Introducing the ENVE AM30
By Stan Portus – 21 August 2020
The AM30 isn’t just here for a fast time. It’s here for a good time. Part of ENVE’s Foundation collection, the mountain bike wheelset brings ENVE’s world-leading carbon tech to a new cohort of riders, looking to ride all the time.
Earlier this year ENVE released its all-new Foundation collection, which brings ENVE’s carbon expertise and world-leading performance to a new price point. But the collection delivers many of the same perks as its tops of the line wheels too, such as being produced in-house at ENVE’s Utah, USA HQ, and its Lifetime Incident Protection.
The Foundation range started with the Foundation 45 and Foundation 65 road wheels. Now, ENVE has introduced the AM30 mountain bike wheelset to the Foundation family.
Designed not just for a fast time but a good time too, the AM30 is for taking on park rides, lunch rides, back road adventures, and technical trails. The “AM” stands for “All Mountain” and an all-new design from ENVE means this really is a do-it-all set of hoops, available in 29” and 27.5” for however you ride.
ENVE Foundation AM30 MTB Wheelset
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New Rim Shape, New Ride Feel
ENVE has been at the forefront of carbon wheel manufacture for over a decade, breaking new ground and watching the world play catch up. In such a position it might be tempting when introducing a new wheelset at a lower price point to recycle legacy tech, but this isn’t how ENVE roll.
Instead, the AM30 features an all-new rim shape designed to do what ENVE wheels always do: accelerate quickly, blast out of corners, and ultimately instil confidence.
The AM30 does this by balancing stability, compliance, and impact toughness for when the going gets rowdy.
ENVE has more World Cup wins than any other carbon wheel brand, so they know a thing or two about making tough wheels. This is something riders using the AM30 will benefit from, with the rim’s impact toughness being on par with ENVE's gravity orientated M Series wheels.
Wide Hookless Bead
The AM30 is all about riding as much as possible. Part of this is designing a set of wheels that can take on any terrain at a moment’s notice. The other is ensuring that once you’re out, you’re protected from any fun-spoiling mishaps.
The AM30’s Wide Hookless Bead does just this.
Originally developed for the M Series, the Wide Hookless Bead reduces the chance of pinch flats. The increased width at the rim’s leading edge means there is less chance of the bead slicing the tyre on impact compared to traditional hookless bead designs. This means you can pick the tyres and pressures you want without the fear of flats dictating your ride.
Vital MTB found in their testing of the AM30 that thanks to the rim design, even at 15psi they could not get they were not able to cause pinch flats with any of the tyres they tested on the AM30.
Continuous Fibres and Easy Maintenance
Carbon fibre gets its strength from being laid in continuous fibres, so leaving these uninterrupted makes for a stronger wheel build.
ENVE’s Patent Pending moulded spoke and valve design routes lengths of carbon fibre around holes rather than cutting it. This increases the strength of each spoke hole and the valve hole and reduces the likelihood of frequent truing.
If you do have to resort to truing the AM30, the external nipples make for easy work.
Industry Nine Hubs
The AM30 uses Industry Nine’s new 1/1 hubs ,with dual-phased pawl drive and 90 points of engagement.
New Wheels, Same Protection
ENVE products are designed so you can ride and race with confidence. But ENVE has your back too.
The AM30 comes with ENVE’s Lifetime Incident Protection. This means that if any mishaps lead to damaged wheels, ENVE will replace your AM30s to keep you rolling on your best wheels.
AM30 and M Series at a Glance
| AM30 | M Series | |
|---|---|---|
| Design Application | Trail-Enduro | M5 – XC Race M6 – Trail M7 – All-Mountain, Enduro M9 – DH/Enduro Race |
| Wheel Size Options | 27.5 & 29 | 27.5 & 29 |
| Inner Rim Width Options (mm) | 30 | 25, 30, 35, 40, 85 |
| Tubeless Compatibility | Yes | Yes |
| Anti-Pinch Flat Technology | Wide Hookless Bead | Wide Hookless Bead (M5 & M6) Protective Rim Strip (M7 & M9) |
| Molded Spoke Holes and Valve Stem | Yes | Yes |
| Spoke Nipple Location | External | Internal |
| Spoke | Sapim Race | Sapim CX-Ray, Race, Force |
| Hub Model | I9 1/1 | King, I9 Hydra |
| Wheelset Weights (29" w/ I9) | AM30 - 1852g | M630 - 1516g M730 - 1951g |
| Warranty | Lifetime Incident Protection & 5 Year Factory Warranty | Lifetime Incident Protection & 5 Year Factory Warranty |
| Price | £1850 | £2800 – £3150 |
