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First Ride! Industry Nine Trail270 actual weights, measurements & first impressions

Industry Nine Trail270 alloy mountain bike wheels first impressions and ride review
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The all-new Industry Nine Trail270 wheelset debuted last night, but we’ve had a set on our bike for a couple weeks for testing. Before that, it had already been under one of their test riders from The Hub Bike Shop in Pisgah, who’d been riding it hard for photo shoots and general abuse testing. Which I share to put their current state of perfect true and smooth riding into perspective…we didn’t pull some finely tuned brand new set off the production line, this set’s been ridden hard. Below, we measure and weigh it and show off the design close up…

TRAIL270 RIM DETAILS

Industry Nine Trail270 alloy mountain bike wheels first impressions and ride review

The alloy rim has a nicely radius’d curve beyond the flat center strip where the spoke holes are. Graphics are printed, so no decals to peel or scuff.

Industry Nine Trail270 alloy mountain bike wheels first impressions and ride review

The key measurements are easily read on the outside of the rim. Just for fun really, as you’ll only be able to get these prebuilt onto I9’s Torch hubs and alloy spokes.

Industry Nine Trail270 alloy mountain bike wheels first impressions and rim details

Industry Nine Trail270 alloy mountain bike wheels first impressions and rim details

Industry Nine Trail270 alloy mountain bike wheels first impressions and actual width measurements

All I9 wheels come pretaped with valve stems preinstalled. Tubeless-ready out of the box.

Industry Nine Trail270 alloy mountain bike wheels first impressions and actual width measurements

They’re not quite hookless, but the bead hook definitely looks smaller in person than on the cutaway graphic.

Industry Nine Trail270 alloy mountain bike wheels first impressions and ride review

The wheels are built on their Torch mountain bike hubs, which come in 24- and 32-hole options. We’re testing the 29er Boost 32-hole configuration. They’re compatible with any axle standard thanks to tool-free caps, and the rear swaps easily between Shimano and SRAM XD.

TRAIL270 ACTUAL WEIGHTS & WIDTHS

Industry Nine Trail270 alloy mountain bike wheels first impressions and actual width measurements

Our set measured 27.5mm on the inside, and a little more than 31mm on the outside. Both measurements are a tad wider than official claimed specs. On the bike, this translated to actual tire widths of exactly 2.4″ for the Maxxis Minion DHR II & Ardent…both 29×2.4 WT (Wide Trail) models.

Industry Nine Trail270 alloy mountain bike wheels actual weights for 29er wheels

The front 29er 32-hole weighed 805g, and the rear 941g, for a total of 1,745g. Claimed weight is 1,650g, but our measurement is with tape and valve stems installed. They were set up with XD driver and 15mm front/12mm rear thru axle endcaps for the weigh-in, but I swapped it to the Shimano freehub body for the test. The rims, which are made in Taiwan, have claimed weights of 435g (27.5″) and 455g (29”).

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Industry Nine Trail270 alloy mountain bike wheels first impressions and ride review

To test the new Industry Nine Trail270 wheels, we mounted them to our Niner RIP9 RDO long term test bike and used the stock Maxxis tires. They’d obviously already been seated, but they set up very easily and have held air continuously for several weeks. I’ve had zero issues with burping, etc.

As far as test trails go, it’s hard to beat Rocky Knob Bike Park in Boone, NC. The trail system sends you climbing up on the left, and descending a variety of downhill and jump line trails on the right. Several connectors let you easily re-ride some parts. RKBP forces you to earn your turns. There’s no shuttle access road, and no lifts. It’s all pedaling, with a number of rocky, technical stretches, steep grunts, and lots of switchbacks. The long, slow climb is a solid workout. Fortunately, the Trail270 wheels feel light, and their trademark 3º engagement makes clearing the techy stuff much easier.

The descents combine rock gardens, table tops, fast berms and a few drops. The wheels handled all of it perfectly well, staying laterally stiff when guiding it over and around fast corners. They go where you turn them without hesitation.

The 32-hole build is for heavier riders or those who want a stiffer ride. I did open up my fork and dropped the air pressure a bit (it was also a new fork, so some tinkering was to be expected) to compensate for the stiffer wheels. By the final two runs, I had things pretty well dialed. Even when letting bits of air out throughout the ride, the rims held the tires firmly in place. I didn’t go crazy low, but enough to further soften the ride.

It’s too early to make definitive long term statements on these, but considering I9’s history of incremental improvements and solid performance, this iteration should be on anyone’s trail mountain bike wheel short list.

IndustryNine.com

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Ryan Cook
Ryan Cook
6 years ago

I have the Enduro 305s after tanking a set of their original enduros. The narrower almost hookless rim edges make me feel like I’m back in the early 2000’s with all the pinch flats. I’ve pinch flatted more tires in the last 6 months than I have in the last 6 years.

TUBLESS ANYONE?
TUBLESS ANYONE?
6 years ago
Reply to  Ryan Cook

What’s a pinch flat?

Matthew Ball
Matthew Ball
6 years ago
Reply to  Ryan Cook

You are literally the last person on earth riding tubes

mattya
6 years ago

Industry Nine can do no wrong. I’ve ridden them on at least 4 different bike builds ranging from XC to Enduro, and they have been nothing but maintenance free trail crushers.

The S (steel) series wheels are on par with their aluminum offerings too!

(I don’t work for i9, ha)

myke2241
myke2241
6 years ago
Reply to  mattya

Well what else have you tried? I went from i9 hubs to Onyx and there is no going back. My i9’s had issues from time to time. Staying up to tension was always the most annoying. Anyways I think these BR reviews have a certain bias. They usually don’t have anything negative to say about the product which make them tough to trust

joshort38
6 years ago

I remember using inner tubes in the early 2000’s. Maybe try a tubeless set up. I9s are solid and they stand by their product.

AYYGGSS
AYYGGSS
6 years ago

next time turn the scale off too so we can squint and guess the weights

1. press on button
2 close caliper all the way
3 zero them out
4 select MM
5 measure
6 then take picture

TYler durden
TYler durden
6 years ago

i think you forgot to mention it but that rim joint u have a close up of looks pinned, not welded.

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