DT Swiss RC 46 carbon clinchers

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jonster
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2012 2:12 pm

by jonster

Wondered if anyone owned a set of these and what they thought? Not that common in the UK but found them for under a £1k on a european site so seem a good option for a quality, good value and light aero carbon clincher. Main concerns with these are warranty and servicing in the UK (especially if you buy online outside the UK). Any info / personal experiences would be appreciated. Any pics of them on a bike?

Also considering Enve carbon clinchers (not cheap) or Dura-ace C35 clinchers (more affordable but somehow less exciting), if you have any thoughts.

thanks

JT

by Weenie


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Frankie - B
Admin - In the industry
Posts: 6573
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2003 8:17 am
Location: Drenthe, Holland

by Frankie - B

Moved to the road forum.
'Tape was made to wrap your GF's gifts, NOT hold a freakin tire on.'
If you want to see 'meh' content of me and my bike you can follow my life in pictures here!

Doolop
Posts: 550
Joined: Wed Jul 08, 2009 9:19 pm

by Doolop

Never owned a set.

Worked on tons of DT hubs- By far one of the easiest hubs to work on. Pretty much tool free maintenance.

Spokes- Straight pull spokes, although usually only found in pre built wheels are stronger then jbend.

Rims- Seems hard to mess up a rim these days. It is internally drilled though, which would make truing a pain.

Overall, seems like an awesome wheel though I personally would prefer external nipples.

ipenguinking
Posts: 743
Joined: Sun Jan 09, 2005 5:14 pm
Location: Sunny So Cal

by ipenguinking

As far as I know those rims are made by Reynolds and they are pretty bombproof.

em3
Posts: 883
Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2008 2:57 pm
Location: NYC

by em3

The 2011 and newer wheels (RRC 46, equivalent to Reynolds Forty Six) are indeed bombproof as Reynolds (the manufacturer for DT Swiss branded rims) greatly improved on the earlier DV46 model, by changing the resin and carbon layup on brake track, yielding a wheel with increased resistance to heat build up and deformation/delamination, which was reported as common failure on earlier DV46. The newer rims are recognizable by the so-called "swirl lip" on the rim near the spoke holes.

Even if a good deal I would be leary of pre-2011 rims.

EM3
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suny
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:16 am

by suny

Nice post. I like it. Thanks for sharing these information. Keep it up. :beerchug:

jonster
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2012 2:12 pm

by jonster

Thanks for your comments, I picked up the wheels for under £900 and am very pleased. They are stiff, super smooth and weighed exactly as claimed (1523g ex rim tape) - Look great on my CDE Dogma2 too (pic attached!). Only thing to note is that I ran swiss stop yellow pads initially but they left some yellow residue on the carbon braking surface, so I switched to the swiss stop for lightweight (same pads apparently but black). After a bit of squealing while bedding in these now seem to work really well with the DA calipers.
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Grill
Posts: 662
Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2012 12:12 pm
Location: Oop North

by Grill

Do they have the ctg braking surface like the Reynolds? I have Attacks and use the Reynolds specified pads and have no problem with noise/residue/power etc.

by Weenie


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chrisjleu
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2014 8:13 pm

by chrisjleu

I owned a pair of DT Swiss RC 38 Spline carbon clinchers, my first set of carbon rims, and I thought they were excellent. I immediately noticed the difference in speed and responsiveness when I put them on and it was even more apparent when I put my old wheels back on again after a few months. But the reason I had to put my old wheels back again was because the carbon rims deformed during a cyclo while on a descent (first the front and then rear a few minutes later). On returning the rims to my bike store who in turn returned them to DT Swiss, I was told that the warranty does not cover cases whereby excessive braking is the cause of the failure. I'm fairly experienced as a cyclist and a reasonable descender so I know how to brake properly while descending (in fact I try not to brake much at all if possible!). To my mind I made use of the brakes no differently than I've done thousands of times before. Not only that but the tire pressure was not too high (something like 7.5 Bar/110 Psi - the max is 9 Bar as stated on the rim itself) and the temperatures that day were relatively mild (it was only 9 am in the morning anyway). So for me the rims where not under particularly extreme conditions. My conclusion was therefore that it was a manufacturer issue. Not so apparently.

My warning is therefore that while the wheels themselves are great, the warranty on the DT Swiss rims does not appear to be up to much. I was told by my bike store that with other manufacturers they've always been able to get issues such as these solved without any trouble or cost. They are considering not stocking the DT Swiss rims (at least the carbon clincher version) because they don't want to be in a position where they have to absorb repair costs themselves or pass on this cost to disgruntled customers.

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