DT Swiss recently announced their lineup for 2009 and we thought we would bring you some of the highlights.

Forks

As a company DT Swiss are most well known for their wheels, but in late 2006 they purchased the suspension fork division of Yorkshire company Pace. These forks had been renowned for years and Pace became knownas a company which produced some of the nicest forks on the market.They were one of the first companies to use carbon in their shocks which performed well and were lightweight.

Adrian Carter

We talked to Pace founder Adrian Carter at the World Championships in 2007 about the sale of the fork division. Carter said that he was actually relieved to sell the forks as the lead in time to change a component was too long and they required very specialist work, something that DT Swiss are better equipped to deal with. He prefers to develop frames, which he can alter very quickly and this is where Pace is now focusing there attention although they do retain a consultancy role and the dealership for the UK.

Meanwhile DT Swiss have been quietly developing their forks which were first presented last year. They use many innovative systems such as the DT Swiss thru bolt, which is very similar to the Thru axle design but fits a regular quick release fork drop out. Thru axles have been suggested as the future of fork design as they give a much stiffer axle body leading to better tracking and suspension performance with less flex and brake rub. The standard is 20mm which requires a specific hub and dropout. Shimano, in conjunction with Fox, Rockshox and DT Swiss, have produced a 15mm version (slightly lighter than the 20mm) but DT Swiss would seem to be the first to make a thru bolt for standard dropouts and hubs.

In a clever move, DT Swiss were quick to sign the Swisspower team, featuring Nino Schurter, Florian Vogel and MTB legend Thomas Frischknecht early on in there fork development. These top athletes give feedback to the company constantly which allows for quick developments and improvements. A quick glance at the teams results shows how successful DT Dwiss have been in developing a world class fork with multiple podiums in ‘07 and ‘08.  Reliability issues are a thing of the past and the new forks have as much attention too detail built in as the famous watches that Switzerland is renowned for.

The XCR 80mm and XCR 100mm (pictured below) forks are a thing of beauty with carbon legs and arch. Weighing in at 1380 grams each they both come with handle bar lock out. The price? well this kind of technology does not come cheap and is a rather shocking €880 but quality is the name of the game here and these forks feature buttery smooth travel at a ridiculously light weight and with the benefits of a handlebar lockout.  At Eurobike lots manufacturers utilised this fork on their flagship models such as Scott and KTM.

XM stands for cross mountain in DT Swiss speak, designed as a do it all series. Capable of Apine days, marathons and trail riding its a versitile and durable series. The XMC 130mm (5 inch) fork (it also comes in 80mm and 100mm) weighs 1650 grams and features an open oil bath. There is also a 15mm thru axle version (pictured below) and all versions are the same price as their light weight XC cousins.

EX is enduro and the EXC 150mm (6 inch) fork is designed for eating up technical singletrack and bike parks. This tough but light weight fork (1650 grams for standard version) is capable of anything you through at it and comes in an optional 15mm fork dropout (pictured below) as well.

Rear shocks are also an area the company has focused on and the formidable XR carbon shock (pictured below) adorns many high end suspension machines even cropping up on bikes which don’t feature the front shock due to contractual reasons such as Merida who use Manitou forks on their top bikes. Featuring a cable handlebar lockout this shock is featherlight at 139 grams for the 31mm version with 3 other versions available with longer travel. There is also an XM 180 and an EX 200 which are heavier but more durable and with larger travel.  Dt Swiss has been developing their OEM (Original Equipment Manufacture - what appears on production bikes) side of the business this year and it shows with products appearing across the ranges of many brands.

Wheels

This is where DT Swiss came from and like Mavic they have developed their own wheel systems.  One of the big breakthroughs has been the development of their star ratchet system for the freehub which is pictured below.  This allows for really fast pickup in the freehub body reducing in quicker engagement of the freehub and therefore faster riding.

A look inside the 240s rear hub (pictured below from Eurobike) reveals the ceramic bearings and star ratchet system in place and the high level of engineering involved.

Looking at the range, first up is the FR 2350.  This is a tasty red freeride wheel set featuring thru axles, welded rims, cartridge bearings and the DT Swiss star ratchet drive system in a 32 spoke pattern.

Next up is a nice all round MTB wheelset, the X 1800.  The front wheel weighs 780grams with standard quick release or 810grams in 15mm thou axle.  The rear weighs 1020grams and features DT Swiss’ two pawl drive system.

The E 2200 is an enduro rim also in red at 930grams for the front wheel, 1170grams for the rear and is available in Centrelock or 6 bolt disc patterns (pictured below).

The XR 1450 is the companies standard lightweight cross country wheelset featuring welded rims and high end hubs featuring the star ratchet drive system.  The front wheel weighs only 670grams with the rear only 780grams.  A 15mm version is also available.

The grand daddy of them all though is the carbon fibre XRC 1250 wheelset with full carbon hand made rims and high end ceramic cartridge bearings and the star ratchet system.  This elite wheelset weighs only 580grams for the front wheel and 650grams for the rear knocking 210grams off its aluminium brother.  While the price is this is a scary €2400 roughly DT Swiss are recording strong sales with over 3000 wheelsets sold last year and 4000 of the rim which retails at around €600 a pop.

DT Swiss told us that they expect to break the 1000gram wheelset some time in the near future but at the moment this is one of the best wheelsets on the market.  They also expect a trickle down of technology to the mid range price market over the next few years but don’t expect carbon to become cheap as the cost of the raw material is sky rocketing currently due to a high demand from the air line industry.  For the moment DT Swiss are among the top 10 companies supplying OEM in the marketplace having grown from a company of only 28 people 14 years ago to employing 300 world wide.

We are awaiting an XCR 100 fork which is in the post and we will be giving a full review of it shortly once we have had some trail time.  Its one of the most eagerly anticipated arrivals in the office and having seen the range in the flesh at Eurobike we are pretty confident of it living up to expectations.