Will a 24 spoke DT Swiss Powertap go out of true too easy?

I am thinking of getting a wireless Powertap on a DT Swiss RR1.2 rim. I was looking for a 28 spoke wheel but I've only seen a 32 and a 24 spoke option. 32 spokes seems like over kill. But my old coach told me not to get a 24 spoke powertap because he said it would always go out of true. Anyone have any experience with the 24 spoke version going out of true? I'm 115lbs and I am hoping to use this wheel to train and race on.

Thanks,
Ariel

 

Depends how good your wheelbuilder is. At 115 lbs, you are not likely to be putting big stresses on a wheel, 24 spokes should be plenty. And if it does eventually go out of true, well get it trued! I'm pretty sure you can get 28 spoked hub though.

 

Well...24 DT competitions spokes, PowerTap SL 2.4 and American Classic 420 is strong enough for a 175lbs rider so stronger rim under your feathery 115lbs will work just fine. Just make sure to use good wheelbuilder.

 

I was thinking of ordering the wheel online. Perhaps that's a bad idea?
So how do you know if someone is a good wheel builder? Are there questions I should ask that would give me an idea if someone was a good wheel builder?

Thanks,
Ariel

 

Wheelbuilder.com

I'd ask Rich what he recommends re: spoke count.

 

I just had my rear DT wheel completely rebuilt by www.excelsports.com and they did a great job through out the process. They also build using the PT hub. You can use their wheel builder page to go through and build using a variety of rims and spokes including DT products. They were also good with customer service and returned my phone calls to expedite the order so I am sure you can contact them for any questions. They also have a live web question service as well.

 

At 68 - 70 kg (~150 lb) i used to ride my CXP14 wheel daily on some [email protected] roads. This was a 24 hole, 30-mm rim on a PT Pro hub. Never went out of true. Used it for training and racing and wasn't careful about avoiding pot holes etc.

ric

 

Also I notice that you are specifying the DT 1.2 while the DT 1.1 is lighter by 168 grams. I am ~164 and have had no problems with the wheel set (until a bad crash ).

At 115lbs you could probably (easily) use the DT 1.1 with Revolution spokes on a 24h PT hub.

Edit: I just noticed on the Excelsports wheelbuilder that it doesn't have a 24 hole DT 1.1 rim. Starts with a 28 hole, but it is still light.

 

Thanks everyone for your input. I think I'll be happier with the 24 spoke count.

Cheers,
Ariel

 

DT Swiss has for 2008 a new model, with a reduction in weight, 50-60 gram compared ro RR1.2, the model is R520. But still is the height and semi areo design almost the same asfor RR1.2. I do not know what it will cost. Holeconfig is 20,24,28 or 32.

 

Or you can get a Niobium 30mm rim, which weights 460g. Cheap, too.

 

THat's what I'm having built. Nobidium rim (from BeyondFab) 2x sapim bladed spokes. I'll let you know what the wheel weighs when I get it back.

From a price/performance view the Nobidium rim blew everything else away even allowing for getting it imported form the states.

 

i can also vote for Rich at wheelbuilder.com. He knows his stuff and my experience has been great - top customer service as well. Bought 2 sets of wheels through him

FYI - 70kg (154lbs), DT Swiss RR1.2 [edit was RR1.1], 28 spokes PT SL 2.4, Sapim cx-ray spokes. This is my training wheel (& some races). Only issues (minor) i've had have been hub related.

Also bought a set of Zipp 404's w/ PT SL 2.4 from wheelbuilder - again, no issues

 

I cannot recommend the DT swiss 1.1 rims, mine required way more care than should be needed for a rim of that style and despite a lot of care the rim eventually failed.

If you purchase a preassembled powertap I would take it to a wheelbuilder and have them tension balance it and true the wheel. Mine wasn't even close out of the box and some of the spokes had almost no tension on them at all.

My powertap has been rebuilt with an Open Pro rim and after seeing the problems that the DT Swiss 1.1 had (around the eyelets especially) I cannot see me ever getting another. It made it about 3000 miles which is horrible considering I have Open Pro wheels that I have been riding for several years without any real maintenance at all.

 

Was the lack of tension on your spokes something plainly obvious? Or did you only find out from taking it to a wheelbuilder to check the tension?

I ended up getting a prebuilt Powertap in a DT Swiss RR1.2 rim 24 spokes (received it straight from Quality Bike Parts Distributor). I checked to see if the wheel was true when I got it out of the box. It seemd to be ok. I hope this wheel will not give me problems.

 

I know I posted this myself some time ago. However I'm planning to order a PT SL 2.4 hub for myself and was thinking that would it still be better to get 28h hub since I weight porky 78-79kg/~175lbs at the moment. I'll get that down to 73-75kg/160-165lbs before the spring comes though. I'm going to build it to Kinlin XR-300/Niobium 30/Cadence Aero rim so I think 24h should be strong enough for me, but would four more spokes make it conciderably stronger without trading in too much aero benefits? Not that this is super aero wheel to begin with.

Roads here are pretty bad or sometimes very bad. 24h hub, two cross DT Competitions, 30mm rim or 28h hub two cross DT comps or Revos, 30mm rim???

 

I apologize for not checking back in a bit but regarding the spoke tension, yes I feel like it was pretty obvious. Each of the spokes that are on the same side of the hub should to a certain extent be under the same amount of tension. Mine out of the box had spokes that looked like they had been laced but never adjusted, it was round but there is a little more too it than that.

That's why I suggest taking those prebuilt wheels to a shop, I would think any shop that builds wheels would be able to check the tension of the spokes and if its not in the powertap manual then they will be able to look up the right tension for that particular hub and the way that it is built up. A quick check at home is too pluck each of the spokes they should have kind of a musical note to them, if one is too loose to pluck or sounds a lot different than the rest you might have problems.

 

Tension is actually specified by the rim manufacturer. Most popular rims (Mavic OP&CXP, Velocity, DT, etc) recommend 110-120kgf for the rear. If you send the Mfg a quick email, they'll probably tell you what they recommend.

 

Your right its not in the Powertap manual, at least not mine, there is some pretty specific information in there as far as how they think it should best be built up but not the tension. DT Swiss has a chart for all of their rims on their website, though it is in Newtons.

One thing I noted when I was looking at that chart on their site is that all of those DT rims have a weight limit placed on them, its not that low but I am little suspicious of an aluminum box section rim that has a weight limit similar to what you see for most extremely lightweight rims.

Here is a question for one of you: DT always known for their spokes made hubs for awhile under the Hugi name (and I like my DT hubs) but how long have they been making rims under their name or another?

 

Yeah, a weight limit for a rim is a silly specification for them to list. A 24h wheel built with 2.0/1.5/2.0 spokes laced 2x is going to be a lot less durable than the same rim with 32h 2.0/1.8/.20 laced 3x.

1100N = 112kgf
1200N = 122kgf
http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/ncrick/converters/force.html

I don't know how long they've been making rims, but I think it's <10 years. They are well regarded, but I've been more than happy with Velocity. I'm lukewarm on Mavic. Never built/ridden DT.