Irwin Marquee AM 29’er Boost

So I’m telling Mrs. imtbtrails the other day, “I just “got” to get a new set of wheels for my Hightower prior to Kokopelli. My rear Arc 40 is toast and I don’t trust it!”

She asks, “How much are they going to cost?” I was thinking I was going to spend around $1200 bucks. She says,”Ohhh...”

I was thinking I was going to get another set of 27.5’s since I had become so accustom to them.

A week later, up pops a post by @shawndoh selling a set of Irwin’s. Irwin’s? I never even heard of Irwin Cycling. Their motto is Innovation Driven. Race Proven. By whom?

So I go on the Internet and I find their website, but I can’t find this wheel set. Search the net, nothing on these particular wheels. Mystery company, mystery wheels.

So I contact @shawndoh and ask him about them. Says they sell them in his shop, that he has several sets himself. He likes them. Fair enough. I need wheels, he has wheels, can’t figure the guy is going to steer me wrong, so I snag them. Promptly received them two days later.



I anxiously pull them out of the box. “Hmmm, they look really nice!”
I think the first thing everyone does is spin the rear to hear and feel the free hub. “Oh my! These sound really solid and the wheel kept spinning, and spinning, and spinning, and spinning, and...

I pulled the free hub off and look at the ratchet set. Nicely crafted and I like the design and I REALLY liked the sound. I used to like the loud buzz of my Chris King hub, but the very consistent much softer whir of the Irwin quickly caught my favor. It let’s me know it’s there but I now find the more silent hub is making for a nicer backwoods experience. Definitely need to have a bell for the hikers as this hub will not alert of your presence.


I ordered a fresh pair of Maxxis 2.4 x 29 Rekons for front and rear and slapped them on the 30mm inner width rims. Went on super easy. Tossed in some Stan’s before inflation and offered them both some compressed air. Pop! Pop! Perfecto! Transferred the rotors. Switched my Eagle Cassette, and mounted them on the Hightower. Flipped the rear chip, and done. No RD adjustments what so ever.



So believe it or not, this is my first bike as a 29’er. My Yeti is a 2012 and a 26’er, the Hightower came as a 27.5. So these wheels are the first I have had as a 29.

First Impressions:
First ride was in Ojai. @Voodoo Tom and I decided we were going to both swap out our 27.5 Plus to 29’s for Kokopelli to assist with the big miles and miles of climbing. So we went to Ojai to climb Sisar and then drop Horn Trail. Horn Trail is a super chunky Singletrack. We wanted to feel the difference between 27.5 plus and 29’ers on some steep technical chunk.

The Climb:
I have to say the climb was significantly easier! The roll on flat seemed to really carry. @shawndoh said they have Enduro bearings and that the wheels roll well. Well is an understatement. The momentum in the climbs was significant.

The Drop:
The descent was completely different than the 27.5 plus. The Irwin wheels rolled so fast I had to adjust my cornering and braking to compensate. My philosophy had to really adjust to the much narrower and taller tires. On the 27.5 plus tires you just pointed in the general direction, got your weight far back and let the bike do the work. 27.5 Plus just eats tech for lunch. I did notice on the plus however, if you lost momentum you had to throw a lot of effort at the pedals to get back up to speed. But momentum was not usually an issue as I found less braking with the Plus tires.

The 29’ers were a different story. You have to pick your lines more carefully. I found I was dancing through the chunk as oppose to plowing. The back end hopped from side to side much more over the baby head sized boulders. I also noticed I had to put quite a bit more weight on the front wheel as it tended to wash out more easily in the looser stuff.

Saturday we did Strawberry Peak, plus Valley Forge and then dropped from Red Box to Switzer. There were moments of very fast on flowy and very fast in the chunk. This wheel set handled it like a champ!

I don’t know a lot about wheels. I just know that I tend to eat them pretty quickly. This wheel set is beefy and certainly not the lightest which is probably good for a wheel beater like me. I can tell you that so far I’m really impressed. Picking up the rear wheel and giving it a whirl, they just spin and spin and spin! If they hold together and right now I can’t see any reason why they wouldn’t, then I would highly recommend taking a serious look at this manufacturer.

I know @shawndoh ‘s shop carries them. If you are looking for a solid set of wheels, I would contact him. So far, I’m a very satisfied customer!

 

Now that looks much more proper.

You'll adjust to the wagon wheels. While you can't plow like you can with the clown wheels, the 29ers will be faster. Just ride light and they will float over most things.

 

I’m confused... do I want a set of Irwin 29’r carbon wheels or do I want a 29’r bike?

 

Wagon Wheels for the win.

 

Sweet. I was wondering how you were getting along with them.

 

Friend of ours Brenna Irwin has some of those wheels for her road bike I think, I remember she said she was an ambassador, she goes by (Ibikeinadidas) . Her uncle was Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter

 

Oh wow! Steve Irwin. He died of a Sting Ray barb to the heart several years ago, right? That guy was crazy! Well his niece Brenna is a Mountain Bike Hottie!

 

Yup, that's her! She's really nice too, have done a couple road rides with her