Description

At I Know A Guy Bicycles, our “Trusted Partners” are more than just brands—they are vetted small businesses that represent the heart and soul of the cycling industry.

I choose to partner with people who take immense pride in their craftsmanship and who live by the same rule my dad taught me back in his shop: “If you can’t do it right, don’t do it at all.” In a world of mass-produced, “good enough” gear, these partners are true gems. They prioritize quality and longevity over quick sales, ensuring that when I recommend a product to you, it’s a product I’d trust on my own family’s bikes.

Trusted Partner: Bicycle Wheel Warehouse

DT Swiss has been progressing their rim product line steadily. At present, DT Swiss offers some of the best rims in the market place, if you were to take into account rim weight, strength, durability, easy of use, (tubeless tire setup), precision rim finish, performance, and aesthetics. Don’t believe us, maybe you’ll believe Terry Bradshaw. The DT R500db, despite it’s humble product catalog position, is quite an exceptional rim. It’s strong, light weight, looks good, has attractive decals, and builds up smoothly. If you’re into racing (Doh! not that kind of racing), training, or you simply prefer to buy really nice gear, this is your starting and finishing point. That’s pretty straight forward.

Ready for a radical miracle? Just a walk in the park Cougar.

The Speed Tuned ST280 hubs feature 72 points of engagement, (5 degrees) via a 6 pawl free hub. The drive ring and pawls are super overbuilt in terms of diameter, (drive ring), height, (drive ring + pawls), and materials, (quality stainless). Their bearing placement is proper, in terms of overall design meant to promote hub function and durability.

DT Swiss 350 hubs are excellent as well, they are finished to incredible standards, and include DT Swiss’ Star Ratchet engagement system, (same exact drive mechanism as with their DT 240’s and 180’s). These hubs get the job done, hold up extremely well in an assortment of conditions, and have proven reliable even in the emerging context of high torque drive trains, (29er wheel bikes with 1×12 Eagle drive trains). Essentially, DT 350’s offer you the option of buying one of the best performing hubs available anywhere, for only a modest price bump. Given their huge value proposition, they are hands down a great option for any MTB rider that cares about their gear.

In “stock” form, these wheels are built with Sapim Leader black spokes in a 32 hole, three cross configuration front and rear. Sapim only produces spokes and nipples, their focus has translated to legendary quality and performance over time. If you didn’t know a thing about spokes, know that your wheels would come with a really top notch spoke product. That being said, we’re offering a spoke upgrade option, in the form Sapim Race or Sapim DLight 2.0/1.65/2.0 spokes. Essentially, you might be able to find a spoke product that approaches Sapim’s quality, but you’d be hard pressed to find a company that makes a better spoke product. All their spoke products, from straight gauge to their elliptically bladed and butted products, are all the best of the best. Sapim Dlight spokes will perform at the same relative level as DT Competition spokes for example, but will shave off approximately 75 – 80g from the wheel set.

The DT Swiss R500db is a stellar wheel set option for either road or gravel, in a field that’s composed of some of the best aluminum alloy rims ever. Given their level of performance, they are an unbeatable deal, (coupon codes here). We’re not joking around here. If you don’t have a lot of time to research all the rim options in the marketplace, if you don’t have a lot of money, and if you can find this product page, maybe that’s Magic.

Should you buy this wheel set? Entirely your call. Should you watch this short but sweet rock climbing video? Absolutely. One More Fun One.

Make That Two.

DT Swiss R500db Tubeless Clincher Disc Specs

700c	*Front Wheel*		*Rear Wheel*		*Wheel Weights (approx)*
Rim Info	Aluminum Alloy Clincher, double wall, tubeless ready
ETRTO	622 x 22mm
Weight	≈500g				≈500
Sidewall	Disc Brake compatible
Inner Width	22mm
Outer Width	25.5mm
Rim Depth	23mm
Rim ERD	597
Rim Tape	Tesa Tape				≈ 15 – 18g/wheel (varies)
Valve Type	Presta valve
Tire Type	Tubeless Ready OR Standard Clincher with inner tube
Tire Volumes	700 x 28 – 54mm (sweet spot is 35 – 46mm)
Nipple Info	12mm Brass Chrome Plated @ ≈ 1g ea				32H = 32g
Spoke Info	Sapim Leader 2.0mm (14g) Stainless Spokes Black ≈ 6.5g ea (26″) Sapim Race 2.0/1.8mm Double Butted Stainless Black ≈ 5.625g ea (26″) Sapim DLight 2.0/1.65 Double Butted Stainless Black ≈ 4.85 ea )26″				32H = 208g 32H = 180g 32H = 155g
Spoke Count	Front: 32H		Rear: 32H
Spoke Pattern	Front: 3 Cross		Rear: 3 Cross
Lengths	292/294mm	288/290mm	290/294mm	290mm
Hub Info	ST160	DT350	ST280	DT350
Hub Weight	152g	174g	280g +/-	308g +/-
Hub Shell	Aluminum Alloy
Axle Info	Variable, Please select
Hole Ct	32H		32H
DriveS PCD	41	52	61	52
DS Ctr to Flange	22.5	35	19.5	19
Non-DriveS PCD	41	58	45	58
NDS Ctr to Flange	34	23	35	34
Axle Material	Aluminum	Steel	Aluminum	Steel
Bearings	Sealed Cartridge Bearings
Bearing Size	M17287 EZO x 2	6902 x 2	M17287 EZO x 4	Shim 6902 x 4 XD 6902, 6802 (2 ea)
Aluminum Freehub Options	Shimano HG “splined” MTB series 8/9/10/11 speed = Road series 8/9/10 Shimano Road 11 Spd Shimano MircoSpline (12TA end cap only) MTB 12 Spd Speed Tuned ST280 only Sram XD 1 x 11 and 1 x12 Spd Sram XDR (road 1 x 12 Spd) Speed Tuned ST280 only

Wheel Weights

ST160/280 32H Race	F ≈ 851g	R ≈ 979g	Set ≈ 1830g
ST160/280 32H Dlight	F ≈ 822g	R ≈ 950g	Set ≈ 1772g
DT Swiss 350 32H Race	F ≈ 873g	R ≈ 1007g	Set ≈ 1880g
DT Swiss 350 32H Dlight	F ≈ 845g	R ≈ 979g	Set ≈ 1824g