Back in the late 00s, DT Swiss opened a new manufacturing facility in Taiwan. All of the best machinery from their Switzerland operation was replicated. However, there were a few teething problems (which are now 100% sorted), particularly with the quality of some raw materials.
The R1900 wheelset was an example of this. The DT Swiss Champion plain gauge spokes used were substandard, and micro pitting of the spoke surface would always lead to early spoke breakage. Always.
Yes, always. We strongly doubt that many of these fine wheelsets are still rolling in their original state!
These wheels were provided to us by a rider who said "I was swimming in the pool one day and I heard the "pop, pop, pop" as a few spokes just snapped, whilst the bike was leant up in my garage!".
We rebuilt the original DT Swiss 370 hubs (restickered as DT Swiss R1900) onto the R1900 rims with Sapim Race and Sapim Leader spokes, and the outcome is a wheelset that will ride reliably for many years.