We Are One Convergence Triad Rim Review: The Damped Champ – John Watson | The Radavist | A group of individuals who share a love of cycling and the outdoors.

Having transitioned from carbon wheels on his full-suspension bikes to less-stiff aluminum wheels, John was curious when he heard reports that the We Are One Convergence Triad wheels were very pleasantly damped. What he found after riding these rims for nine months was beyond impressive…

From our We Are One 2024 MADE Bike Show Coverage

We Are One

Wheel manufacturers are hyper-prolific in the mountain bike space, with a few key brands doing everything in-house, controlling the product, research, and development aspects of rim design. Based in Kamloops, Canada, and recently acquired by Industry Nine, We Are One makes carbon fiber rims for MTB and gravel, all in-house. They also machine aluminum stems and lay up carbon handlebars, too. At its core, the brand is dedicated to making carbon rims that are optimized for various mountain bike pursuits.

Check out Pat’s Shop Visit to We Are One in our Archives!

Its Convergence lineup has received accolades since its announcement in November of 2022, for good reason.

Convergence Family

Within the We Are One Convergence family of rim profiles, there are three widths: Sector (28 mm), Triad (30 mm), and Fuse (33 mm). The Sector is intended for trail riding, the Triad for aggressive trail and enduro, and the Fuse for e-bike applications. For my Murmur, built with 135 mm rear travel and 160 mm front travel, I selected the Triad width to offer a plump profile for my favorite tires: the Teravail Keseel 2.4″ 29er.

Convergence Triad Quick Hits

Rims are $474.99 USD
Baseline wheelsets $1,629.99
Material: Carbon Fiber
Lifetime warranty
Rim Pair ships 28h for front and 32h for rear
Convergence Technology (more below)
Size: 27.5″ & 29”
29er as tested with 2x lacing front, 3x rear
Hole Count: 28h & 32h
Internal Width: 30mm
Rim Depth: 18.5mm
ERD: 27.5: 564mm 29: 604mm (center drilled)
Weight:
- 27.5: 506 g for 32 H
- 29: 527 g for 28 H / 543 g for 32 H (confirmed)
Profile: 7.5° angular profile drilling
Intended Use: Enduro, aggressive trail, and technical riding

Convergence Technology

When you look at a Convergence rim, you’ll notice a series of sinuous waves across its ridge. These 7.5° alternating curves are designed to buttress spoke bracing — the spoke angles, coupled with a special rim layup, utilize ZRT fibre technology. ZRT is a Z-Axis carbon fiber film. It contains 13 billion fibers per square meter. Developed by Boston Materials for reinforcing carbon forms, this results in a fortified spoke bed, delivering increased strength and preventing nipple bed pull-out.

Ordering a set of Triad rims from We Are One, you’ll receive a 32 h rear rim and a 28 h front rim. Due to the nature of this special design, the 28h and 32h rim drilling require two separate layups, as it is not possible to drill more or fewer holes in the rim because of the wave pattern of alternating curves.

The resulting tech of Convergence rim layup received accolades from two wheel-builders I respect.

Building: Quotes from Two Wheel-builders

“Those rims are incredible – nicest I’ve ever built with. They were literally perfect… I couldn’t even measure run out. I’ve never seen that before.” Dan Knives from Superbe Velo Service in Melbourne, Australia

“The We Are One rims have been a treat to lace up. Beautiful aesthetics where you see it, but equally as well made where only the wheel builder (or spokesman according to my grandfather) sees it, which I can’t say for other, more expensive carbon rim manufacturers. Each set I’ve built has come up to true and tension easily and predictably, without need for arguing with a hop at any bonding point.” Bailey Newbrey, Sincere Cycles in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Are you a wheel builder or spokesman with experience lacing these rims up? If so, drop your opinion in the comments!

Flex Perception

Two years ago, I swapped out my carbon wheels on my Starling Murmur V3 for the Industry Nine Enduro300 and didn’t look back. After switching from 2.6″ tires to 2.4″, I rode the Murmur non-stop for a full season before We Are One sent me some Triad rims to build up. Pinging Bailey at Sincere Cycles to order Hope Pro 5 hubs from our local distributor, BTI, and silver Sapim Laser spokes, we built up a sexy ass wheelset for this made in the UK trail bike.

On my favorite lunch loop, I took the Murmur out for the first ride on these new wheels. Dropping into a rocky chute from a fast, chicane switchback at normal riding speed, I couldn’t believe what I felt. Now, I had ridden a multitude of carbon wheels from various manufacturers, all claiming to have different degrees of damping and compliance, but I’ve never felt a wheel with a more comfortable and muted feeling.

Damped Champ

The Triad rims mute trail chatter and soften hard blows. Combined with a flexy feeling steel frame like the Murmur, they’re the ultimate complementary piece of tech. My riding style and home trails are anything like bike park terrain. We have no two-meter-wide flow trails in our mountains, and our berms are more like rock piles, meant to alleviate drainage during monsoons.

Instead of high-speed brown ribbons, our trails ARE rock. The constant decomposition of metamorphic granite, gneiss, and schist, mixed with pyroclastic and igneous minerals such as basalt and tufa, means the trails are in a constant state of erosion, exposing more layers of rock with each monsoon. It’s one of the most jarring experiences riding here: a lack of traction and a jackhammer effect on your wrists. You become habituated to the terrain and adjust your riding as necessary.

So when something comes along that not only improves the ride quality of my bike but also my overall ride experience, I take note.

Like a Rubber Mallet

I’ve struggled offering an appropriate simile for what differentiates the feel of these Triad rims compared to other carbon rims on the market – that I have ridden. So far, the best has been “they feel like hitting a rock with a rubber mallet, versus a hard poly hammer.” This softened, fuzzy feeling is still recognizable, nine months into riding these wheels. Keeping my tires consistently inflated to 25/28 PSI front and rear, you can really begin to differentiate between the feel of the tires and the damping of the rim.

While cornering at high speed on primitive singletrack, you can feel the wheels settling into position, which might not be what you want in bike park or blue flow territory at 30 MPH speeds, but on rocky trails and moderate speeds, it’s a sublime sensation. Yet, unlike other flexy wheels, the Triads don’t lose their line in the chunk. Unlike the Zipp 3Zero wheels, which have “ankle compliance” and can take some getting used to, the Triads hold their intended line trajection and let your suspension do all the work.

Hammering big chundery lines and shitty booters deep into craggy crevices, the Triad rims have taken a ton of abuse over the past nine months.

Maintenance and Setup

Two years ago, I quit using tire inserts in favor of higher air pressures. It was a big move for me. For the entirety of this review period, I’ve been on 2.4″ Teravail Kessel tires in tough casing. And in that time, I’ve gone through two sets of tires. Both times, the tires were seated on the rims with an air compressor and Park Tool inflator, with the valve core removed. The beads immediately popped into place. Setting up tires on the Convergence rims is a breeze.

So far, I’ve had to get the wheels trued once by the fella who built them. And it was by no fault of the rims themselves. A poorly timed tabletop resulted in me landing on the rear wheel, completely flat, before rolling out of the mishap unscathed. Somehow, keeping the rubber side down, I was able to course-correct, at the expense of wheel health. A 1/2″ hop had developed, and six spokes had loosened up. Within thirty minutes, Bailey had the wheels back to their true form and mentioned that they were like new once again.

Rock rash in the clear coat is inevitable, but the rims have avoided any substantial chips. As with any carbon fiber wheel, they won’t last forever, and eventually, they’ll need to be disposed of.

We Are One Warranty

At this time, We Are One does not offer rim recycling, but they do have a killer warranty program, which Brand Manager Nate Schumacher outlines below:

“We have a very robust warranty program and offer a lifetime warranty to the original owner on any rim break while riding. Basically, if you destroy a rim, we’ll replace it for you. Case a jump…we got you, pick a terrible line and crack a rim…we got you. We also offer a 50% crash replacement to second owners or to original owners who damage a wheel while not riding. Things like, I backed over my bike in my driveway and crushed my wheel, we’ll give you a new one at 50% off. “

TL;DR

I’ve mostly weaned my personal bikes off of carbon fiber entirely. But there’s something special about the We Are One Convergence design. This unique layup offers unrivaled trail damping while maintaining control and withstanding nonstop abuse. The technology, sinuous profile, and made in Canada label offer a high-end appeal that is packed with plenty of bang (muting) for your buck. Matched with the completely reasonable price of $474.99 per rim, the Triads are worth every cent.

Supporting domestic manufacturing is a contentious subject these days. However, I’m honored to ride something made in-house by our neighbors to the North. As for the Industry Nine acquisition, I can’t think of two more appropriate brands to form a long-lasting collaboration.

Pros