Revin Cycling E27 Pro Carbon MT Wheelset

In the world of carbon mountain bike wheels, it can be hard to know what’s what. Between building your own with cheap Chinese rims and buying the absolute top of the line, there is more than a 3x price differential – but how does that translate into actual value? And when it comes to warranty and service, how do you put a price tag on peace of mind? Sometimes it seems as though there are almost as many answers as there are questions. Revin Cycling is a new brand in the wheel world, founded by “lifelong bike riders with decades of retail and product sourcing experience”, and because they are backed by Jenson USA, they have access to “some of the best manufacturing facilities in Asia”. On that foundation, Revin has set out to become a premium cycling brand while keeping prices in check. At 1500 grams and $1500, their E27 Pro wheelset boasts numbers that seem to back up the claims, but what will that translate to on the trail? Only one way to find out!

Revin E27 Pro Wheelset Highlights

• Wheel Size: 27.5″
• Tubeless carbon rim
• DT Swiss 240 Hubs (54T ratchet upgrade included in box)
• 28 Sapim CX Ray spokes
• 30mm internal rim width
• Boost hub spacing (12x148/15x110)
• Tubeless tape included
• Min. tire width: 2.35″
• Max. tire width: 2.8″
• Max tire pressure: 60 psi
• 6 color option decals included
• Limited lifetime warranty
• Crash replacement program
• Weight: 1522 grams (without tubeless strip and valve, verified)
• MSRP: $1599 USD (available exclusively at Jenson USA)

Initial Impressions

The E27 Pro wheelset showed up in a fairly elaborate wheel box, including everything you need to set the tires up tubeless (except for sealant). Upon handling the wheels, their light weight was immediately obvious, and the scales confirmed the initial impression – at 1522 grams (without rimstrip and valves) these are certainly on the lighter side of things, even for carbon wheels. The rims are asymmetric with the 28 spoke holes slightly offset to one side, to allow for more even spoke tension and a stronger build. How strong? Revin says the wheels are intended for trail, all-mountain, and enduro use, with no rider weight limit specified.

The E27 Pro is the top of the Revin line, featuring DT Swiss 240 hubs and straight pull Sapim CX Ray spokes. The rear hub comes with the standard freehub ratchet installed, but the faster engaging, 54-tooth version is included in the box as well – performing the upgrade is as easy as pulling the freehub body off the hub, sliding the standard ratchet out and replacing it with the 54-tooth version. Pop the freehub body back on, and you’re done. Tape up the rims, install the valves, and you’re ready to hit the trails.

Even after multiple hits at 15 psi, we had no pinch flats and no rim trouble to report.

At just 1522 grams (verified), these wheels are among the lighter all-mountain options out there, which is something we always worry a little bit about. Historically, we haven’t always seen great results with longevity and durability when dipping below the 1600-1700 gram range. To make sure that the Revin E27 Pro was up to the task, no punches were pulled during this initial testing period. The wheels have seen all kinds of trails, and all kinds of tire pressure. If you read our recent review of the ENVE M70, you will remember the “root test” we subjected that wheel to. Well, we did the same thing with the Revin E27 Pro, and it survived just fine (the test consists of hitting a pretty nasty root at lower and lower pressures to see if any trouble ensues). Even after multiple hits at 15 psi, we had no pinch flats and no rim trouble to report. The wheel did end up slightly out of true, which is a bit unusual for a carbon wheel, but a quick session in the truing stand had it back to square one. Note that working on flat spokes is always a bit less comfortable, as you end up having to immobilize the spoke to be able to twist the nipples.

Things That Could Be Improved

Although we appreciate the aesthetic qualities of bladed, straight pull spokes, they are a bit more difficult to work with and can be tricky to find replacements for should you break one. We will say that they have proven themselves to be plenty strong so far, so these concerns are perhaps not too critical. When it comes to the finish of the E27, the stickers are a little bit on the basic side. $1500 is still a lot of money, and you’d expect a slightly more “exclusive” finish at this price point. Similarly, it would be a nice touch to ship the wheels with the tubeless strip and valves already installed, and that goes for the 54t DT Swiss star ratchet upgrade too.

Long Term Durability

We’ve been able to put about 1.5 months of trail time on the E27 Pro, so it’s a bit early for a definitive durability verdict. As noted earlier, we did subject the wheel to a specific root smashing session in addition to riding a lot of rough trails in general, and it proved itself worthy of the task at hand. A few rock scuffs and dings are now visible, but they are not very deep and the finish seems to hold up fairly well. That includes the stickers, as basic as they are in terms of material and design, they do seem to be fairly durable.

When we pulled the tires off the wheels to check the rims for damage after 1.5 months, the rim strip started to peel off in places. The wheel still holds air with sealant, but it’s worth noting nevertheless (this is actually not uncommon in carbon wheels, as the raw surface of the rim bed often does not play nice with the rim strip glue). In terms of warranty, Revin offers a limited lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects (not to be confused with the no-questions-asked warranties we’ve seen pop up lately from the likes of Santa Cruz and Race Face), and a crash replacement program which provides replacement parts at a "deep discount" should the damage not be covered by warranty.

What’s The Bottom Line?

$1500 for a set of wheels may sound a bit crazy to many people, but the reality is that it is not a lot for a pair of quality carbon wheels. With some aluminum wheels fetching in excess of $1000 these days, adding $500 for a bit less weight and a bit more stiffness is not too steep a price to pay. The Revin E27 Pro is resolutely light, yet it offers plenty of stiffness and it appears to be capable of taking the kind of beating that would normally be reserved for heavier wheelsets. Not bad for a newcomer!

More information at: www.revincycling.com.

About The Reviewer

Johan Hjord - Age: 44 // Years Riding MTB: 12 // Weight: 200-pounds (90.7kg) // Height: 6'0" (1.84m)

Johan loves bikes, which strangely doesn’t make him any better at riding them. After many years spent practicing falling off cliffs with his snowboard, he took up mountain biking in 2005. Ever since, he’s mostly been riding bikes with too much suspension travel to cover up his many flaws as a rider. His 200-pound body weight coupled with unique skill for poor line choice and clumsy landings make him an expert on durability - if parts survive Johan, they’re pretty much okay for anybody. Johan rides flat pedals with a riding style that he describes as "none" (when in actuality he rips!). Having found most trail features to be not to his liking, Johan uses much of his spare time building his own. Johan’s other accomplishments include surviving this far and helping keep the Vital Media Machine’s stoke dial firmly on 11.

Photos by Johan Hjord