Hiding in plain sight on several NAHBS show bikes were 2015 DT Swiss products – one for mountain bikers, the other for roadies.
For dirt, their suspension forks with the one-piece mag lower will get additional relieving to save weight. And if the graphics on this early sample hold, the branding is cleaned up a bit from current products.
Internally, their Single Shot system gets a lot of updates. Valving has been tweaked to be a little more plush throughout the travel. It’s still a cartdridge system, but will make for a less firm fork overall and with improved impact management in lockout. The lockout lever will still make it very firm, but a new blowoff mechanism prevents damage if you nail a bump or drop while the fork is locked. Basically it’s a much firmer compression damping at the top. When it blows through threshold, it’ll open enough to use some of the travel.
A bit less material around the dropouts and throughout the rest of the lowers saves a few grams.
Lots of subtle shaping throughout the legs takes excess material away from the unsprung mass. The bulge just above the “DT” decal is where the bushings sit inside.
The new valving and blowoff lets the racer boys and girls run it locked out and still have it able to take a hit. For everyone else, it’ll mean a smoother fork across more types of terrain.
Price points for one piece forks for 2015 drop across the range. Torsion Box models will stay about the same. They’ve done away with straight 1-1/8″ steerers, tapered only. They’ll still offer a 26″ version, but the push is on 650B and 29er.
Word is their Twin Shot travel adjust system remains mostly the same for 2015, but they’ll have formal product announcements at Sea Otter in April.
On the road side of things, they’ve got new road tubeless rims available on their own or built into the wheels.
The complete wheels will come as R23 (sleeved rim and Aero Comp spokes) and R24 (pinned rim with Aero Speed spokes) models. They’re built on 240s 11-speed hubs with Centerlock brake mounts. That means standard QR plus 15mm and 12×142 thru axle options, even a 135 thru axle rear option for OEM customers. They’re built with 2x lacing 24 spoke front and rear for disc versions. Rim brake will have a 20 radial lacing front.
Sold along, the R460 rims will have 24, 28 and 32 spoke hole drilling options. Width is 23mm external, 18mm internal. A rim brake version will ship first, and a disc brake specific version shortly thereafter. No rider weight limits on any of them.
Both the road wheels/rims and fork are 2015 product and should hit retail in fall. Look for OEM placements on 2015 bikes this summer.
