Latest Custom Builds — DT Swiss

Neil is a very frequent flyer here at XLR8 Wheels. We've built some cool wheels for him (and there are more to come). That's the greatest compliment we can get - repeat business from astute customers. Always working on a new bike project, he got in contact with a plan to have some Hope RS4 road hubs built onto some DT Swiss R500 rims. We agreed, both solid component choices. Neil also likes the fact that the hubs are easily convertible to 12mm thru axles if he ever needs to do so in the future. As is often the case,...

Neil had a 24h DT Swiss 350 hub lurking in a drawer, and a new Specialized Axis alloy rim, also 24h. He got in contact thinking these two should be mated for a spare rear wheel for his disc road bike. Being a bigger guy, we advised that a plain gauge spoke would be the best solution on this rear wheel, in order to control lateral felxure of the wheel under load (both pedalling and cornering). So Sapim Leader in black it was. He's a sucker for the all black aesthetic, so we used Sapim black 12mm brass nipples for...

Josh emailed us looking for a new rear wheel for his trusty XC bike. He's been rocking 26 inch wheels up until now, and can't see the benefit of moving onto the bigger wheel sizes. He specifically races XC and ride Trails around Canberra, and sought our advice about a perfromance wheelset that was not too expensive, but offered a perfromance upgrade on his current wheels. After putting some quotes together, he realised the options we were suggesting enabled him to get a pair of wheels, and stay within his budget. Winner! We selected the Alexrims SPRK 2.1 rims as they...

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...

Rob wanted two pairs of wheels for his touring and commuting bikes. Both needed dynamo hubs on the front, and he wanted utmost reliability for the rear hub. Ideally standard ball bearings and cones, and a steel freehub. The Shutter Precision PD-8 hub fit the dynamo need perfectly. They are inexpensive, robust, and work well. Also well supported here in Australia. The Shimano Deore XT hub is the perfrect rear touring hub. It's very well made, the bearings are beautiful (and easily serviced) and the freehub is steel, so super tough and resistant to the gouging that can occur with...