NOBL goes all in on Berd – from XC to Enduro – with new Ethos line

NOBL Wheels has laced its carbon rims to Berd’s proprietary Dyneema spokes for just about as long as Tom Pidcock has won mountain bike World Cups, world championships and the Olympics on them. Maybe longer. Now, with the release of the Ethos line of wheels, the Vancouver Island brand is going all-in on Berd, with a few extra tricks too.

Twists like custom hubs, a titanium freehub and a sub-1,000g XC wheelset. But, in a twist from the usual Berd-build, the Ethos range runs right up to enduro and eMTB builds, not just weight-weenie cross country sets.

The Ethos line is a big move from the Vancouver Island brand. Not only is it the second big mountain bike wheel line released by NOBL this year, after several years committed to its prior designs. Ethos puts NOBL squarely up against the highest-end of mountain bike rims. Committing the entire line (but eMTB) to Berd spokes is a commitment, too. But NOBL has years of experience with Berd already. We’ve tested a couple sets and been impressed. If NOBL is confident enough to commit the entire Ethos line (again, save eMTB), they must be seeing enough interest in Berd builds to justify this.

NOBL Ethos: from sub-1,000 race wheels to eMTB smashers

The Ethos line includes five wheelsets. Unlike past NOBL launches, which were focused on a rim which could then be built out through the brand’s custom program, these five wheelsets are pretty much set options. This new direction for NOBL made its debut with the Signature series, but the custom program is still available for the prior generation of sinewave wheels, if that’s what you’re looking for.

Back to Ethos, though. The line brings together an entirely new rim design with a custom-made hub and, for some models, new Berd Polylight-X spokes. That is a lot of things for one release, especially for a brand that, while quite established, isn’t huge.

“Releasing a lineup like the Ethos Series is a dream moment for any founder. Truthfully, it’s the kind of project a small brand like NOBL probably has no business taking on. On paper, it didn’t seem practical. But this wasn’t about what was practical; it was about building the wheels we’ve dreamed of riding for years.,” says NOBL founder Trevor Howard. The goal? The best wheel possible. “No caveats. No qualifiers. Just the best, for every discipline.”

So lets start with the rims

NOBL Ethos rims

The Ethos line is made up of five different wheelsets, all sharing a basic shape but with…