Industry Nine is probably most well known for their incredible hubs which are manufactured in Asheville, North Carolina. Due to the amount of precision machining and use of wire EDM to produce the pawls, most Industry Nine products wouldn’t exactly be considered cheap. In order to offer more budget friendly products, Industry Nine introduced the Torch Classic line a while back. Made with all the same precision as their other hubs, the Classics used a traditional spoke flange to make them compatible with standard steel spokes.
Now for the first time, Industry Nine is offering a straight pull hubset that is compatible with steel spokes rather than their trademark aluminum spokes. The result is the ability to build an impressive new wheelset in terms of features, performance, and stiffness at a price well under $1,000…
Calling it the Trail S series, the new wheels include aluminum rims sourced from Taiwan with Sapim Race butted straight pull spokes and Secure Lock DS nipples laced to the new Trail S hubs.
The 6000 series aluminum rims feature a 24.5mm internal width with a 28.5 mm external width, and a 21 mm tall profile. The rim is tubeless ready with minimal bead hooks to allow the tire to properly fit and fill out, and comes ready to roll with I9’s tubeless tape and valves already installed. You won’t find any decals on the Trail S wheelset, instead all of the graphics our laser etched on the black rim.
The highlight of the wheels would probably be the new hubset which is sort of a budget version of the premium Torch hubs. As mentioned, instead of the aluminum spokes the S hubs use a custom stacked 28 hole lacing pattern to offer the most stiffness through maximum bracing angle while creating a light and strong hub. Other than the spoke variation, the other main difference in the hub is the use of a 3 pawl free hub with a 60 tooth drive ring rather than the 6 pawl free hub on the premium hubs. The three pawls use the same A2 tool steel and wire EDM cutting process, so really the only difference is a 6°/60 point engagement as opposed to the 3°/120 point engagement of the6 pawl options. However, since the hubs use the same parts, the Trail S hubs are compatible with the 6 pawl free hubs which are available as an upgrade for $50.
The same goes for the axles, seals, end cap kits, drive rings, and bearings which is good news for finding replacement parts. Axle combinations are available in QR, 9mm thru, 15×100, 20×110, and 31mm Rock Shox compatible “Torque Caps” for the front, and QR135, 10×135, 12×135, 12×142 axles for the rear with 15×110 and 12×148 Boost configurations coming soon. Offered in 27.5 or 29″ sizes, listed weights are 1635g and 1690g respectively. Priced at $845 for the hand built in N.C, wheelset, the Trail S wheels will be rolling trails near you very soon.
