Fresh Goods Sunday - DT Swiss HEC 1400 SPLINE 62mm Centre Lock Hybrid Endurance Boost 700c Carbon Wheelset

 

This is my second set of DT SWISS wheels after many years of buying Mavic wheelsets. If you have followed my blog since me buying my Specialized Creo, or if own one and are looking for a replacement or second pair of wheels you will soon notice that due to the none standard hub spacing/size you are very limited in choice. To date I still don't think you can buy a set of Roval carbon wheels with road boost hubs in the uk. Anyway after some research / a lot of emails I carried out a bank robbery and I bought some HGC 1400 42mm garvel wheels. I have been very impressed with the build quality and ride of the wheel, very little flex when out of the saddle, take the sting out of riding off road and seem to roll better than the standard wheels the bike came with. 

At the time no one in the uk had fitted or used DT SWISS road boost wheels on a Creo so I wanted to buy local in case they did not fit and had to be sent back to Madison. I was talking to a mechanic in America who has rebuilt / up graded several Creo,s and he said he had fitted DT SWISS wheelsets straight from the box and they did not need re dishing etc and he was right. They fit straight on without any problems. 

So I was looking for a narrower/deeper 700c carbon rim wheelset, again no choice apart from DT SWISS. After some research the HGC 1400 spline boost 700c comes in two different rim depths, 47mm and 62mm. Madison only import the 47mm into the uk but you can get both options in other countries. At the time I found some on bike discount de website and I have had good service from them in past but only for small parts etc. Anyway I added them to the basket and had to pay p&p due to the size of the boxes and they arrived on my door mat via tracked dpd within 4 days of ordering. The boxes weren't bashed/squashed and the wheels were in perfect condition thank the lord. Again you get the same manuals, tubeless valves, valve guard stickers, disc rotor adaptors. The rims come pre taped for tubeless set up. Again its the same quality as my first pair and fitted straight into the forks and rear stays. No dishing etc was required and they run central with the same clearance to both sides. I fitted the cassette from my original wheels and some Panaracer Gravel King tyres, more on them in an up coming Fresh Goods Sunday. 

These feel even quicker on the bike especially when you get them up to speed. They run super smooth and there is some noise from the freehub when freewheeling which I like but no where near as loud as a Hope hub though. The only downside just like all other deep rims is if you get a strong side wind it trys and takes the bike from underneath you. Over the many years of cycling you learn to compensate for that when it happens but what I don't like is when you are hit on the side from a gust when you are not expecting it. 

The downside is the price. The rrp has shot through the roof and they are nearly £2k in the uk now and Madison don’t have any stock of the 47mm version. 

Bike discount de do have stock of both the 47 and 62mm models and at the time of writing this they are £1120 exc p&p. I am not sure about import tax / duties etc with the new Brexit bollicks, might be worth looking into as you may get a bill. Are they really worth the money, in my eyes no but you don't have much choice. 

RRP £1949.98 (was £1836.95 before price increase) and I paid £1381.65 inc p&p from Bike discount de (several months ago)

Manufacturers blurb -