SOC15: Industry Nine expands Boost 148 and 15×110 hub options

Written by Tyler Benedict Apr 22, 2015 9:40 a.m. ET

Support us! Bikerumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More

Perhaps the first company outside of SRAM to have a production Boost 148 hub available when they introduced it at Eurobike 2014, Industry Nine has rounded out the collection with more spoke drillings, front 15×110 and the choice between their standard version and classic hubshells for use with regular spokes.

I9’s Jacob McGahey says it only adds 6g to the rear and 8g up front, but it yields a massive 30% stiffness increase to a front wheel and 15% in the rear. He added that you’d need 40+ spokes on a traditional wheel to get those same gains!

They’re now available in both 28 and 32 hole drillings. More pics and other news below…

Boost plus the higher spoke count option should make for an incredibly stiff wheel.

Boost 110 front compared to a standard 100mm front hub.

I9’s Gravity wheelset has been renamed Grade to avoid any trademark disputes with FSA’s brand.

IndustryNine.net

Tyler Benedict

11,187 articles

Tyler Benedict is the Founder of Bikerumor.com. He has been writing about the latest bikes, components, and cycling technology for almost two decades. Prior to that, Tyler launched and built multiple sports nutrition brands and consumer goods companies, mostly as an excuse to travel to killer riding locations throughout North America.

Based in North Carolina, Tyler loves family adventure travel and is always on the lookout for the next shiny new part to make his bikes faster and lighter.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

17 Comments

Oldest

Newest Most Voted

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

gringo

8 years ago

Esteemed Bike Rumor Staff,

Please allow me to be the first to complain about the content of this post:

I hate 148!

Thank you and kindest regards,

Gringo

internet stoke

8 years ago

Man I really noticed this on my stiff as get out I9 wheels. THey just weren’t stiff enough! Wait, they were awesome. Literally the only bad part was my crap Yeti frame that died an early death. New bikes were all 650b so I’m stuck with that.

8 years ago

I would really like to buy a full suspension 29er but I think I’ll wait and see what standards rise to the top. Maybe the wild ride will stop.

Mr. P

8 years ago

I love the boost concept of wider flanges make for much more laterally stiffer wheels. But I hate that one you have to buy a new fork or frame to get there.

mudrock

8 years ago

I used to stress about getting a bike that would become “obsolete” in a matter of months, but then I realized most of these gains in stiffness, or lightness, are marginal and not worth even worrying about: riding is still fun, no matter what. in fact, one of my funnest bikes is my single speed, which was obsolete in the 1930s.

dodo

8 years ago

cracks me up: a massive increase in stiffness of 35%. What exactly does that mean? That older hubs where 35% less stiff than necessary? That new hubs cannot be bent by a machine unlees you apply 200 tons of torsional strength … what does that mean, really!!!

ABW

8 years ago

I’m with dodo – how is that stiffness measured? Do they fix the wheel horizontally, hang a static weight off the rim and measure deflection? It would be great to get some of the methodology behind claims like this so we can decide if it’s even remotely related to real-world performance.

What?

8 years ago

Great, stiffer wheels mixed with now wider flexy frames and fork which now makes zero difference in the end for stiffness, but does add weight. All in the name of innovation!

boom

8 years ago

Trolls crack me up. First you complain that Boost doesn’t add any stiffness and is just made up by bike mfg to sell bikes. Now an independent wheel company confirms the stiffness claims, but you are still complaining. Guess what – nobody is forcing you buy new stuff. Keep your old gear, but please stop complaining about BETTER product. 25.4mm bars, super skinny rims and tires, steel and rigid bikes, etc have all become obsolete for a reason.

Nick

8 years ago

Honest question… could hub makers create adaptors to let their current hubs fit the new Boost Standards? (For example, how many 135mm hubs can be flipped to 142 with the right end caps?)

I’m betting no, due to rotor spacing/cassette spacing (and of course $ reasons) but would love to know. I don’t know that I have “Standards Hate” but I do know that if I can’t upgrade my awesome hubs I have now to new standards when I eventually upgrade/kill my Epic… I’ll be looking first in frame that can still run 142mm (and hope my 1 year Pike lasts me a long time!)

All this from a 6’3″, 200ish guy who doesn’t jump, but rides pretty hard and has nothing to complain stiffness wise about from his wheels right now.

thesteve4761

8 years ago

@Nick- you’d be 100% correct for 148. There is no endcap solution that makes a 135/142 hub work with a 148 frame, without having disc brake or drivetrain problems. However, for 110, you could take up the extra 10mm on the non disc side only with a new single endcap. I think this is what American Classic is doing? You gain some benefit of having more balanced spoke tension, but not nearly the gain gotten from 10mm more hub flange spacing. Turn the stiffness thing on it’s head a bit, if your current setup is “stiff enough”, then with wider hubs you can potentially run lighter weight spokes/rims and have the same stiffness.

jrock

8 years ago

The bike industry should stop using the word Standard because it sure seems like there isn’t one. Ha! I agree with Boom, nobody needs to buy any of the new stuff. For the most part all new stuff are better than what was available to us 10 or so yrs ago.

pile-on

8 years ago

Haha–trolls like boom crack me up. Steel & rigid bikes are obsolete?! What a silly statement.

Craig

8 years ago

I’ve been mountain biking since 1989 so have been around to follow a lot of the development of the sport. It seems we are in a period right now of some very rapid innovation. To keep this in perspective, look at the timeline of motorcycle development. In the first few decades there was a lot of change, and while there still is, it’s not like what it was 50 or 80 years ago. So, while bicycles have been a round for a long time, mountain bike have not.

Over the next 5 years we might see this rate of current change slow down. After-all 26″ wheels were chosen by default due to the availability of what was produced at the time for another type of bicycle. 100mm hubs were taken from road bikes, 135mm only developed from road bike rear spacing (130mm) and road rear spacing only developed from fixed gear frame spacing. Same with 25.4mm bar diameter. I look at it like the industry is breaking free from old standards that were never developed for mountain bikes anyway, at least not developed from a clean slate. What is interesting though is that many of these new standards were at some time or another introduced to the industry but we didn’t have the collective technology to make use of it. Tom Ritchey prototyped 27.5″ wheels, in 1993 Dave Weins tested a 29er (well 700 x 40c) Diamond Back at the Cactus cup, Doug Bradbury of Manitou was making wider spaced hubs (145mm and 110mm I think?) in the late 1980’s, Brent Foes showed a long travel trail bike what 20 years ago? Haro had some bikes with larger bar diameter in 1991. The original Fat Chance Yo Eddy in 1990 was promoted with Specialized 2.5″ tires. Mountain bike rims in the mid 1980’s were wide, often 30mm or slightly more, but due to the popularity of cross country racing and the demand for light weight, Keith Bontrager prototyped narrow road rim width which became widely used for over 15 years.

I guess we all have four options:
1) Buy an old fully rigid bike and ride it and enjoy it for what it is, then when it breaks down just buy another old bike for $200. (I do this)
2) Buy a current bike and be in a dream world that will last 20 years and fret about not being
able to get spare parts
3) Buy a current bike, ride it for 3-5 years until it is reasonably worn out and then sell it
and get another one, and just accept that each new bike may have different standards (I do this also)
4) Take up a sport that is not advancing technologically (running, bowling, walking, darts)

Roy

8 years ago

Right on Craig. good point that MTBs need to brake free from road world. there is no sense in bellyachin about change cause no one is holding a gun to your head to by the latest the absolute truth is that the bikes are getting better and better, whether that is worth the coin is up to you and your income. nothing is stupider than some troll saying it aint worth the money or the performance gains are not worth it when you aint spending MY money and havnt ridden the stuff either. hop in your pinto wagon and head back to the cabin

Gillis

8 years ago

Boom – you’re drinking the kool-aid if you believe that everything new is somehow better. “Better” based on what metric? What the marketing department says? What the magazines say? You call steel and rigid bikes obsolete, I can’t even take you seriously.