DT Swiss had a plethora of new wheels to show off that drop below the $1,000 mark for the first time ever for the brand…and we’ll get to those in a minute.
What’s equally exciting is the collection of new hubs they have. First off, the new 240 Lefty hub gives Cannondale riders more upgrade options. For those running normal suspension forks, the 240s get a new 15mm convertible hub that can switch to 9mm QR axles.
For downhillers, there’s a new 240 150×12 rear hub that’s about 200g than the 440, so you can build up a much lighter DH wheelset.
Much more after the break, including a little spy shot…
Here’s the new 240s Fifteen, which easily swaps between 15mm thru axle and standard 9mm QR.
For the more budget conscious, DT’s all-new 350 family of hubs comes with all the same internals as 240 line, but has a beefier Taiwan made hubshell versus the machined out Swiss made 240’s. So you get a lower cost hub with the same high quality internals as their premium hubs. Weight will be about 100g heavier per hub versus the 240, but pricing will be considerably less.
For 2011, DT Swiss is phasing out their long-standing two-pawl systems, moving to star ratchet mechanism on all hubs. And from there, they’ll have this 36-tooth engagement ring that’ll replace older rings with fewer teeth…something along the lines of working with any hub they’ve made in the last 8-10 years. Just swap ’em out and you’ll have tighter engagement and less pedal rotation before the rear wheel starts going.
TRICON WHEELS
Tricon has been DT Swiss’ high end line of wheels with three-piece hubs that separate the spoke tension from the hub shell holding the bearings, which they say cuts bearing drag and leads to a smoother rolling wheel. for 2011, they’re offering new, lower cost versions with a one-piece hubshell and a bit heavier spokes, dropping the price below a grand. They’ll retail for $900 for both road and mountain, and both are tubeless compatible. In fact, it’s the same rim (shown below) as the higher end Tricon that sell for $1400.
Also new for 2011 on the high end TRICON models there will be a Lefty model…which may or may not actually be the wheel shown above.
If you’re an OEM buyer looking to up-spec your bikes while keeping them price competitive or you’re a consumer on a budget, the wall of wheels above should make you tingle a bit. These are DT’s first full line of sub-$1,000 wheels.
New $330, $400 and $550 price point wheelsets for both road and 26″ mountain are on the table, but offering high end options on them like star ratchets and available white rims and hubs. This is made possible by using sleeve jointed rims (versus welded) and the new 350 hubs, but they’re still all hand built by DT Swiss. But wait, there’s more!
An all new M1800 all mountain 29er wheelset with 26m wide rims, 350 hubs and double butted competition spokes is coming in December for just $600. Weight is about 1900g for the set, and the front hub is a convertible 15mm axle.
Less exciting but worth mentioning is that their higher end mountain bike wheels get new graphics. More exciting but not shown is that they’ll have a high end XC race level 29er wheelset coming along sometime early next year…which to us means Sea Otter. And by that we mean we’ve got it on pretty good word that those and some other killer new goodies are on tap from DT in the near future, we just can’t tell you what (yet).
