Rider: Brandon W.
Location: Oakland Park, FL
Bike: Firefly, custom
Hubs: Industry Nine
Rims: Nox Composites A36D
Spokes: Sapim Laser
Nipples: Brass
Weight: 1,546g

Brandon is having a new custom bike built by the master fabricators at Firefly in Boston.  The bike will be a disc brake any-road bike, drop bars with road like geometry but room for big tires.  He’s using a new ENVE CX fork that uses a 12mm thru-axle, a new standard developed for road bikes.  The frame will also use a 12mm thru-axle on the rear.  While most hub manufacturers have 12mm axles coming, I9 is the only one who has one you can buy today, right now.  Thankfully, the I9 hubs are stellar.  Their disc road hubs use a 60 points of engagement freehub, and a more slender and elegant hubshell than their MTB hubs.  The Nox A36D rims were designed just for this style bike.  With a 36mm depth they’re somewhat aero, but they’re also wide and built a bit burly to handle abuse, and like all Nox rims they’re tubeless ready and have an offset spoke bed.  With Brandon’s weight combined with the offset spoke bed and stiff rims, 24 spokes will offer plenty of stiffness while keeping weight down.