Review: Enve AM30 Carbon Wheels
Enve's AM30 carbon wheels launched earlier this year, aimed at everyone from trail to enduro riders on bikes with between 110 – 180mm of suspension travel. Don't worry, they're hardtail compatible - that recommendation is Enve's way of making it easier to understand the wheel's intended use.
The rims are made in Ogden, Utah, where they're laced up to Industry Nine's 1/1 hubs with 28 Sapim spokes. There are 29” and 27.5” versions, and the $1,600 wheelset comes with Enve's lifetime incident protection, which covers everything from a poorly executed huck to accidents like leaving your rim too close to a hot exhaust.
My 29” test set of wheels weighed in at 1883 grams – 876 grams for the front, and 1007 grams for the rear. They were mounted to a Norco Optic for most of the test period, and have been ridden hard on a wide variety of terrain over the last five months.
The rims are made in Ogden, Utah, where they're laced up to Industry Nine's 1/1 hubs with 28 Sapim spokes. There are 29” and 27.5” versions, and the $1,600 wheelset comes with Enve's lifetime incident protection, which covers everything from a poorly executed huck to accidents like leaving your rim too close to a hot exhaust.
My 29” test set of wheels weighed in at 1883 grams – 876 grams for the front, and 1007 grams for the rear. They were mounted to a Norco Optic for most of the test period, and have been ridden hard on a wide variety of terrain over the last five months.
Enve AM30 Details
• Intended use: all-mountain / enduro
• 29" and 27.5" options
• 30mm internal width
• 28 Sapim spokes, brass nipples
• Industry Nine 1/1 hubs
• Lifetime incident protection
• Made in USA
• Weight: 1883g; front: 876g / rear: 1007g (actual, 29")
• MSRP: $1600 USD
• www.enve.com
• Intended use: all-mountain / enduro
• 29" and 27.5" options
• 30mm internal width
• 28 Sapim spokes, brass nipples
• Industry Nine 1/1 hubs
• Lifetime incident protection
• Made in USA
• Weight: 1883g; front: 876g / rear: 1007g (actual, 29")
• MSRP: $1600 USD
• www.enve.com
Rim Design
The AM30's carbon rims have a 30mm internal width, and an overall height of 20mm. That height is lower than many of Enve's previous rims, and was done as a way to give the rims more compliance. That low height also forced Enve to move the spoke nipples to the outside of the rim, a very welcome design change. Previously, it was necessary to remove the tire and rim tape just to true a wheel, something that made me grumble in annoyance every time.
28 spoke holes are molded into the rim, with a 3mm of offset to help balance spoke tension between the drive- and non-drive side. The rims uses a wide, hookless bead that's meant to help prevent pinch flats – the larger surface spreads out the force of an impact, rather than having the tire smash down onto a sharp ledge. I didn't experience any flats during testing, and I typically run relatively lower tire pressures. I also don't flat that often with any wheels, so take that as you will.
Hub Design
Enve don't have their own MTB hub (at least not yet), so they handed that task over to Industry Nine. The US-made 1/1 hub use a six pawl driver and 45-tooth drive ring to achieve 4-degrees between engagement points. I'm not a fan of loud hubs, so I quieted the ratcheting racket down by adding some Dumonde Tech freehub oil to the drive ring. That made a big difference, and the sound while coasting was much more tolerable to my ears.
Setup
Getting the AM30 wheels set up didn't pose any problems. I've had a few different tires configurations on them over the last few months, with widths ranging from 2.3” to 2.5”, and in all cases I was able to get them seated and sealed without an air compressor. Tire pressures during testing were typically 21 psi in the front, and 23 in the rear, numbers that work well for my weight and Pacific Northwest location.
The only setup related gripe I have has to do with the Centerlock-only hubs – I hate needing to use an adaptor to run SRAM or other 6-bolt rotors.
Ride Quality
When carbon wheels first came out, stiffness was the quality that was most often touted as one of the main benefits. Nowadays, “compliance” is the new buzzword when it come to how a set of wheels feel on the trail. Why the change? Well, a set of super stiff wheels may feel precise and responsive, but they can also start to feel uncomfortable and harsh on longer rides, and can be more difficult to keep on line in really rough terrain.
Enve got it right with the AM30 rims, and there's no hint of the jarring, wooden feeling that accompanied their earlier offerings. They don't mute impacts quite as much as Zipp's 3Zero Moto wheels, but with the Zipps there were times I felt they were too compliant, while with the AM30's that was never the case. They're supportive enough for pushing hard into corners without any vagueness, while still remaining very comfortable in chunky terrain. They take the edge off chattery section of trail without muting things too much, which is an ideal characteristic for a set of wheels in this category.
As far as the Industry Nine 1/1 hub goes, that 4-degrees between engagement points is more than quick enough for me, and they haven't made any concerning clicks or pops during steep climbs or other hard efforts.
Durability
Rims
It's no secret that we've broken a number of Enve rims during testing over the years here at Pinkbike. Their record isn't exactly spotless, so I made sure to put in enough miles on the AM30 to be able to offer an accurate assessment of their durability.
The verdict? My wheels have held up extremely well, and I haven't held back on them over the last five months. I haven't had to tension or true the wheels at all during the test period, and they've been subjected to plenty of rough, chunky terrain. In one instance, I came up short on a double, causing the rear wheel to hit the log at the top of the landing with a resounding “thwack”. I was sure I'd done some damage – it was an impact that would certainly have dented an alloy rim – but the wheel was still spinning straight, and the tire hadn't even lost any air pressure.
I don't fuss much over scrapes and scuffs on a set of wheels, but it's worth noting that the finish on the AM30 rims has held up very well.
Hubs
The hubs have held up well too, and the bearings are all still spinning smooth. I did need to pull the freehub body off and do some cleaning and re-lubricating to get rid of an intermittent creak that began after a stint of extra-dusty rides. That process only took a few minutes, and after that it was smooth sailing once again.
I'm a fan of the leaf springs under the 1/1's pawls rather than the microscopic springs that were used in I9's older designs – those had a tendency to jump out and roll into the deepest corners of my basement as soon as I pulled a hub apart.
Price / Weight
The chart above gives helps illustrate where the AM30s stack up. The fact that they're made in the US does raise the price, but the price is lower than Enve's previous offerings, and it's still not as much as those Zipp's, which are also made in America.
Pros
+ Excellent ride quality
+ Low maintenance, good durability after 5 months of use
Cons
- Still on the more expensive side of the spectrum
- Centerlock only hubs
Pinkbike's Take
 | Enve headed down a different route with the AM30 wheels, and it paid off. The new rim profile, external nipples, and the lower price compared to Enve's previous offerings are all welcome changes. The fact that they felt great out on the trail, and held up well without any durability issues is even better. Here's hoping that they can continue in this direction with the rest of their lineup. |
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Achieving no.
I appreciate ‘affordable’ is a subjective term but that is still what most would pay for the whole bike.
So really your just making it ‘justifiable’ to those that can afford it already and sit on the fence of a) a domestic violence incident or b) the why bother upgrading crew!
My pair of 29 XM481 laced to DT 240s with CXRays weight the same for 700 euros...
Still doesn't get the carbon thing...
He rides a 6 year old base level Fuji.
we had to send the wheels back to get 142 and 100 spaced hubs.
so yes... there is at least one.
www.enve.com/en/custom-decals
Okay, but now compare the income of doctors, dentist, lawyer to income of engineers, social workers, scientists, teachers, etc... that have basically the same student loan debt...
Being PhD myself with post-doc experience in Canada, I know what it cost to get a MSc from a private U as Mc Gill, for instance. Usually it is more around 50-70 kCAD. In US (not Canada) the 2019 average debt for medical students was around $200k for an average income between $223 and $329 k. thephysicianphilosopher.com/how-much-money-do-doctors-make-why-it-doesnt-matter
Never heard about 700k dept even in medical science...
Concerning other sciences school then medicine, even if you get a fellowship for your PhD (3 to 4 years) it's pretty uncommon to start reimbursing your dept before getting a job i.e. after 2 to 4 years of postdoctoral studies.
my partner is a vet and has 350k in student debt. I am an over glorified forklift driver and computer drawer in the entertainment industry. we make the same money.
classic America
Agreed.
Pinkbike has by far the best comment section.
Comparing comment sections is funny... pinkbike = entertainment, NSMB = knowledgeable, useful, and thoughtful feedback.
They are cheaper and way lighter.
Are you talking about the same "ride quality" that was celebrated when carbon gained popularity, that has now become "too stiff"? These are subjective terms that are seriously impacted by confirmation bias... Not to mention that most riders would probably have trouble detecting the differences in the first place (myself included).
I ride carbon wheels, and I bought them primarily because I'd read reviews and assumed they must be better, not because I needed the strength (my previous OG Flows were fine and I weigh 235lbs), or perceived a ride quality difference. Maybe I'm unique... But maybe not.
I totally agree. TBH I dont even understand why people buy name brand aluminum rims/wheels when these could be had for next to nothing. Aluminum is all the same so spend more on a shiny decal.
Those wheels are precisely strong enough for a 105lb female xc rider.
Lol
Pretty sure Sam Hill won the EWS on a 25mm rear wheel (28mm front): Mavic Deemax Pro’s.
Obviously I am only commenting on the wheels from the chart, but if you want to look at the $1200-1300 range, we can also pull in We Are One wheels with 1/1 hubs, as they would fall into that range and are also a pretty fantastic option.
NOBL also have some pretty compelling wheels at these price points.
Fortunately there are many options.
I like hubs with really slow engagement. I just bought some with 17 degrees (21 points) for my DH bike.
I’m not doing trials on it. And I’m not racing so I’m rarely doing burst sprints. So why the hell do I want quick engagement?
What I want is less pedal kickback and rear suspension that works, which means huns with less pawls and teeth.
(Throws hand into air ready to be stoned to oblivion by downvotes...)
Those are your preferences and that's totally valid. And they are good points, especially for a Downhill rig.
I don't see a reason to go beyond 700-800 USD, when a pair of Flows with (the best spokes in business)Sapim CX-Rays and the beautifuly light and enduro-resistant Tune hub are below 1700 grams and they keep spinning..like forever. Just put a DD or a DH casting and just ride the damn things(without the need of a cush core). Why spend more when you could spend less?
That stans isn't strong enough for large aggressive riders.
Dt ex511 is stronger by um alot.....
And I don't think I like 1.5mm spokes out back
Would rather cx sprint, dr aerocomp
If you want less pk buy a frame with less pk.
I'm 190 lbs so, not that light. I'm not charging uber hard but that does not mean I don't charge at all. The only time I broke some spokes in the back was when I trashed the bike onto some rocks.
Otherwise, the cx-ray are 'woodcutters'. On my last purchased set of wheels, I didn't want to pay extra 200 for 60 grams and I decided to use D-light. The wheels seem more compliant but I do preffer the stiffer feel of the cx-ray(or maybe it is just in my head and they feel the same).
Also hard to compare one brand vs another. I’m quite sure though that if you had the same hub with fewer POI it would have less drag. It takes energy to make all those clicky sounds. That’s not free. But certainly top-shelf hubs will (should) have less drag at any POI vs cheaper hubs
You might say P321 are oranges too, b cause they are magnetically sprung. But all in all, they engage fast with low drag.
Most people don't care how they do it. What matters is they do.
I do have the Zipp front and rear, and can say they are distinctly more compliant than anything else I've ridden, carbon or aluminum. It's hard to describe, but they feel like an extension of your suspension system much the same way a good bar and cushcore are. They get better traction on rough or rooty off camber sections, and don't deflect or jar nearly as much as other wheels on higher speed rock gardens. I have noticed some rear end flex that's more than I would expect on bike park berms, but it doesn't affect my lines or manifest ever in trails. They're also heavier than my WeAreOne wheels, so I'll ride the Zipps in steep terrain and WR1 on pedally rolling terrain. Some of the weight is offset by not needing to have Cushcore in the Zipps, whereas I definitely need Cush in the WR1. Overall I get better bike handling and way less hand and body fatigue when riding the Zipps in big terrain.
If the CB ride anything like the Zipps they're winners! For riding North Shore, S2S / Whistler the Zipps are tops but YMMV depending on the terrain you ride.
Be well
www.newmen-components.de/en/84/mtb/wheels/advanced-sl-a30
You talked about Zipp, I hope you get a proper wheelset. I bought two sets and didn't want to buy the third just to see massive quality issues. First wheelset was out of true by far, even worse then Wallmarkt bikes. Second one didn't had round rims, sandpaper marks all over , dimpels in the carbon, uneven sidewalls.
The pressure gauges didn't work at all for both.
I can't believe they get way with this quality.
Because of that I am now on Newmen, nothing else comes close spec wise.
I did destroyed carbon rims before In less then 5 minutes with enough pressure and the right line..
Most durable wheels I had so far. Mostly lighter then Carbon and really strong against stones when you are riding enduro.
System weight well that is for one wheel If I remember correctly and I am @79kg at the moment and 84 with gear.
I know those are burly rims, but I just dont understand what people do to require new wheels every season.
Just saying you can't say you NEED $2000 wheels to ride rough stuff without breaking rims. Justify it to yourself however you please, but there are plenty of us riding hard on $600 DT Swiss or comparable wheelsets with plenty of success.
If your local spot is mostly just smooth flowy trails and you are breaking rims then yeah, you should just get smoother.
Where I live you are constantly riding through rock gardens that if you mess up even a little with any pressure under 25psi you WILL destroy an alloy rim. I personally only ride alloy rims, but that's because I'm cheap/build my own wheels. I look at rims as the same way I look at tires, wearable parts. Makes riding much more fun as I am not worrying about damage being done to my rims all the time.
I agree, rims are wearable parts, and if you can swap them yourself, they are the same price as a DH casing DHF. Not a big deal. At $100 a piece for rim replacement on a $600 wheelset, and replacing rims annually (for math's sake) and spokes/nipples every two years, you can run alloy wheels for 10 years before getting to the price of a high end carbon wheelset.
I'm just think people are making them out to be way less reliable than they are to justify their high end wheelset purchase.
I have ridden modern aluminum rims with Rimpact without issue, but I like the ride quality of carbon better. Stacking the weight of tire inserts on top of a burly aluminum rim doesn't make much sense to me.
Regarding me justifying it to myself, why would I need to do that? I have ridden most of the stuff out there and know what I like from personal experience. No justification needed.
Many people won't be rebuilding the wheels themselves though. And once you add the cost of having a shop/wheel builder re-lace the new AL rim, the prices go up pretty dramatically.
If you get a Nobl TR37 rear wheel only, and compare it with the same hubs to a place like the wheel builder on coloradocyclist/fnaticbike, the price difference is about 1 rim replacement + build costs.
NOBL TR37 + i9 1/1 rear hub is $675
DT XM481 + i9 1/1 rear hub is $450 - $496 (with the same spokes/nipples, depending on the site/builder).
Looks like the price difference is ~$175-230. A single DT EX511/XM481 has an MSRP of $141. So, the price difference is pretty close to the price of a new XM 481 + the price of a wheel builder.
Its not nearly as clear cut of a value proposition if you look at it this way. And yes, I'm low key in the market for a new rear wheel (stock rim already has 3-4 dents in it, but is still holding air). So I've been looking pretty closely at both options
It kinda sounds like you don't actually have any experience using Cush Cores(?)
All that aside, I think cushcore use is less dependent on carbon vs alloy wheels and more on riding style. I bet the same riders would use it with either wheelset, because of the rim protecting nature, and the damping it adds.
Sounds like we have different terrain, setups and riding styles which is why different products exist. My experiences and asks from a product are different from others which is all good.
How I justify the cost is up to me. Do we all question the guy who buys fancy wheels for his $60,000 Ford Raptor the same way as we do people who put nice wheels on their $8000 MTB?
Not as stiff as the old Nobl so I really like them...still straight after a year too. If building the wheels myself, I would still like to have a nice solid aluminimum wheelset but custom build by a shop, it's just too expensive.
That part alone is a reason for me to never buy complete wheels.
I am in southern California, so riding conditions are about ideal for them. I am keeping them as my backup wheelset.
Hubs | 3° RapidEngage, boost (110/14
Weight | 1810/1878g 27.5"/29"
$979 USD
I think these are better weight to money ratio than any other contender on that little chart.
Just because carbon wants to stay straight/round and aluminum doesn’t, doesn’t mean that the spokes aren’t still under similar stress from riding and pedaling forces.
Is that what is actually done though?
Industry 9 hubs , awesome.
We are one wheels Canadian made awesomeness with Industry 9 hubs. FTW.
(I wonder why its generally on higher end hubs....)
i could loose probably 3 of those 6 bolts and not even notice until I cleaned the bike. Easy fix trail side.
Had 3 sets of wheels with centre lock never got the point do nothing better only worse. Plus some centre locks had that slight knocking play even when tight which bugged the hell out of me.
That said, I have needed that exactly once so far, when I screwed up and forgot to torque my rotor bolts. I lost a couple in an XC race before I heard the rubbing of the others being loose. Total user error. I have HEARD of people needing to straighten a disc on the side of the trail by removing it, but I've been able to do it mounted in the past.
When I was assembling my new bike with CL, I thought to myself "Well shit, that was easy".
DT 18t ratchet all the way baby.
What does the verbiage matter if they deny it anyway? The only thing Enve is best at is returning brand new product that never should have been sent out in the first place.
@muscogeemasher Reserves are up to Santa Cruz's discretion, on the basis of whether they think it was "defective." AKA, it's totally up to them. However, I haven't heard of problems with people getting a replacement set. While they've historically been great about replacing frames and rims, they don't really have to do anything for you, based on the warranty.
A quick rundown from what I can remember offhand - WAO offers replacements from ride damage, lifetime. Giant, Bontrager/trek, Specialized, all offer lifetime warranties against defects, with an additional 2-year 'anything goes' replacement policy, which they can pull at their own discretion.
@sherbet I do remember your abject hatred of enve from past comments we've had, which certainly isn't completely unfounded, from what I've heard on here. Oddly enough, in the real world - both for race series and normal riders - I rarely heard complaints.
Their incident protection is relatively new (around a year or so IIRC), but before that, I personally never saw them refuse any replacement, for any reason. I've even seen them "warranty" OG rim brake wheels for wear and tear, as well as give out free replacement for wheels broken in races as well. I think it makes sense to give them another chance now that they've stepped up in the warranty department (and put the nipples on the outside), unless you've had a pile of un-warrantied enve product bought within the last year. Things could be different for you up there, but domestically I had no issues before they rolled out the incident coverage.
Yes we all know: "carbon is stiffer, the carbon is lighter, the carbon is stronger" blah blah blah,
Sure those things are all true, but i'd much rather spend 2k on nicer brakes, grips, tires, pedals, dropper, tire inserts, stem, and handlebars
All of these things can be bought for the same price of ONE carbon wheelset, or 2 normal enve rims
I'm not saying carbon wheels are pointless, i literally have them on my bike (that i bought used) but they aren't an upgrade that's worthwhile for 90% of people.
The age card doesn't work when you're wrong...
The budget argument doesn't work in this category because it's not a budget item. It's like asking why you should by a Porsche 911 when you could get 3 Kia Sorentos for the same price.
Now go do your homework so you can get a high paying job some day.
Your statement would be true... but the original comment says they're more expensive, so the not budget argument would make sense, but in this context what you're saying is that they are a worthwhile upgrade, they aren't