Santa Cruz Bicycles

Reserve 30 I9 Boost Wheelset - 29in

Begging you to hit intimidating drops, rail corners with precision, and hold your line across formidable rock gardens, the 29in Santa Cruz Reserve 30 Industry Nine Boost Wheelset takes a serious beating without flinching when you're thrashing it to death on the nastiest terrain you can find. In fact, Santa Cruz designed their Reserve Wheels to be the strongest carbon hoops on the market by extensively fortifying the critical failure points, so you can ride without worrying about breaking your rims after bottoming out on a rock or taking a harsh landing in the bike park.

Instead of replicating the pothole-like impact test used on traditional carbon hoops, Santa Cruz developed their very own testing protocol that simulates one-sided impacts that normally occur when a rider lands on a square, protruding rock after getting airborne. As they began testing the leading manufacturer's carbon wheels, it became readily apparent that most carbon wheels not only broke along the bead, as expected, but they also failed along the spoke nipple interface due to the drastic increase in spoke tension as the wheel flexed upon impact.

To prevent these breakage issues, Santa Cruz beefed up the rim bead, increasing its thickness by one millimeter along each side for improved resiliency when you're thrashing the living hell out of these wheels. The design engineers at Santa Cruz then fortified the spoke holes with square-shaped reinforcements you can visibly see, which protect the spoke nipples from suddenly pulling through due to harsh impact. Santa Cruz isn't the first company to reinforce a carbon wheel's high-stress areas, but it is one of the first to offer a lifetime warranty. This warranty applies as long as you actually break them while riding and not due to transport failure—driving into your garage with the bike mounted to your roof rack (traditionally known as Just Riding Along) isn't covered.

It's worth noting this particular Reserve Wheelset is laced to I9 Torch Hubs for lightning-quick engagement of three degrees. This allows you to get up and over trail impediments standing in your way, as the hub practically engages without delay when you're transferring pedaling motion into forward locomotion. Another benefit to these upgraded hubs are the buzz saw-like sound, which gives you audible satisfaction while alerting other trail users of your presence. It's finished with J-bend spokes and mechanical lock nipples for easier replacement should you break a spoke or nipple when you're traveling with your bike.