Reynolds

27.5 Enduro Blacklabel Superboost Wheelset

Built to take on the rowdiest terra-firma you can find, Reynolds' Blacklabels fear no trail. A few years they might've been classified as gravity wheels, but with how aggressive modern enduro courses have become these are the new standard for aggressive trail riders. Though they're capable of blasting through World Cup rock gardens, any cyclist who finds themselves on the wrong side of poor line choices will appreciate the get out of jail free card that wide rims and plush tires provide, and it's difficult to overstate just how good Reynolds is at crafting a strong carbon fiber rim.

In addition to their generous rim width, the Blacklabel indicates that these wheels are engineered with absolute precision. They feature Reynolds' Mountain Rim 5 (MR5) lay-up, which involves five different carbon matrixes applied to five different areas of the wheel. If that sounds decidedly immoderate, well, it is—the construction process is more complicated than many framesets.

The hubs are manufactured by Industry Nine, and are basically just rebranded versions of the Torch model. I9 machines all of its bits and widgets in Asheville, NC, with the only non-US component being the ABEC 5 grade Japanese bearings. And the Torch freehub is the real star, anyway, because it uses two sets of three offset pawls in order to reduce the hub's engagement angle to three degrees. The Torch hubs effectively replace DT Swiss' 240s, and—if it were any other make and model—we'd call it a downgrade. But I9's Torch promises to become the new standard, so we're perfectly content with the change.