ENVE Carbon Fiber Road Hub Set

Few looming product releases have had the effect of inspiring as many drool on the keyboard moments at the Competitive office as ENVE's Carbon Fiber Road Hub Set. Now the wait is over. According to ENVE, MTN Qhubeka's underrated diesel Mr. Cummings was riding these hubs when he won stage 14 at the 2015 Tour, but it looks to us like he was actually riding DT Swiss branded hubs probably the usual 240s that ENVE laces most of its rims to. We think that's an important distinction to make, because ENVE's carbon hubs are actually lighter and smoother than what Cummings was apparently riding. Like Cummings' 240s hubs, the ENVE carbon hubs feature DT Swiss' venerable star ratchet engagement system unlike those 240s, though, the carbon hubs are built with CeramicSpeed bearings instead of stainless steel, putting them more on par with DT's top tier 180 hubs. The hubs' weights also compare favorably to Cummings' stage winning kit, with the carbon hubs weighing 74g front and 158g rear for a total claimed weight of just 232g 92g lighter than the 240s set. The secret to the weight loss is, obviously, the carbon shell and flanges, all of which are laid up as a single piece. This allows ENVE to wrap threads continuously across the hubs' bodies in much the same way as its wheels, increasing structural integrity while requiring less material to keep weight to a minimum. The spoke holes are also molded in, not drilled, which further improves the hubs' strength and results in a hub body so strong that in industry testing the spokes fail before it does. While we shouldn't be surprised that ENVE is rolling such quality out of its Northern Utah manufacturing facility, we still can't help but be impressed every time the company rewrites what's possible to achieve with carbon fiber.