Alongside the new mountain bike wheels and suspension, DT Swiss unveiled a complete revamp of their carbon road bike wheels. The new Spline collection is the first time they’ve developed the rims on their own, with their own design and tooling.
They have a more modern wider, rounder profile for better aerodynamics and tire fitment made with 700×25 tires in mind. They’ve tested it as road tubeless, and say it’ll work, but it’s not an officially tubeless ready line, so they won’t provide the kits.
Since they were updating them, they went ahead and gave most of them disc brake options, too…
The disc brake wheels can convert the rear wheel to 12×142, but the front is limited to QR for now. They’re waiting to see what the demand is, and for now wanted to make it as light as possible. They all use CenterLock rotors, which means we’ll be hunting for some lightweight rotor options like these.
Many of the wheels will be offered in clincher and tubular.
The rims for disc brakes are free of a brake track, but they’re not terribly lighter. Maybe five grams, but the hub and spokes will be a bit heavier. For the standard rims, they have a special resin on the outer surface to manage heat, but normal resin deeper in to maintain a better road feel. They developed it in house and say it provides much better performance and feel, particularly with the amazing SwissStop Black Prince pads.
In the foreground is the Spline RC28Cdb, which translates to Road Carbon 28mm deep Clincher Disc Brake. It comes in at 1420g per set, rims are 21mm wide outside / 15mm inside. Above it is the standard version, which weighs in at 1385g, only 35g less than the disc brake version.
Next down the line is the RC38 series, which gains a tubular rim brake model. Weights for the clincher disc brake version is 1520g, tubular disc brake version is 1390g. Standard wheels are 1475g (clincher) and 1310g (tubular). both versions of the rim are 38mm deep and 21mm wide external, clincher is 15mm inside.
Available this fall. They’re strong enough for cyclocross, but they recommend the 38 for that.
Two more new ones: On the right is the RC46H, which “H” meaning hybrid thanks to its alloy brake track. It’s 46mm deep, 21mm wide with 15.9mm of space inside. Behind it is the RC55T, which is also available in a clincher, and offers a deeper aero wheel for racing and triathlon. It’s a full carbon rim and shares the 21mm/15mm widths of the rest with a 55mm depth. Weights are 1440 (tubular) and 1630 (clincher).
