ENVE Composites

ENVE Composites is based in the United States and specialises in wheels and components across all of the cycling disciplines.

History

Following its foundation in 2007, ENVE Composites quickly established itself as one of the most sought after wheel and component brands in the cycling industry. The company started out as Edge Composites but changed its name to ENVE Composites in 2010 due to European trademark issues.

Since then the American-based company has only gone from strength to strength and, testament to this, it upscaled to a large new head office in Ogden, Utah, in 2017. The new headquarters brought all of its operations under one roof, including manufacturing, design, testing and the marketing of products.

Things all started with ENVE’s early v-shaped rims which were lightweight and strong but didn’t perform well aerodynamically. It wanted to correct that and committed to a new aero-focussed route by linking up with ex-Formula One aerodynamicist Simon Smart, founder of Drag2Zero. The result was the Smart ENVE System (SES) range of wheels which first hit the market in 2011.

Those designs paved the way for ENVE’s success and the SES range is still the brand’s top-tier range today, although it has undergone plenty of revamps since first being released. In 2016 ENVE positioned itself as an early proponent of tubeless technology through the SES 4.5 AR range, helping to pave the way for the tubeless-dominated market of today.

Far from a one-trick pony, the brand also made significant inroads off-road and their M-Series wheels were the first carbon wheels ever ridden to victory in a World Cup downhill race in 2010.

Beyond wheels, ENVE also manufactures a range of other components and in 2021 it went a step further, releasing its first ever complete road bike, the Custom Road.

Did you know?

Pro cycling

Current sponsorships:

• UAE Team Emirates
• UAE Team ADQ
• EOLO-Kometa
• DNA Pro Cycling
• ENVE Racing

Highlights:

• After teaming up with Simon Smart, ENVE released its first SES range in 2011, consisting of the 3.4, 6.7 and 8.9. SES is still ENVE’s top-tier range today, although it’s been developed a lot over the last 12 years.
• Only three years after being founded, ENVE made history in mountain biking when their wheels became the first ever carbon wheels to be ridden to a downhill World Cup victory.
• ENVE also owns the first carbon 29-inch wheel to win a downhill World Cup event back in 2017.
• Having previously partnered with multiple road teams, ENVE teamed up with UAE Team Emirates and UAE Team ADQ at the beginning of 2023. Slovenian Tadej Pogačar used ENVE’s SES 4.5 wheels during his Tour of Flanders victory in April of 2023.