Did you happen to notice the wheels on that new OPEN WI.DE. gravel bike? They are DT Swiss’ latest aero optimized tubeless carbon ‘road’ wheels, again ready to break away from the asphalt. The new gravel wheels follow up on the same SwissSide lessons learned in the wind tunnel starting with their endurance wheel lineup – that you can always optimize your wheels to be faster, no matter how wide the tires.
DT Swiss GRC 1400 aero carbon gravel wheels
What did we learn back in 2016 with the introduction of the ERC 1100 Aero+ wheels? Aerodynamics will save you energy at any speed, but especially on long days out racing solo, aero gains can come in handy.
Sure these aren’t going to say you minutes on your hour long weekend trail ride with 2.4″ tires on your new Open Wi.De. gravel bike. But don’t forget about crazy gravel racing like the Dirty Kanza this weekend.
Pop some 700x 35mm tires on your endurance gravel, and not only will you get added comfort, better sidewall stability & a wider contact patch thanks to the new 24mm internal width, but the blunt-nosed 33mm outer width of the rim will be easier to push through the wind all day.
Besides a bit of comfort boost, rolling resistance tests show a 5% reduction with the same 35mm tire on the new 24mm internal rim vs. on DT’s similar 22mm cross road offering at 51psi. That even jumps up to a 7% rolling resistance savings at 65psi (a reminder that while lower pressures in the range of 65-75psi might be lower rolling resistance than 150psi, it isn’t a linear scale where resistance continues to drop by letting air out. Note to self: we really need to see more concrete pressure to resistance to tire size & profile data.)
New DT Swiss Gravel category details & pricing
When DT introduced their Road Revolution line-up overhaul last year, we were wondering how gravel got left out (RR18 included: aero, performance, endurance, cross road & track.) Well now Gravel is added too, bumping up a couple extra mm, and importantly adding 650b options to the otherwise 700c heavy lineup.
From the start that means three new wheels across a broad spectrum. GRC 1400 Spline 42 is the top (Gravel Race Carbon) at $2438 / 1938€ in carbon with a 42mm deep, 24mm internal, 33mm external rim – 1562g for 650b, 1634g for 700c.
GR 1600 Spline 25 brings some more all around affordability with an alloy rim at $694 / 558€ in aluminum with a 25mm deep, 24mm internal rim – 1723g for 650b, 1811g for 700c.
Then, G 1800 Spline 25 builds that same alloy rim into even more affordable wheels for $483 / 388€ in aluminum with a 25mm deep, 24mm internal – 1806g for 650b, 1895g for 700c.
All of the new gravel wheels are centerlock disc only, with modular thru-axles based on 240, 350 & 370 hubs, and get 130kg (286lb) rider+bike weight limits. They are all built with 24 2x straight-pull DT spokes, and available with Shimano 10/11 & SRAM XDR 12-speed freehub bodies.
