Last year, DT Swiss unveiled its Degrees of Freedom (DF) anti-pedal kickback system as an upgrade kit for its DEG freehubs. Now, the brand has included it into its fresh lineup of 1700 wheels, bringing the joys of a smoother ride to all riding styles.

The folks at DT Swiss recongise that times change, and in cycling, technology moves fast, so its latest 1700 wheelset lineup has been built to keep up. Importantly, that means that each alloy wheelset gets category-specific asymmetric rim shape, and there’s a carbon wheelset on offer for those who prioritise lightweight.

DT Swiss has gone for asymmetrical rims in pursuit of creating stronger wheels. That’s done by offsetting the spokes to achieve more even spoke tensions. However, it’s not just category-specific; rather, front and rear-wheel-specific, too. The brand reckons that these new designs have hit the “sweet spot” in strength and agility.

Whether it’s the enduro-focused wheelset or the cross-country one, each 1700 pair of wheels benefits from a 350 hub. This rustles up 72 teeth (though the Hybrid, e-MTB wheel gets 60), for a speedy engagement. However, the brand has also thrown in its DF, or Degrees of Freedom tech, for good measure. This introduces some dead space in the freehub’s engagement to combat the negative feedback that can come from pedal kickback. It’s adjustable, too, and it can effectively be turned off if it’s not your bag. But note, this isn’t available as standard on the XC-specific XRC 1700 Spline option.

As for spokes, the 1700 wheels use DT’s competition race spokes. These feature a thin middle section to shed precious grams while balancing stiffness and durability. These are laced onto the rim via flat hex aluminium nipples to avoid pinching rim tape during installation.

Where the non-e-bike range shares a lot of features between wheelsets, the e-MTB-specific Hybrid wheels go about things slightly differently. Their hub shells benefit from a boost in strength, while the freehub body is built of steel, rather than aluminium, in the interest of longevity. The Hybrid wheels also get the DF tech, but feature adjustment from zero-degrees to ten. These also get beefier spokes to help cope with the extra weight of an electric mountain bike.

All wheels are available with SRAM XC and Shimano Microspline freehub bodies, while the EX 1700 option brings a Shimano HG freehub option, too.

Prices start at £279.99 and go up to £419.99 per wheel, and there are currently no plans to bring the XC-going XRC 1700 wheelset into the UK.

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