dt swiss road wheels: ur views

skippy-do-da-day

gonna buy some dt swiss rr1450 wheels, but are they any good? or should i buy bontrager race x lite wheels? i dunno! i need ur help! dont worry about price, it doesnt matter at all. thank you!

sylvanus

Don't even think about it. The eyelets split after a few months and the horrors of claiming on repairs which the unhelpful bunch at the distributor will give you spots. DT are the only company in cycling who's products I would completely avoid....

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/archiv ... 76299.html

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/forums/vie ... 1fbe0c5a75

giant_man

So if their rims are that bad, why do poshbikes use them as a basis for their expensive custom wheelsets? Do they all get returned due to splitting eyelets and other failures?

sylvanus

Because they're much (100g?) lighter than open pros which are built with double eyelets and are therefore much stronger. Poshbikes are aiming for weight not durability and DT RR1.1 rims are fine if you're very light or if you don't ride a lot.

Poshbikes do replace cracked DT rims and have done so often although in my experience they now fail to answer emails on the subject and Ultimate Pursuits refuse to honour the two-year warranty unless you pay all the freight and labour costs (which makes it a largely worthless warranty).

Read Bern from Condor on the thread I referenced if you think I'm being unfair:

"When first shown the rim when it was launched I voiced concern that it was only a single eyelet, especially as we are in London with the state of the roads. I urged them back then to make a double eyelet version. I can see their point that it is a race rim designed for racing only, but this should be made clearer by the distributor.................

I sympathise with you. We do stock them, but only in a small way as I prefer the idea of Open Pros as they are proven with double eyelets. We have over 150 years of combined wheel building experience and if you ask any wheel builder I would say that most would recommend double eyelets over single.

It is great to come up with lightweight kit, but some companies forget that if they make it for the tour flyweights then the public will want to use it and expect it to last a bit longer than 6 months. "

giant_man

No I don't think you're being unfair sylvanus, and i take your point. I wouldn't say Condor Cyles are the last name in wheelbuilding but I can see Bern's point.

Simple to understand that double eyelets are going to be strong than single, and as you say Poshbikes are going for the weight factor. Interesting comments.

acorn_user

Those are the old ones though. DT saw the eyelet splitting and started to make a double eyelet version (32 holes have double eyelets now). Of course, that pushes the weight up some. So the 1450 doesn't weigh 1450 anymore. In any case, you can probably get those wheels built up by someone for less than the RRP of the wheelset. The other issue with DT wheels is that the hubs require a special tool (much like Chris King) that your LBS may or may not have.

If you are looking for an alternative rim, you should consider the Ambrosio Excellite (sp?). But I'm sure the wheels you suggested would work.

andrewgturnbull

skippy-do-da-day wrote:

gonna buy some dt swiss rr1450 wheels, but are they any good? or should i buy bontrager race x lite wheels? i dunno! i need ur help! dont worry about price, it doesnt matter at all. thank you!

Hi there.

Excuse my ignorance, but my Bontrager wheels have got dt swiss hubs and spokes - I'm not sure about the race x lites though. If they have then buy the Bonty's and get the best of both worlds.

Cheers, Andy

JWSurrey

The Bontys seem to have a good rep.
In fact, I saw a Condor race bike (not sure if it was being ridden by a Condor sponsored guy) last year with Bontys attached.
The DT RR1.1 single-eyelet rim is available (as Bern points out on the other thread) in double-eyelet form.
I prefer my Mavic OPs over the RR1.1 DE which I also have - Very similar weight, however the OPs are almost unnoticably less flexy - but enough for there to be a perceptible difference out riding the two to compare - maybe something to do with the wheel build - who knows.

The RR1.1 rims come with one useful advantage though - Rim wear indicators. I don't think the 1430s do though.

I have seen cracked DT rims at the LBS, but not sure if these were DE or Single eyelet.

Personally, I wouldn't buy a set of factory DTs, but their hubs and spokes appear on the outside to be up to the job - My RR1.1 rims and DT DB spokes (handbuilt wheelset) are doing fine after a short but bumpy 500 odd miles.

Now I've been there and got the T-shirt, I'll stick with Mavic OP rims, and will be trying out Sapim spokes for the next build.

Beardy10

Interesting what Bern from Condor said.....I know they offer a handbuilt wheel using DT Rims and an Ultegra Hub as one of their suggested options for some of their mid/upper road bikes like the Squadra.

Interesting that they use DT rims as it seems that's the suspect part of the DT wheel package?

JWSurrey

My OP on Ultegra are my favourite wheels, and were built by Condor - They were the recommended build when I ordered them in 2007.
The one thing I notice is that a lot of their wheels are built using standard gauge spokes - which having bought a set, is an option I can't fault.

I saw a set of DT RR1.1s on DT hubs for the first time in store Thursday - I suspect that these are the double-eyeletted version though, rather than the single-eyelet which are the ones people seem to find troublesome.

Bern also hints that the cracking is caused where they've been overloaded by a normal/heavier weight rider, as opposed to a lightweight rider - which maybe what the single eyeletted rims are really designed for.

I had a similar recommendation with regard to Ambrosio rims - A different shop advised that due to my 12-13 stone, it was not advisable for me to go with their lightest weight rim.