Utah based company ENVE have been making drool-worthy carbon components for some years now. Despite the fact that carbon rims are becoming more and more common on mountain bikes these days, you can guarantee that ENVE wheels will be a talking point when someone is eyeing off a steed. Instantly, the big bold logos on each rim scream "fast", "light" and to some extent, "expensive" The kids call this 'bling'.
Previously, ENVE offered three mountain bike wheel options, cross country (XC), all mountain (AM) and downhill (DH). For 2014 ENVE has redesigned and realigned their mountain bike wheel lineup and has rolled out the M Series, which includes the M50fifty, the M60forty, the M70thirty and the M90ten, breaking down the division between XC/AM/DH slightly further.
In designing the M Series range, Enve has tuned each of these models specifically to suit the proportion of downhill riding to uphill riding AND the typical tyre width AND tyre pressures AND suspension travel adopted for that type of riding.
The M50fifty wheels are XC-only oriented and are tuned for a rider who will typically spend equal time descending and ascending (hence, "50fifty"), run 1.9 to 2.25" tyres and will have up to 100mm travel If you do a little more descending or have a little more travel (or 27.5" wheels, as the M50fiftys are only available in 29") you might prefer the M60forty wheels, which are tuned for a rider who will typically spend 60% of the time descending and 40% ascending, run 2.1 to 2.25" and will have 105-150mm of travel.
Having ridden and raced a set of ENVE 29'er XC wheels for nearly two years, I was getting a little excited when I unpacked the new M50fiftys out of the box. How could a wheelset that I already adored get any better?
The rim profiles across the M Series are new for 2014 and have been specifically designed for each model. The M50fifty rims are 330 gram a piece with a 21mm inner nm width, a 27mm outer rim width and 28mm nm depth. But probably the biggest change to the nm profile for 2014 is that they are now hook less (similar to the new Roval wheels from Specialized). This apparently does two things: first it provides a tighter and more reliable seal with the tyre so you can run lower pressures without burping and get a better tyre profile, and second, less material is required in this part of the rim, meaning ENVE can shed weight and/or use more carbon elsewhere in the rim profile to increase impact strength and lateral stiffness.
From the outset, I was particularly interested in seeing how the hookless nm would work in the real world, as I always thought the hook on a rim was for keeping the tyre on. As far as shedding weight, ENVE have managed to cut another 100 grams out of the wheelset. The M50 is available in three hub configurations, DT Swiss 180 (claimed weight of 1,289 grams), DT240 (claimed weight of 1,361) and Chris King (claimed weight of 1,471 grams). The set on test came with the middle of the road, tried and tested DT240 option, not as light as the DT180s, not as bling but lighter than the Chris Kings.
Setting up the wheels was super easy ENVE includes its own tubeless nm tape and valves, which is important as the rims are quite deep and most generic valves will struggle to fit all the way through the rim Still being very skeptical about the hookless rim system, it was with a deep breath (and maybe some closed eyes) when I fitted my first tubeless tyre. BANG! Straight up, without an issue (dare I say even easier than the previous "hooked" version?). It was with quite a bang too with the tyre bead snapping in hard, which actually gave me even more confidence that these tyres were on to stay.
My first roll on the M50fiftys was nothing short of a thrill. Maybe it was just one of those days where everything just feels right, the wind is always behind you and even the climbs have a gradual descent. But it wasn't "just one of those days" as every ride after that day with these wheels was the same.
From ten minutes into that first ride onward, all I could think was that these wheels were like cheating. Straight up, bike doping for your bike. The low weight combined with the stiffness that ENVE wheelsets are famous for meant the bike kept wanting to accelerate. Even in tight and technical trails it was super easy to get the bike back up to speed. Left to right, right to left, zig zagging through the singletrack was effortless. Having the agility of the 26" bike with the outright speed of a 29'er was just a blast. This continued to be the theme every time I rolled these wheels out of the garage.
It must be said that the DT Swiss 240 star ratchet rear hub is probably one of the most reliable systems around, but every now and then I noticed a bit of lag in the drive engagement. Not the sort of thing you notice most of the time, only when you're on the gas accelerating hard out of corners. This is due to the relatively low engagement points on the ratchets but can easily be fixed by upgrading to the 36 tooth version, and is something that would be nice to have on these wheels out of the box, given the sticker price.
At the end of the test my initial concerns regarding the hookless system are dead and buried I found that not only did I have zero issues with burping tyres on the trail, I also had less air Joss in general when compared to previous tubeless wheels I have used and one tyre I used for a while wasn't even tubeless specific.
To make sure my theories were correct, I decided to throw caution into the wind and run the M50fiftys tubeless in my cyclocross bike and go do some racing. With the DT Swiss 240 hubs, converting the wheels from 15mm and 12 x 142mm to standard QR is a piece of cake by simply switching out the end caps. A set of 700 x 33mm Racing Ralphs were thrown on and we were ready for racing. Despite this being a review for 29" mountain bike wheels, I have to say I had one of the best days racing cyclocross on the M50fiftys. Once again, super-fast acceleration, the bike felt nice and light when hopping barriers and the extra compliance in the new wheel design is obvious when ridden in a bike with zero suspension. The pressures in the tyres were run at the low to mid 30s and once again, no burping. Clean out your desk hooked tubeless rims, you're fired.
Over the past few months I've thrown just about everything at these wheels. From beating them to death down local trails, to racing cyclocross and even racing the BC Bike Race in Canada, which features 310km of the most technical singletrack you will ever ride. The M50fiftys have performed flawlessly.
On the downside they look a little beaten as the decals mark and scratch very easily but decals are replaceable and ENVE will even do custom decals to match your bike. The rear wheel now has a small deflection in it that can easily be trued, but this requires removal of the tyre and nm tape due to the internal pillar nipples. This is a bit of a pain in the ass, which will either leave you running them with a small wobble or getting a bit messy with sealant and replacing the rim tape.
At $3,500, these wheels are a serious bit of kit and they aren't going to appeal to most people. But if you're the type of rider that likes to invest in your gear, wants quality hand-built carbon wheels and enjoys the warranty and aftermarket support that ENVE have to offer, then one of the new M Series wheels could be for you.
If you are after 27.5" wheels (the M50fiftys are 29" only), or if you want something further along the All Mountain spectrum while still coming in at an XC race weight, consider the M60forty wheelset comes in at a very modest 1,433g (27 5") on DT240 hubs with a 23/29 internal/external rim width (available in 27 5" and 29").
Price 3500$