Muddy Brown's Blog: Fresh Goods Sunday - DT Swiss HGC 1400 Hybrid Spline Road Boost 700c Wheelset

Well after many months of looking I have finally found some carbon wheels that fit the Specialized Creo SL. In fact I have found three wheel sets all manufactured by DT Swiss that have road boost / spline spec'd hubs.
These are the are the HGC 1400 Hybrid Spline 700c models, 42mm deep rim x 24mm internal rim width. They also come in a 650b version, same hubs / same section rim just in 27.5" format. The part I did not like is the eye watering rrp £1835! The 650b version is the same rrp and so is the deeper 47mm but narrower 19mm road version wheels HEC 1400 Hybrid Spline 700c.
Again shop around, the cheapest I could find in the UK was from Cycle Solutions £1560 (with a 15% off voucher code) but they had a long led in time. Bike Discount de are around £1330 (but out of stock at the time of writing this) and the 650b £1305 (in stock at the time of writing this).
I could not find much info in the UK about road boost wheels / fitting etc and the info I did find was mixed. Some shops said the front wheel will need re dishing, then some people from abroad said they fit straight from the box. I was not going to take a chance that the wheels a, did not fit or b, needed re dishing so I contacted a few local cycle shops and see if they could order in a pair / fit them to the bike and make sure they fitted and or needed re dishing. Some shops never come back to me considering Madison the UK importer had stock.
Anyway after a few chase up calls / messages I finally got sorted with Mark Mather and Simon from The Bike Rack Yarm. After ordering they arrived 3 days later so dropped the bike down and tried them in. Well they do fit straight from the box. Just make sure you order 110mm x 12mm for the front and 148mm x 12mm for the rear.
I have never ran a pair of wheels with such a big internal rim width and it looks massive! Once home I swapped over the rotors, cassette, tyre (fitted a new one to the rear) set them up tubeless and popped them onto the bike. I had to re adjust the rear mech indexing as it was slightly out with the different manufacturer of hubs and she is ready to rock n roll.

Update - Setting the wheels up tubeless was very easy. The wheels come with DT Swiss own tubeless valves and the rims are pre taped ready. I stripped the front tyre off the old wheels, put some washing up liquid on both beads just in case it was tight to fit onto the rim but it was not too bad. It aired up first time and sealed ok. I fitted a new tyre to the rear so again put some washing up liquid on both beads and with it being a new tyre it was a much tighter fit but nothing too hard. Poured in approx 80ml of new Stans and it also aired up first time and sealed. The front tyre measured nearly 45mm on the 24mm int rim width! that was 2mm more than the alu DT Swiss R470 rim. The rear was just over 43mm but that will probably expand over time when the new tyre gets some miles in.
Today was the first ride and within a mile I could notice a massive difference with these wheels. The bike sounded a lot quieter, the gear changes were also quieter. The massive rim width you can feel under your hands / bum, the general ride is a lot smoother / like riding a on a cushion of air. I kept the tyre pressures exactly the same as the old wheels but I am thinking of dropping them down a little. There is no weight difference at all in the two wheel sets. It was a good test today with deep rims in the 45+mph winds but they felt more planted than when out on a road bike with deep carbon wheelset. Overall first impressions it has changed the ride of the bike and believe me the bike rode very well before. Once I have a few more rides / miles on them I will report back again.

rrp £1835 and I paid £1650 The Bike Rack Yarm

Manufacturers blurb - While our Hybrid Endurance wheels are made to deliver maximum speed on tarmac, our Hybrid Gravel wheels will deliver maximum fun on gravel roads. The HGC 1400 SPLINE 42 is the exclusive answer for all high-end e-gravel bikes that set the benchmark in a new cycling segment. With a select mix of high-end e-specific components, this wheelset has the pedigree to be the uncontested King of e-gravel.