Press enter to search
9th Wave Cycling designs its own carbon rims and hand builds them into wheelsets for mountain bike, gravel, road and beach racing, from Apeldoorn in the Netherlands. The idea behind every wheel is easy to say and hard to build: riding should feel good, and it should be fast. That takes a wheel that is strong enough to trust, light enough to matter and fast where it counts.
We started on the trail. In 2013, when many riders still didn’t trust carbon rims off-road, we saw an opening rather than a risk. 29ers were becoming the norm, and bigger wheels flex more. Carbon made it possible to build them stiffer without adding weight. Asymmetric rims followed soon after: moving the spoke bed off center evens out spoke tension between the two sides of the wheel, which makes it stiffer and more durable. 9th Wave was founded the following year, in 2014.
The next lesson shaped everything that followed. A wider rim makes a wheel stiffer and more comfortable at the same time, because the tire sits on a broader base and can run at lower pressure. Meanwhile, better carbon processing kept taking weight out, and stronger rim walls let those lighter rims take real punishment. Wide, asymmetric and strong became the foundation of the whole range.
Road and cyclocross riders soon asked for the same approach, and the lessons carried over directly. Asymmetric profiles, wide rims and strong rim walls work on tarmac and in the mud just as they do on singletrack. Gravel wheels followed shortly after, and that is where wide and aerodynamic came together in one rim: the SandStone is 37 mm wide inside and 52 mm deep. In 2017 the 4-Shore became the first carbon wheel developed specifically for beach racing, with brass nipples and DT Swiss 350 hubs to hold up against sand and salt.
Today the range covers SandStone and Anath for gravel, Avalon for the road, Yarrow for cross-country and marathon, and beach wheels built on the 4-Shore, SandStone and Anath 423. SandStone and Yarrow also come as 32 inch wheels. Ninefold is the top of each line: the lightest builds, with our own Onda hubs and, on road and gravel, carbon spokes. Cyclocross wheels are available on request. 9th Wave wheels have been raced at the Olympic Games, in XC and marathon World Cups and at the highest level of gravel racing.
Founder Guido came to wheels from the saddle. He spent years racing mountain bike marathons and multi-day stage races. That kind of riding doesn’t let equipment hide its weak spots: a wheel has to be as stiff and true on the last descent of the final stage as it was at the start. Every 9th Wave rim is built from that experience. Cycling has been a constant in his life and still is. He rides whenever he can, and 9th Wave grew directly out of that.
Riding and testing 9th Wave wheels in Kirchberg.
9th Wave doesn’t need to be the biggest wheel brand. The goal is to make wheelsets worth riding, built by hand. That puts us between two familiar options. Custom wheel builders assemble a wheelset from hubs, spokes and rims together with each customer. Large manufacturers deliver standard products built for volume and marketing. Each model has its own set of components: the SandStone and the SandStone SL share the same rim, one built on DT Swiss 350 hubs, the other on DT Swiss 240. You choose the freehub body and axle standard that fit your bike, and custom decal colors are available on request. The rim is always a 9th Wave rim, designed by us and hand built into your wheel in the Netherlands. Register your wheels within 30 days and the carbon rims are covered by our lifetime warranty and Crash Replacement program.
Curious about the name? Read the story behind the Ninth Wave. Want to know how an asymmetric rim works? See ART, our asymmetric rim technology.
Strong. Light. Fast.
