearly instantaneous, cool anodized colors, and light weight. I was a bit skeptical of the aluminum spokes at first, but Mr. 24 reminded me that his Mavic mtb wheels had aluminum spokes and they were fine. Hmm................it got me thinking. Maybe I should look into this a bit more!




Well, that led me to Ben Witt of Milltown Cycles. He is a Industry 9 dealer and has ridden them and sold them for awhile now. After some discussion, an I-9 order was placed. I decided to get the single speed wheel set, as I am planning on putting these on one of my Secret Project bikes I have in the works, both of which will be single speed rigs. 29"er of course!







I chose a custom anodized color. Orange is what these are supposed to be, but they are more of a burnt orange, or you could say they have a coppery tint. I think they are pretty cool, but not exactly orange. That's okay, it's not a dig on Industry 9. I can roll with this color just fine, I just wanted to point out that if you should decide on a custom ano color, you might be getting something of a surprise. Anodizing specific hues is not a science, so give a little lee way.




Industry 9 can lace their hub and aluminum spokes, (which are also available in several ano colors) to alot of different rim choices. I chose the DT Swiss TK 7.1 rims after having ridden the Stans 355's on the Dorothy and having built a set of the DT's up. The Stan's rims seemed a bit flexy under me andthe DT's seemed solid as a rock when I built them up. So DT Swiss it was. Not the lightest rims, but for single speeding and riding off road, a great choice. These rims are the "disc" only rims, just not having a machined brake track. Kinda cheesy, but hey! They are all black! Works for me.

So, these really are not Frost Bike related other than the fact that I got them at the show since Ben was there too. I am going to have to wait awhile to get these mounted with rotors and rim strips/ tires/ tubes before I'll get a ride report to ya'all. That might be a bit, but when I do, I'll be sure to let you all know what I think.

A big thanks to Industry 9 and ben Witt of Milltown Cycles for helping with this project!
















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