Blackbird Send

Intro­duc­ing the Send rims and wheels from Black­bird, a new com­po­nent brand for Ibis Cycles. When we set out to improve our indus­try-lead­ing Ibis alu­minum S35 rims our mis­sion was sim­ple; elim­i­nate pinch flats and keep the tire sealed no mat­ter what you hit.

Pinch flats occur when you hit your wheel hard enough to ​“pinch” the tire between your rim and that rock or root that you didn’t see com­ing. Hit hard enough and the edge of your rim, the bead wall, will slice clean through that brand-new tire you just installed.

To elim­i­nate pinch flats, we designed our bead walls with a hol­low box-sec­tion pro­file to remove the sharp edges and cre­ate a broad con­tact point with the tire. This box-sec­tion results in a stronger bead wall that doesn’t slice tire side­walls and it doesn’t add any addi­tion­al weight. Our unique bead wall is used on both the Send 1 and Send 2 rims, but our Send 2 gets a lit­tle some­thing extra.

If you ride hard, you know you’re going to dent your alu­minum rims even­tu­al­ly and it’s your rear wheel that takes the brunt of the dam­age. You can bend back a bead wall but dent your bead seat (where your tire seals) and you’ll be walk­ing back to the trail­head. You can’t bend the bead seat back, which means you can’t run your tires tube­less — at that point they’re worth­less because tubes are dead to us.

To rein­force the bead seat on our Send 2 rims, we added a pair of ribs direct­ly beneath our bead seat. The Send 2 gains 45g per rim because of this rein­force­ment but it is a small penal­ty com­pared to the weight of the insert you need to pro­tect flim­si­er rims.

Are you look­ing for a light­weight alu­minum rim with good strength? You’ll want our Send 1. Need some­thing a bit burli­er? Choose our Send 2. Our Enduro World Series Team has been test­ing the Send 1 on the front and a Send 2 in the rear for the last two years. Four EWS rac­ers, sev­er­al EWS stage wins, three EWS podi­ums, one Swedish Nation­al Enduro Cham­pi­onship, and we’ve only had one flat on race day. Mis­sion accomplished.

Black­bird Send Rim Specs

• 6061 Alu­minum

• Intend­ed use: Moun­tain Biking

• Inter­nal Rim Width: 35mm (both Send 1 and Send 2)

• 27.5” Rim Weights:

  • Send 1: 543g

  • Send 2: 590g

• 29” Rim weights:

  • Send 1: 565g

  • Send 2: 625g

• 7‑year war­ran­ty

• Sin­gle Rim MSRP: $99

• Avail­abil­i­ty: Even­tu­al­ly (because, you know, sup­ply chain)

Black­bird Send Wheelset Specs

• Front Rim: Send 1

• Rear Rim: Send 2

• Intend­ed use: Moun­tain Biking

• Inter­nal Rim Width: 35mm front and rear

• 29” and 27.5”, Boost only

• Wheelset weights (with XD dri­ver & rim tape):

  • 27.5” — 1939g

  • 29” — 2060g

• Ibis Logo Hubs

• 32 spoke Sapim D‑Light J‑bend spokes

• 3‑cross lac­ing front and rear

• 7‑year war­ran­ty

• Wheelset MSRP: $529