DT Swiss R32 Spline DB

DT Swiss has been on a roll lately (sorry), turning out some excellent wheelsets across the price range. We were impressed with both the RR21 Dicut road wheels and the R24 Spline db when we tested them recently. The R32 Spline db is the big brother of the R24, gaining both a deeper rim and a lower overall weight, with the expected trade-off being a higher price. It's designed as an all-rounder, combining toughness and a reasonable weight, and can be used with a raft of different axle options.

The R32 Spline follows the trend for an increase in rim width, measuring 18mm internally and 22mm externally. As befits a disc brake-specific wheelset, there is no brake track. DT Swiss's documentation suggests that it's suitable for tyres between 23mm and 60mm wide. The rim is designed to be suitable for tubeless tyres and is supplied with tape installed, but can also be used with an inner tube. You also get a spare roll of tape and the tubeless valves in the box, so you just need to bung in some air and some sealant and you're ready to go.

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My previous experience with road tubeless was a bit of a faff, so to begin with I stuck on some 25mm tyres with tubes. Installation and subsequent removal was pretty straightforward – sometimes with tubeless rims things can be rather tight. Later, with the help of fellow tester Iwein's compressor, I took the plunge and fitted some 40mm tubeless Schwalbe G-One tyres. It was startlingly straightforward – the easiest road tubeless setup that either of us had experienced. Repeating the process with just a track pump, it was a similar story. Since then they've held pressure admirably too.

> Buy the front wheel online here

> Buy the rear wheel online here

Using wider tyres probably helps, but DT Swiss appears to have done a bang-up job of getting the rim shape just right. My first impression, when unboxing these wheels, was that the sidewalls of the rim were particularly thin. I've heard wheel manufacturers explaining that making the bead hook section as thin as possible helps improve the aerodynamics of the wheel, though I suspect that this is rather less significant when running 40mm tyres. As a disc brake wheelset, there's no material needed for braking, obviously, but it's still startling that these can apparently cope with 130psi in a 23mm tyre. Maximum pressure reduces as tyre width rises, so with my 40mm tyres the maximum is 80psi. In practice I generally ran them at between 35 and 60psi depending on what kind of terrain I was riding.

Tubeless and disc-brake compatibility means two on-trend boxes ticked, and further future-proofing is assured with thru-axle compatibility. DT Swiss has helpfully included push-fit adaptors to suit 15mm and 12mm thru-axles, as well as a conventional quick-release. The adaptors are nicely turned from aluminium and secured in the hub by means of an o-ring.

There is flexibility in terms of brake rotors too. The excellent Centerlock system is standard, with the rotors locked in place using a Shimano external-BB wrench. If you want to fit six-bolt rotors then that's no problem, as there are adaptors included for that too.

The rim is welded aluminium with a smart matt black finish, which contrasts nicely with the very shiny silver hubs. Straight-pull bladed DT Swiss aero spokes are used, 24 front and rear, with a two-cross lacing pattern. Straight-pull spokes are considered stronger than J-bend ones as the bend is a weak point.

The aero spokes used here are double-butted and thread into aluminium nipples fitted with Pro Lock compound (a patented threadlock liquid that is – wince – injected into the nipple) designed to prevent them loosening. In the longer term, I wonder if threadlock and aluminium nipples are happy bedfellows – I imagine the former could increase the chances of the latter rounding off when truing – but during the test period the wheels remained admirably true, so I had no need to wield the spoke wrench.

> Check out our guide to road bike wheels here

DT Swiss claims a weight of 1720g per set; we weighed ours at 1735g excluding skewers. It's a reasonable weight given that they're tough enough for some off-roading, but there are lighter options at this price or even a bit less.

I fitted the R32s to my On-One Bish Bash Bosh all-road commuter bike and they are a good match for how and where I ride it. Thanks in part to the thru-axles, no doubt, lateral stiffness is good, giving a confidence that the bike will go where you point it. The bearings spin very freely and it's also worth noting that the freehub is particularly low drag – DT Swiss knows a thing or two about making good hubs. Removing the cassette after a few hundred miles showed only the tiniest amount of biting into the (aluminium) freehub.

Now that the countryside is drying out after winter, my commute ventures further off the tarmac, and I found the R32s to be willing accomplices in this. They shrugged off forays onto bumpy canal paths and more technical rocky sections of bridleway. In these conditions, having confidence in the strength of your wheels is a must, enabling you to push harder downhill and keep momentum uphill. Needless to say, good tyres are just as important – we'll have a review up on the G-Ones in the near future, but here's a sneak preview: they're good.

> Check out our buyer's guide to tubeless road wheels here

> Check out our buyer's guide to tubeless tyres here

What about cyclo-cross racing? The semi-deep rims and tubeless compatibility would make a good case for these, although you might favour something a bit lighter, depending on budget and terrain. I haven't done any cross races this year, but I'd have no concerns about their ability to cope with the knocks and bumps, and being able to run low tyre pressure without risk of a pinch flat is usually a big advantage in CX.

The market for all-road wheels is growing fast and there's more choice than ever. While the R32s are neither the lightest, the deepest nor the cheapest, they're great-quality wheels at a reasonable price. They tick a lot of boxes, and the inclusion of adaptors to suit different axle standards is a nice piece of future-proofing even if you're running standard QRs now.

My experience of fitting tubeless tyres to them was serenity itself. To ride, they reminded me a bit of the brilliant American Classic Argent Disc wheels that I was so impressed with on last year's bike of the year, albeit carrying a bit of extra weight.

Verdict

Good tubeless-ready all-road wheelset built from quality parts at a fair price, with added future-proofing