"Do it all" wheels - DT Swiss 350 with Gigantex carbon rims

Wheels for Lucas, who was looking for "do it all" wheels - daily work commute with 50/50 tarmac/gravel and weekend's escapades. Wheels supposed to be strong, reliable, reasonably light and price attractive. It looked like "Mission impossible" but we made it and we made it very well.

The specs are pretty exotic as the hubs are 100/135mm with 6-bolt disc mount. The bike is cross/cyclocross so a bit odd axles for such bike. At the end, that became an opportunity as reliable DT Swiss 350 came up with very good prices for this setup.

Those, who read my blog regularly might be a bit surprised reading that I'm in favor of DT Swiss hubs. Yes, I highlighted few times that the geometry of rear DT sucks, BUT in case of 28 spokes that issue goes away. Such high number of spokes will keep the wheel stiff and ratchet system will benefit here for wheel's reliability. 

As always, when it comes to disc wheels I'm lacing leading spokes with heads in and trailing spokes with heads out. A small detail, but will pay back during hard & sudden disc breaking. 

Spokes are pillar PSR 2016 on front and rear NDR side and PSR 2017 DR side. Lucas is pretty light rider, so those spokes will be more than enough. Nipples are brass, as per Lucas requirements. 

Rims are 40mm profile from Gigantex. Gigantex makes the best OEM rims I know. As a wheel builder you can recognize a good carbon rim looking at spoke holes drilling angles, amount of epoxy inside the rim, the structure and how the rim behaves during truing. Here Gigantex is a true leader. Not a surprise, that they make the rims for the biggest cycling giants in the present market. Most of the riders riding branded and premium rims, ride Gigantex...

40mm carbon wheels, 28/28 1.6/1.7mm spokes, brass nipples, and DT 350 hubs. All that shows 1720g on the scale including rim tapes. If I'd use alloy nipples the weight would go down to 1690g, with aero spokes I'd achieve 1680g. In general, for such strong wheels, this is a good weight, especially taking into account the price...

The price for complete set: wheel + Stans valves + Vittoria Terreno Wet 33mm TL 2020 Graphene tires with Stans sealant and setup cost 1200CHF. 

Fair prices for excellent quality components and swiss labor. All that only @ Blackcat wheels.

Wheels look simply awesome and they ride great. Daily commute, weekend's loops, and occasional cyclocross races - they do it all. The rest is in your legs. 

Thanks for reading!

Tomasz

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