The final frontier in carbon mountain bike parts has been broached – Bontrager, Edge (Enve), Reynolds, DT Swiss, Easton and Syncros are making carbon fiber mountain bike wheels.
Historically, the durability demands of off-road riding created major hurdles for builders of carbon rims, but the barriers are crashing down with new resins and construction methods. While brake heat was never the issue as it was with carbon road bike rims, impact resistance required dialing up to resist rock damage. Apparently it’s there, because carbon mountain wheels are proliferating.
Wonder just how durable these wheels are? The Santa Cruz Syndicate downhill team was on Enve for 2010. Wonder how much they cost? The Easton Haven wheelset will set ya back $2,300. No wonder Edge’s new name is Enve…