High Rollin: 5 Premium Carbon Wheels in Test

ENVE M70 HV Review

In the world of carbon rims, ENVE need little introduction. It was ENVE who brought carbon rim to the mainstream and taught us that it was OK to spend more than $2000 on wheels.

The distinctive high volume silhouette and in-your-face stickers have become synonymous with high end but did the € 2900 wheelset perform over a season of racing? We were testing the M70 HV rim with the 35 mm internal width. For such a burly looking rim, the 469 g weight is surprisingly light. The Chris King ISO hubs are legendary and with their ring drive with 72 interface points, they offer immediate pickup, every degree of crank rotation is put to good use. The bearing quality is super high and despite the occasional cone tighten, they have needed no attention. ENVE are the only brand to mould rather than drill spoke and valve holes, resulting in unbroken fibres throughout the wheels. The bladders are removed during construction to keep the weight as low as possible. With a 5-year guarantee covering manufacturing defects and a lifetime loyalty guarantee where replacement parts can be bought for 50% MSRP.

We found the extra width allowed us to run pressures down to 15 psi, 18 psi rear without too much sidewall roll. The M70 are targeted at gravity enthusiasts and are brutally stiff, lazer precision and fierce tenacity on off-camber lines define the ride. Like a stripped out race car the ride is anything but comfortable but very aggressive riders will love them. It’s not all plain sailing, we found that tires with thicker sidewalls, like DoubleDown etc, are a nightmare to fit. After much swearing, in the end, we found that as long as the last section of bead fitted is next to the valve, we could pop them on. Weaklings need not apply. We found that cheap Gorilla tape was far superior to the ENVE rim tape, which would occasionally make it hard to release the tyre seal when swapping tyres. The stickers are quite fragile and scratch easily, but are easy to replace with lots of colour options.

While most who buy these will do so for the stickers on the side, the ENVE M70 is a wheel for white knuckle racers, perfect those who value precision and who ride hard. The HV rim allows the use of lower pressures for maximum grip but the ENVE M70 is still brutal in it’s intent, stiff and accurate it is a wheel that accelerates rapidly and holds any line.

For more information head to enve.com