Santa Cruz Bicycles

Reserve 22 700c Industry Nine Wheelset

Santa Cruz has seen a lot of success with their Reserve line of carbon mountain bike wheels, and for good reasons. Their rims are strong yet lightweight, offer just the right balance of stiffness vs. compliance, and are backed by a lifetime warranty that inspires confidence when you're riding rugged terrain day in and day out. Now, Santa Cruz has expanded their range to the world of gravel riding and racing with the Reserve 22 700c Industry Nine Wheelset, providing drop bar riders with the same legendary performance and durability.

Looking to the notoriously-rough Spring Classics for inspiration, Santa Cruz paid special attention to ride tuning and layup with these wheels, settling on a rim profile inspired by traditional box-section aluminum rims that provides some extra compliance when you're tackling 80-mile gravel races full of washboard-laden roads and embedded rocks. The strength of the rim means only 24 spokes are needed per wheel, and the spokes are offset to balance bracing angles and spoke tension on both sides of the rim. The wheels are built with Sapim CX-Ray bladed spokes for superior strength and some additional compliance (as well as a bit of aero gain), and are laced to ultra-snappy Industry Nine Hydra hubs with near-instantaneous 0.52-degree engagement.

The 22mm internal width works well for tires ranging from 30 to 45mm wide, meaning you'll have no issues transitioning between a lightweight gravel racing setup with narrower tires, or a more cushy setup with high-volume tires for brutally rough forest service roads. The rim features a hooked bead that bears resemblance a UST rim, which provides some added burp-resistance when you’re running low pressures with narrow tires. The wheels are available only in 12 x 100mm front and 12 x 142mm rear axle configurations, and come in both Shimano HG and SRAM XDR freehub options. As an added bonus, the complete wheelset weights just 1,398 grams, making them competitive with many high-end road wheels—even though they are much more resilient.