Industry Nine Solix SL i9.35 Wheelset

The Industry Nine Solix SL i9.35 Wheelset is built around a single performance priority: less weight on the wheel means more speed up the climb. At 1,340 grams for the pair—620 grams front, 720 grams rear—the Solix SL i9.35 is Industry Nine's lightest pure road wheelset, and every design decision traces back to that target. The 35mm deep carbon rim keeps the profile shallow enough to minimize rotating mass without stepping into the territory where structural stiffness and aerodynamic benefit disappear. For riders who measure a good route by total elevation, this is the wheel Industry Nine built.

The Rim

The Solix SL's carbon rim measures 21mm at the inner width and 29mm at the outer—a modern road profile that accommodates tire widths from 23 to 35mm and runs tubeless without adapter hardware. That inner width matters more than it might seem: a 28mm tire mounted on a 21mm-wide bead seat rolls in a rounder, more compliant profile than the same tire pinched by a narrower rim. The result is better rolling resistance and a more predictable feel through rough sections on a descent. Industry Nine describes the SL carbon rim as CFD born and wind tunnel tested, which means the 35mm depth is a calibrated number—shaped through computational fluid dynamics to balance rim weight against aerodynamic drag—not just a round figure borrowed from a competitor's spec sheet.

The Hub

The Solix freehub is what makes this wheelset feel different under load. Industry Nine's patent-protected freehub technology delivers .59° of engagement—placing the Solix hub among the most responsive road hubs available. On a steep pitch where cadence drops and each pedal stroke is deliberate, that near-instant pickup eliminates the dead zone between loading the pedal and feeling propulsion. Out of a switchback, on a sustained gradient where quick re-acceleration matters, the Solix engages before a conventional ratchet-style hub has fully bitten. The 5-pawl mechanism drives this response, and the freehub body is available in HG11 for Shimano and SRAM 11-speed, Microspline for Shimano 12-speed, and XDR for SRAM 12-speed—no spacers, no adapter kits.

The Build

Twenty-four straight-pull Sapim CX-Ray bladed spokes are laced in a 2:1 pattern, concentrating more spokes on the drive side of the rear wheel where tension is highest under power. CX-Ray spokes are the established benchmark for bladed steel spoke performance—thin enough in cross-section to reduce aerodynamic drag, rigid enough to hold tension under hard accelerations without fatigue. The 2:1 lacing puts that rigidity where pedaling forces are greatest, which keeps the rear wheel laterally stable during efforts and true over time. Every Solix SL wheelset is built by hand at Industry Nine's Asheville, North Carolina facility, stress-relieved and tension-checked before it ships. Industry Nine backs their carbon construction with lifetime rim replacement coverage against both defects and impact damage for the original owner—not a limited-term warranty, but coverage that lasts as long as you own the wheels.

The Case for the i9.35

At $2,295, the Solix SL i9.35 earns its place among the most purposeful climbing wheelsets in carbon. The combination of 1,340g system weight, .59° hub engagement, a tubeless-ready rim validated through CFD and wind tunnel testing, and a lifetime warranty makes a coherent argument: these wheels are designed to perform on hilly terrain and stay that way. For riders who want more aerodynamic depth on rolling parcours, Industry Nine offers the Solix SL in a 35/45 combo that pairs this wheel up front with a 45mm rear—a useful middle ground when routes mix long climbs with flat kilometers. But for riders whose riding is defined by ascent, the i9.35 is the wheel Industry Nine built to be at the front of the group when the road tilts up. Skewers not included.