ENVE

M60/Forty 29in Chris King Wheelset

Whereas ENVE's own M50/Fifty rim is the strong but featherweight XC hoop of the company's mountain rim family, the M60/Forty kicks the burliness up a notch. When it's built around a set of Chris King's incredible hubs, you get a XC-light, trail-ready 29-inch wheelset called the ENVE M60/Forty 29-inch Chris King Wheelset, and one of the most well-rounded wheelsets your money can buy.

When ENVE set about designing the M60/Forty rim, the goal was to build a rim that occupied the space between the previous "XC" and "AM" model rims, with the understanding that such a midpoint represented the ultimate rim for the way that most people ride off-road. Unsurprisingly, the team in Ogden, Utah, delivered in spades. The 29in M60/Forty rim now weighs 397g, making it 40g lighter than the previous AM rim, and nearly the same weight as the XC. Part of this weight savings has been accomplished by trading in traditional bead hooks for a redesigned beadless hook bead, which is both lighter and more impact resistant. The width is a generous 23mm internally, which provides a round tire profile, for greater cornering stability, and more rubber on the ground at any given time. By relieving material from the rim, ENVE has taken the M60 Forty’s tuned ride feel to previously unseen levels. Anyone who’s familiar with ENVE knows the fanatical lengths that its engineers go to in order to achieve a perfect ride feel. Accordingly, the M60/Forty has been tuned to provide a degree of vertical compliance, thereby reducing rider fatigue, without sacrificing the fantastic lateral rigidity that endows ENVE with the “on rails” feeling for which they’re prized.

Up next are those excellent hubs. The name Chris King in cycling componentry is synonymous with absolute quality, longevity, and aesthetic appeal to boot. All parts, including seals and bearings, are made in-house in Portland, Ore., to industry-beating standards, and are known for lasting years upon years without service. In fact, the company's quality control standards are so stringent that it's been known to melt down entire batches of hub shells if the color anodizing is off by even the slightest shade of hue. In the rear hub, the 72 (yes, seventy two) points of engagement give the freehub body the fastest response of any hub on the market, and a distinctive sound to go along with it. That same rear hub is designed to withstand a consistent 800 ft/lbs of torque, quadruple what most hubs are even tested to, and downright ridiculous when you consider that an Olympic-level track sprinter is capable, at peak power, for only a few seconds, of putting out around 150 ft/lbs. Like we said, when it comes to hubs, Chris King makes them second to none.

The ENVE M60/Forty 29-inch Chris King Wheelset is available with either an XD or standard freehub body, and in one color. The Chris King ISO hubs come with 6-bolt rotor mounting.