The Carbon Wheel’s Introduction To World Cup Downhill

The year was 2010, and the 26” wheels on the downhill bikes at the UCI World Cup were made of only one thing - aluminum. Alloy was acceptably light, strong and reliable, so why change? At the time, carbon was just going mainstream on the road, and though it could be seen on the racing circuit, it was still largely unrefined. It seemed to everyone to be the promise for the future of mountain biking as well, but that future felt distant.

It took a couple crazy guys on a bet to do something no one had done to date: create a carbon fiber wheel that could not only survive downhill races, but win them.


From experience, ENVE knew that carbon fiber was the superior material for creating the highest-performing bike equipment on the planet. Carbon fiber can be tuned and customized in ways that simply aren't possible with other materials, which allows the end product to be adapted to deliver on specific performance metrics. This was what ENVE knew would give carbon an edge over the alloy competition in the dirt.

In return for team sponsorship, ENVE received priceless feedback and criticism from the world’s top downhill riders. This feedback pushed the comfort zone and drove innovation, which led to new feedback, and the carbon wheel evolved while its riders excelled.

Since 2010, ENVE has entered 78 UCI World Cup and World Championship races and has been on the top five steps of the podium an amazing 62 times. That means there’s been an ENVE-equipped bike on the podium of 79% of all UCI races entered since 2010. More results include:

3 World Championships
1 Elite Men’s DH Overall Win
1 Junior DH Overall Win
19 Race Wins (24% of races entered)
62 Top-Five podiums (79% of all races entered)
50 Top-Three Podiums (64% of all races entered)

And those are just the UCI-sponsored races. Many privateers are fiercely loyal to the ENVE brand, and trust our technologies while battling the clock at every turn. They’re out winning local and regional races every weekend, and we’re proud to support them.

ENVE’s race program accelerated carbon wheel innovation, and continues to drive change throughout the industry. Obviously carbon works.

Thank you to all the riders who have pushed us to innovate over the last decade. Now let’s go racing.







Photos by Dave Trumpore