DT Swiss Competition Spokes [Rider Review]

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 DT Swiss is house hold name when it comes to bicycle wheels. And their spokes are just as much. DT Swiss offers their Competition spoke for those looking for good weight savings but still the stiffness needed. Our friend, Danny, laced up his wheel with competition spokes. See what they think!

Overview

First off, if you need spokes you basically can't go wrong with DT Swiss spokes. This is a premium spoke brand, but in the grand scheme of things spokes aren't really that expensive. If you are actually buying spokes it's likely that you are building a wheel or replacing a broken spoke. In either case, the price of the spokes themselves is going to be negligible when compared to the time you spend or the labor you pay for. Since you are already investing a bunch in time it doesn't make sense to skimp on spokes: buy some nice spokes!

Moving onto these specific spokes, the DT Swiss Competition spokes are a great choice for mountain bike wheels. These are 2.0/1.8/2.0mm spokes. This means that the ends of spokes have a 2mm diameter while the middle of the spoke tapers to 1.8mm.

This saves some weight versus the slightly cheaper 2mm straight gauge spoke

(about 1 gram per spoke) and some people claim that tapered spokes stretch a little more leading to a stronger wheel with spokes that don't break. I've never broken any of these DT Swiss champion spokes so maybe that is true.

If these spokes are so good why would you ever need more of them? In my case, I needed to replace the spokes and nipples on my Santa Cruz reserve wheels. This wasn't because the spokes failed, but because the aluminum nipples seized onto the spokes. I realized 2 months ago when trying to tune up the spoke tension on my wheels that as I was trying to twist the nipple the spoke was also just spinning around and around and twisting up. This means I didn't use enough spoke dope when I assembled the wheel :-( Remember to always use a generous amount of spoke dope when assembling a wheel with aluminum nipples.

Final Thoughts

Wheel assembly with the DT Swiss Champion spokes was straightforward as expected and the wheels work like wheels should. I recommend the black spokes for more of a stealth look. The black finish on this spokes is quite rugged, and I haven't ever seen it chip off during assembly or during use. I'm a 170lb rider and as I mentioned I've never had a Champion spoke break on me. Go ahead and save some weight on your wheels and make them pretty!