Hi all,

I’d like some assistance in deciding what rims I should be getting.

I am going to be building a set of wheels and am using DT Swiss FR440 hubs.

Was going to use Swiss rims; something from their Enduro (EX) or Freeride (FR) range.

Has anyone been using Swiss rims from either of these ranges and how did you find them (good I hope!) or are they pants and should I get something else?

If I should get something else any recommendations would be grateful.

Thanks for the help.

Jules

Nice rims to build with, always easy to get perfectly straight.Never used then myself, but the general concensus is they’re a bit prone to denting. My personal recommendation would be something from Mavic, always good quality and something in the range to suit just about everybody.

easy to pull straight when building because they are so soft. The dont last long but are reasnoably light.

I just use mavic because they last more than 6 rides

I wouldnt buy those fancy red freeride/dh rims unless you like square wheels. They are softer than philadelphia or whatever that sh1ts called.

They are a race rim designed to dent rather than have your tube flat.

A joy to build, wide and light, but very ding prone.

Used to be a little soft so have a reputation as cheese-like but are much much improved now. I’ve been running a pair of EX 5.1ds for 8 months or so of Peaks, Lakes and Wharncliffe riding and also raced DH on them and they have no dings at all and are still dead straight.

Only negative I have found is that some tyres are very difficult to get on and off.

They are a race rim designed to dent rather than have your tube flat.

How does that work? Surely to avoid a pinch flat by being soft, the rim would have to be so soft as to melt in the sun!

Dont ask me but apparently they do.

When i was out in Whistler last year Bearback had the Red fr rims on the hire bikes and a box or ridiculously dented rims. Apparently the wheelsets had arrived with a box of spare rims for just this purpose.

Hi all,

Thanks for the replys.

I had heard that DTS rims could be a little on the soft side, but I did read or hear that they sorted the problems out.

I was wondering of those that did say they were a bit on the buttery side, were the comments based on use or what has been heard?

I’ve been mooching around the net and can pick up FR6.1D’s (which were my prefered choice) for £44 each, which I thought was a good price and being free ride rims I thought they would be pretty hard wearing – I’d be a tad miffed if they dented on my first ride!!! Afterall reputation is everything and one would assume that DTS wouldn’t want the biking world slagging off their rims and not being recommended especially as I understand that their hubs are some of the best available and I was looking for a totally integrated wheel.

Any further comments would be appreciated especially from anyone who has run FR6.1D’s with a tubeless conversion (which is what I was planning myself)

Thanks

Jules

Dt’s FR2350 wheelset (that we have on our guide bikes) used to be laced with 6.1d rims. As above – these are designed as a race wheelset so that you dent your rim on a race run and finish your race run rather than pop a tube and dont finish.
The 5.1D uses a different alloy compound to the 6.1 and across our 4 guide bikes running 5.1d rims based wheelsets.. not one dented or non-true 5.1 rim.. some of which are from 2006 builds.
DT have responded to the complaints from non racers and changed their DH rim’s compound to match that of the 5.1.. so, the New FR600 rim should be a different story all together.
For 2009, the FR2350 wheelset is now built with this ‘tougher’ rim.

We had a few spare rims around as we have guides riding the bike park 5 days a week all season long, guiding, riding for themselves and racing the phat wedneday series.. we expect that we will have some rim failures and swapped out 3 last year across the 4 DH guide bikes. As a comparison, we had a guest destroy 5 mavic 321 rims in 10 days, all cracked at the eyelets.. so in that respect, DT did pretty well.

So, Jules.. look for FR600 for DH if you can and you’re not looking for a race rim… other wise I highly recommend the 440’s laced to 5.1d’s with supercomp spokes. We have 2 sets from 2006 that are a good weight, still true, hubs still butter smooth and are tough as old boots.

Interesting stuff BB, but are you able to explain how a softer rim alloy prevents pinch flats? Surely the relative hardness difference between rubber and a hard alloy and rubber and a soft alloy is immeasureable?

I have been running FR6.d’s ghetto tubeless with 2.4 Conti Mountain Kings for nearly a year, no dents or dings.

Hi,

Thanks yet again for the information.

I would like to point out that I’m not actually an off roader just yet as I am putting together a bike at the mo and off course wheels are an important part of the bike.

Also I won’t be doing anything competative or doing any mad DH,so I suppose you’re wondering why I want such a high end set of wheels.

Well I am emigrating fairly soon to Malta and that is basically a rock in the middle of the med. There just isn’t anything soft to ride on, everything is literally rock hard, hence I wanted to put together a tough set of wheels.

I understand you can’t get much tougher than FR440 hubs, hence that is why they are going to be the heart of my wheels and was therefore looking for an equally tough and long lasting rim. Don’t really want to be having to keep replacing the rims after every ride – won’t be much fun, will be expensive and time consuming to say the least.

Will take the info on board – was wondering, however, about nipples – was thinking about using DTS’s prolock version or is this just overkill?

Thanks again

Jules

DT’s 240S hub is still a tough hub, lace that to 5.1d rims with super comps and you’ve got a bomb proof wheelset for any aspect of pedalling.
Or look at the EX1750 as that’s essentially what i’ve mentioned above, only with aerolite spokes.

We have various spoke nipple combos:
Supercomp – alloy
competition – brass prolock
aerolite – alloy prolock
never really noticed any difference between them in terms of ongoing maintainance.

Stoner – Pinch Flat wise.
Ok, so pinch flats occur when an object on the trail causes the tyre to deflect towards the rim and resulting pressure between the tyre and rim causes the tube to split (mechanical damage to the rubber/butyl). if the rim retains its shape then the force of the object striking the tyre and subsequently tube and rim remains the same.
If the rim dents, then the force is reduced as the deflection of the rim away from the object makes this resulting pinching force smaller.. hence reducing the chance of pinch flats.

I love analogies… so, lets say you get in a car accident and whilst daydreaming trying to understand what I’m talking about you drive up the back of someone at a junction.

Scenario 1 – the car you drove into has his foot planted firmly on the brake.
Scenario 2 – the car has no brakes, no handbrake and is sat in neutral

Which scenario has less resulting damage?

Scenario 2 is less bad as the car you just drove into is able to roll forwards as you hit it, and thus the some impact energy is taken up propelling the other car forwards.
Consider the car rolling forwards to be exactly the same as the softer alloy rim deflecting away.

Or, think about air bags.. would you prefer to hit you head against something that deflects, or something solid? Although I guess talking about hard air and soft air would get confusing.

Hope that makes sense.

cheers BB – I get the principle, it’s just that I cant see how the relative difference in alloy hardness can be substantial enough to have a real world impact on the number of pinch flats that occur.