ENVE

M730 Industry Nine Hydra 29in Boost Wheelset

When the trail takes you on the edge of sanity, barreling down technical terrain that litters an Enduro course, you might be tempted to reach for some brake to slow your roll. While conventional knowledge would have you thinking that's the right call to make, when you're rolling atop ENVE's M730 Industry Nine Hydra 29in Boost Wheelset you give your brakes a rest — the wheels can handle it. Whether it's slick root jungles and hub-deep rock gardens, or lofty gaps that have you questioning your sanity, the 730 holds up to the rigors and demands you send its way, offering back durability, and snappy, responsive handling in return. The M730 is here to elevate your riding with a redesigned rim featuring a lightweight protective strip to keep your wheels and tires safely turning after smashing root lattices and casing huge drops. This iteration partners up with Industry Nine to lace you up to the latest and greatest Hydra hub that brings hub engagement down to a snappy 0.52-degrees to propel you forward at warp speed, so you don't lose a watt of power to the pedals.

ENVE's M730 line takes queues from the M70's that came before it, like the use of downhill-worthy carbon laminates that stand up to aggressive all-mountain charging, but it strays from the profile with changes to increase strength. The M730 is designed to better pair with modern tires so that they can better absorb chunder and chatter from the trail without being run at ungodly-high tire pressures. Nothing will spook you faster when you're charging a dusty line than drifting in a corner where you were anticipating feeling planted, so ENVE gave the M730 the ability to run its new Protective Rim Strip that provides pinch-flat protection so that you can run your tire pressure lower for increased traction. The Protective Rim Strip isn't designed just to reduce pinch flats, though; it's intended to protect your rim in its entirety against harsh riding and impacts, so that harsh puncture flats aren't so likely to lead to rim failure.

The carbon layup on the M730 is designed to resemble that of the M90's with the strength that you need for hard-hitting lines, but without compromising pedal-ability for long climbs to the top when you have to earn your laps. The rim width on the M730 might just land in our favorite sweet-spot at 30mm internal and 36mm external, much narrower than the beefier M735's, but still wide enough to enjoy 2.5-inch wide-trail tires, all the way down to ultra-versatile 2.3's for all-mountain adventures. This wide profile when paired with the Protective Rim Strip inevitably adds a bit of weight, coming in just over 150-grams heavier than the M70's, though we think a few grams are excusable when it comes along with better ride quality and protection from wheel-gobbling rock gardens.

ENVE's designers utilize their Smart system to create tough, stable wheels for all riding conditions. Using a patented process of molded-in spoke holes, valve stem holes, and nipple seats they earn ENVE's reputation for incredible strength-to-weight ratios. ENVE's carbon fiber is meticulously laid around each hole to maintain continuous fiber integrity, resulting in increased rim rigidity while keeping weight lower at the spoke face. When you lace this system up to a hub the result is a system that facilitates more uniform, and higher spoke tension than standard molding. In addition to their meticulous layup, ENVE uses a process that removes the inner bladder from the carbon fiber molding, which results in lower weight compared to other composite manufacturers who leave the rim-molding inner bladder inside the rim when the wheel is complete. The tedious process of removing the bladder adds expense but lands you with a lighter rim with superior weight distribution and better balance.

Of course, we always draw our emphasis to the rim when we talk about ENVE wheels, since that's where we see their industry-defining carbon, but we'd be remiss not to mention the hubs. Completing the package, ENVE laces the M730's up with Industry Nine Hydra hubs.

No need to grab the brakes as you barrel through technical terrain that litters an enduro course if you're aboard the M730 Industry Nine Torch 29in Boost Wheelset from ENVE; it can handle it. From hub deep rock gardens to lengthy road gaps, the 730 takes the abuse that was simply unheard of from carbon just a few short years ago. The durability is impressive for sure, but so too is the snappy, responsive handling and lightweight build that can only come from carbon fiber. ENVE did their homework, spending the better part of two years designing a rim that can stand up high-speed chunder, without resorting to heavy rim inserts or compromising high tire pressures. The M730 is here to elevate your riding with a redesigned rim featuring a lightweight protective strip to keep your wheels and tires safely turning after smashing root lattices and casing huge drops.

ENVE's M730 line takes queues from the M70's that came before it, like the use of downhill-worthy carbon laminates that stand up to aggressive all-mountain charging, but it strays from the profile with changes to increase strength. The M730 is designed to better pair with modern tires so that they can better absorb chunder and chatter from the trail without being run at ungodly-high tire pressures. Nothing will spook you faster when you're charging a dusty line than drifting in a corner where you were anticipating feeling planted, so ENVE gave the M730 the ability to run its new Protective Rim Strip that provides pinch-flat protection so that you can run your tire pressure lower for increased traction. The Protective Rim Strip isn't designed just to reduce pinch flats, though; it's intended to protect your rim in its entirety against harsh riding and impacts, so that harsh puncture flats aren't so likely to lead to rim failure.

The carbon layup on the M730 is designed to resemble that of the M90's with the strength that you need for hard-hitting lines, but without compromising pedal-ability for long climbs to the top when you have to earn your laps. The rim width on the M730 might just land in our favorite sweet-spot at 30mm internal and 36mm external, much narrower than the beefier M735's, but still wide enough to enjoy 2.5-inch wide-trail tires, all the way down to ultra-versatile 2.3's for all-mountain adventures. This wide profile when paired with the Protective Rim Strip inevitably adds a bit of weight, coming in just over 150-grams heavier than the M70's, though we think a few grams are excusable when it comes along with better ride quality and protection from wheel-gobbling rock gardens.

ENVE's designers utilize their Smart system to create tough, stable wheels for all riding conditions. Using a patented process of molded-in spoke holes, valve stem holes, and nipple seats they earn ENVE's reputation for incredible strength-to-weight ratios. ENVE's carbon fiber is meticulously laid around each hole to maintain continuous fiber integrity, resulting in increased rim rigidity while keeping weight lower at the spoke face. When you lace this system up to a hub the result is a system that facilitates more uniform, and higher spoke tension than standard molding. In addition to their meticulous layup, ENVE uses a process that removes the inner bladder from the carbon fiber molding, which results in lower weight compared to other composite manufacturers who leave the rim-molding inner bladder inside the rim when the wheel is complete. The tedious process of removing the bladder adds expense but lands you with a lighter rim with superior weight distribution and better balance.

Of course, we always draw our emphasis to the rim when we talk about ENVE wheels, since that's where we see their industry-defining carbon, but we'd be remiss not to mention the hubs. Completing the package, ENVE laces the M730's up with Industry Nine Hydra hubs. The Hydra builds on i9's previously used drive system, so if you take a peek at the internals you'll spot a similar pawl layout that we've seen before in the Torch, and the same pristine CNC machining coming straight from Asheville, North Carolina. Like the old Torch hub, the Hydra features a 6-pawl design, but the drive ring amps things up to 115-tooth drive ring, as opposed to the 60-tooth used in the torch. This creates a whopping 690 points of engagement, blowing the 120 points of the Torch out of the water. These 690 points of contact translate directly to the snappiest hubs we've ever seen, with only 0.52-degrees of engagement, propelling you forward telepathically the moment you start to think about putting the power down. Furthermore, the hubs are kept simple for home mechanics, making the hub fully serviceable without any proprietary tools.