My first introduction to Industry 9 was during a visit to their booth at Sea Otter a couple of years ago. I checked out their mountain and BMX wheelsets with the red anodized, bladed aluminum, proprietary spokes. The corp. business cards were nicely designed, and I bought a couple of t-shirts, one of which has remained a favorite. The story about the name, according to one of the guys at the Sea Otter booth, if I remember correctly was that a machine shop had tried eight times to make a go of it and finally came up with the design and product the 9th time, hence the name, "Industry 9". To read more about this Asheville, North Carolina company, check out the About on their site.
At Interbike, I had a chance to talk with Fred at the Industry 9 booth and take apart some mountain hubs to see what it might be like to service them. My answer: Easy. Industry 9 is a USA boutique parts maker that might have some appeal to cyclists looking for something different. You can get spokes, skewers, and hubs in many different colors for your ride. And single-speed junkies can look forward to a 12x150 hub in the late fall or early winter.
Industry 9 is launching a new website at the end of this year. So, much of this info. I got from printed materials that they gave out at the show.
For 2008, Industry 9 are coming out with their own branded 26" rim that you can run tubeless if you like. The mountain hubs still have 120 points of engagement due to a 60 tooth ring, 6 pawls, and 3-degree engagement. But you can now use regular, "J" bend, non-proprietary spokes. You can check on thru-bolt and Maverick and Specialized compatibility on their site. (The hubs can accept 9mm thru-bolt, and 25mm Specialized axles. So you can get 9mm quick release, 9mm thru-bolt, 20mm thru-axle, 24mm Maverick, and Specialized compatibility.)
And for road cyclists, this year there are finally road wheelsets. All of the road hubs offer 18H front and 24H rear drillings and 4 pawls. Here is the plan for 2008:
- The Ego wheelset is 1440 grams for a set with hybrid ceramic bearings. (The races are steel.) The rims are 30mm deep aluminum clinchers with bladed spokes and 15-degree engagement. They cost about $1000.
- Superego (tubular) or Superego C (clincher) (I couldn't find the weight) have hybrid ceramic bearings. The carbon rims are 38mm deep with straight-pull spokes, and 15-degree engagement.
- ID is an Industry 9 hubset laced to LEW Racing Pro VT-1 46mm boron / carbon tubular rims, and the hubs sport full ceramic bearings with straight-pull spokes, and 15 degree engagement. They cost about $3500 and weight 1100 grams. (Want to ride a wheelset that weights 2.425 lbs spring 2008? Maybe it is time to stop eating stale, snack-sized Almond Joys from your neighbor kid's Halloween haul?)
Photos taken by Wheelgirl at Interbike in Vegas 2007
