DT Swiss EX 5.1 D rims, your thoughts please

Thinking of buying some of these 2nd hand on pro 2 hubs but iv’e heard a lot of different reviews, some saying they are soft as cheese and some saying they are very tough.
They will be going on my Santacruz Bullit and I ride pretty hard in Wales so would these be suitable or not?
If not what would you recommend? I have a budget of around £160 and need a good wheelset for my trusty steed 🙂

Anyone??

I’ve got a set on my Nomad and they are fine. They’ve been pinged off various bits of rock in the Peaks, the Lakes and Wharncliffe amongst others and are completely ding free.

I think, although I might be wrong, that the D in the name refers to a refined, later version of the original rim that is much stronger than the original ones that were a bit like cheese.

I got some cos they looked good. Only done around 700 miles, some, in Wales(Marin), some in Peaks. I’d get some again, don’t see what’s better.

I found them both weak and soft, but I’m not you and don’t know how/where you ride (Wales is quite big andd your idea of riding pretty hard may be miles from mine). if the price is good, buy them, if you ding/bend/flatspot them simply re-build with a 721s spoke length is close enough to switch over.
rims are disposable items anyway.

DT rims are in general a bit softer than Mavic’s, but they’re also a good bit lighter than the equivalent Mavic’s.

I’ve ridden a week DH in the alps on mine, and haven’t dinged them at all. I was keeping a watchful eye on the tyre pressures though (running tubeless via DT/Eclipse rimstrips).

Would I buy them again? Well, not at RRP to be fair as they are very expensive, but the wheelset I bought them on was a bargain from Merlin last year. But they’re perfectly acceptable if you’re not a wheel wrecker. I’m the kind of inbetween person that would worry on a set of lightweight rims like Mavic 717’s or DT4.2’s, but doesn’t want full on DH rim weight.

You should be fine, and as GW says, if you do wreck them just replace with Mavic 721’s as these are definitely tougher, though 100g per rim heavier too.

ace. bugger to get tyres on/off though!

Mine got dings in them after the first ride. I sold them pretty soon after.

Had some 5.1d’s on 440Fr hubs with supercomp spokes and alloy nipples on my Ransom.
They were built and went on in 2006, they did 2 summer seasons in Whistler (averaging 3 hours per day I reckon), trail riding, guiding and XC racing, also a winter on a Blizzard hardtail riding in the UK, North Van, Squamish etc.
Since then they’ve done another summer season of hard riding in Whistler by one of our guides who was probably riding 5+ hours a day all summer long.

He broke a few spokes and appart from replacing those, nothing else has been a problem. They are still straight, not dented and most folding Kenda tires are removeable by hand or 1 plastic lever at most.

I’ve dented a 4.2d (low pressures and crap bike control.. I rode over a sharp rock on teh virgin ride on my race bike) and put lots of dents in my DH bikes 6.1’s.. none of which have gone out of true though.

The 5.1s have been superb.. pretty much fit and forget. The 6.1’s have been somewhat frustrating but the wheels do take some abuse over a seasons Bike Park riding so its an issue that we have to accept.

mboy – 721s are only about 60g heavier than DT 5.1s

Have 5.1s at the mo all good but can be almost impossible to get certain tyres on, hence lots of sidewall scratches, but hey…black marker pen sorts it if you is bovvered. Have also run 721s, *90* grams heavier but could get almost all tyres i used with them on without levers. Would get another set of 721s over 5.1s in future due to tyre issues….but 5.1s do go tubeless v easy by all accounts…..

😉

absolute ***************************** to get tyres on and off so if you change them a bit don’t bother. I got one of those mavics in the pic above and it’s great. All my mates went to various lighter/tougher/fancier/better rims and spend hours trying to change tyres chipping knuckles as they go. I stuck with mavics gone with 321’s 521’s 325’s and some of the 700 stuff all spot on rims

One bad landing in the alps last year saw my rear 5.1 rim getting flat spotted.

Not sure I’d buy them again, unless I learned to ride better and / or lost some weight!

On 729’s now and although heavy, they seem bombproof.

i’m a right fat get (17 stone before my morning poo) and I’ve had hopehoops for two and a bit years, they’ve been razzled in the alps on my squidger, thumped down snowdon, clattered round the lakes and shuddered through the megaavalanche and are now performing admirably on my cotic. so remarkably strong for the light weight.

getting comp 16’s on and off is a complete bastard, you need a pedros dh tyre lever.

Tyres?

It depends on which ones you use, fellas. I never had a problem with Bontrager Jones, Nobby Nics, or Kenda Nevegals, but Panaracer Fires were a bit tighter. Still doable no bother with 2 decent tyre levers though….

Equals.

You can even see where they have cut the holes in it for the rims!

I’m going to echo Bearback. I’ve got DT5.1’s on my Heckler, which I used for guiding in the Alps last summer. Rode almost every day, with vehicle/chairlift uplift so getting loads of vertical (well over 100,000 vertical metres!). Fast singletrack, rocky/technical singletrack, super-rough DH courses, no problems at all. I do have one minor ding in the rear rim, but that was definitely down to “pilot error” (jumped a square-edge drainage ditch and didn’t quite make it!).

Been running them tubless (with the DT kits). Great. Getting tyres on and off is a weird one. I’ve spent half an hour, breaking tyre levers trying to get a tyre off/back on one day, then had to do the same rim/tyre the following day and got it on/off with fingers alone. I reckon you really have to make sure you’ve got the opposite bead off the rim and into the centre channel.

They are fine, not cheese like in the slightest.

If you can’t get tyre on or off then you either have shit technique (yes there is a technique in changing tyres) or have limp wrists and weak lady fingers.

Strong, light, easy to change tyres with limp wrists. Pick 2.

I’ve had 5.1D hope hoops on my Pitch for a good while now and not had any issues, I’m not exactly a light weight (13.5st) or an overly skilled light riding god type character either.

Also got Mavic 321’s on my other bike and for the cash they’re bloody good too

Had mine 2.5yrs and have had no issues at all, other than plenty of scratches and scuffed decals, but then they’ve only been ridding on a full-sus. My 717 rims, by comparison have only been on a hardtail and have many many dings in them since I’m not exactly a smooth rider!

I would choose 321s over 5.1s any day.

Got them on my Hustler for more than 12 months. They have had 14 stone of lard to cope with on a regular basis with no problems whatsoever, I even landed hard enough one day to snap my seatpost and puncture my tubeless rear tyre, but the rim is still unmarked and true. Add to that, the outstanding reliability of the Hope hubs, for the money nothing comes close.

14.5st here.

I’ve heard the stories of 5.1’s being soft and they do seem to gouge quite deeply in loose rock, but they’ve stayed true and round of the 2 years I’ve had them.

I broke one at the weld falling down the stairs with my bike, but that doesn’t really count.

Just to add some weight to my comment further up the thread, I am about 18½ stone and they have coped fine with me.

If I replaced those wheels now, I’d get Stans Flows or Archs. I’m very impressed with them.