DT Swiss is celebrating three decades of making precision bicycle components with three limited-edition flagship products that it says will “transport you right back to our origins”. For its road-based customers (DT is, of course, also a producer of mountain bike suspension and other off-road specific parts) is this special 30th-anniversary version of its ultra-light climbing wheel, the ARC 1100 DICUT DB 38, which weighs a claimed 1,292g.
To give it that nineties vibe, DT has scrubbed the plain black anodising and given the hub and spokes a high-sheen, mirror-polished finish. The cherry on top of the nostalgia cake is the original red interlocking DT logo, inherited from fellow Swiss brand Hügi, which it acquired in 1995, featured on both the rim and the 180 hub. On the other side of the hub body is the legend: “Three decades engineering performance” (sic).
Except DT Swiss didn’t strictly start in 1994 – the company can trace its roots back to 1634, when it manufactured wire in the Taubenloch gorge in Biel, 45km north-west of Bern. Two centuries later, in 1934, the Vereinigte Drahtwerke AG (United Wire Works) launched the production of bicycle components, primarily spokes.
Sixty years later, in 1994, Frank Böckmann, Maurizio D'Alberto and Marco Zingg founded the company in its modern format, DT Swiss AG, following a management buyout of Vereinigte Drahtwerke and from then on, says the brand, the initials DT started as “the synonym for top-quality Swiss spokes”. ‘DT’ in reality stands for Drahtwerke Tréfileries, which means wire works in German and French – Biel/Bienne is a bilingual city – reflecting the company’s origins.
The centre of DT’s spoke production – and its R&D – remains in Switzerland, but since 1994, the company has added production and sales sites in Germany, Poland, France, the USA and Taiwan. The Switzerland HQ is now located in more spacious and modern premises in Biel’s industrial area, Bözingenfeld, but the old company logo can still be spotted on the roof of its former headquarters in the Taubenloch gorge.
For a quick potted history of how the brand came to dominate the OEM wheel market, here goes. A year after its founding, DT Swiss acquired the licence for the Hügi Ratchet System technology and added hub manufacturing and distribution to its spokes offering, launching a complete line of hubs for road and mountain bikes.
In 1999, the company invested in top-quality nipples and innovative technologies, launching a range of brass and aluminum nipples in different dimensions and – as it was still the 1990s – colours. Five years later in 2004 – now 10 years since its founding – DT started to produce wheels with its own components, spokes, nipples, hubs and rims, going on to supply the market with a huge variety of system wheels for all cycling disciplines.
2019 saw the launch of the Ratchet EXP hub system, its lightest freehub, used in the brand’s top-spec hubs, the 180 and 240. EXP, by the way, stands for ‘experience’, DT Swiss highlighting that it had now been in business in its latest incarnation for 25 years. The new-generation Ratchet system was claimed to be lighter, stiffer, more accurate, easier to maintain and faithful to DT’s engineering performance credo.
And that brings us to 2024 and the 30th anniversary. According to DT Swiss, the company mission remains the same: “To develop high-performance products that provide ambitious cyclists a decisive advantage.”
With the 30th-anniversary 1100 DICUT DB 38, DT Swiss is not claiming any decisive advantage over the standard version, and they are priced exactly the same, but comparing the specs side by side on DT’s website, the front and rear anniversary wheels are claimed to weigh 1g less each than the standard ones.
The other ultra-shiny silver hubs to make an appearance this year were in the Roval Rapide CLX II Team wheels, first used by Soudal–Quick-Step and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe at the Critérium du Dauphiné. By contrast, these did offer an advantage compared to the standard versions Rapide CLX II and were also £500 more expensive. At 1,360g, they weighed 130g less, mainly thanks to a different layup in the carbon rim, but the silver Roval hub shells – which used DT Swiss internals – were claimed to save 2g with their polished finish compared to the powder coating and painting of black versions. It appears that silver not only looks faster but it actually is faster too.
Both the Roval Rapide CLX II Team and DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT DB 38 30th-anniversary wheels use DT Aerolite stainless steel bladed spokes, but DT’s are, like the hub, polished silver. Could Roval have saved even more weight?
There are signs elsewhere in the bike industry that silver is making a comeback at the top end. Earlier this year SRAM launched its new flagship Red AXS groupset, which has more silver on the chainset and rear derailleur we’ve seen in years – and it looks incredibly classy. Let’s hope 2025 brings even more retro-modern silvery goodness.
DT Swiss’s UK distributor Madison has pre-sold the 30th-anniversary wheels to shops across the country – get in touch with your LBS if you’re looking for a pair. They’re priced at £1,399 for the rear and £999 for the front.
Specifications
- Front wheel: 12 / 100mm
- Rear wheel: 12 / 142 mm
- Hub: 180 DICUT® Silver with 54T Ratchet EXP System
- Brake interface: Disc, Center Lock
- Freehub body options: Shimano Road (SRAM XDR included)
- Rim: Carbon, hooked bead, tubeless ready
- Rim dimension: 622 x 22mm
- Rim height: 38mm
- Spokes front: T-head spokes, DT aerolite® II, silver
- Spokes rear: T-head spokes, DT aerolite® II, DT aero comp® II, silver
- Nipples: DT Pro Lock® hidden aluminum
- Spoke lacing: 24 x 2 cross both wheels
- Weight: 1,292 g
- Accessories included: Tubeless tape (mounted), tubeless valve, valve guard, SRAM XDR Road freehub body kit, wheel bag for two wheels by EVOC
