You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I posted up the sad tale of my knackered wheel a couple of weeks back, and thought it might be worth updating the latest installment should anyone be interested.
I was fairly clear it was fundamentally 'user error', so the aim was to get it repaired. I'd orginally bought them from Veloworks in Glasgow at the end of May, so that was my first port of call, but they were shut for a couple of weeks, so I held on until they opened back up. An exchange of emails to explore the possibility of getting the rim replaced yielded the response that the DT Swiss didn't offer replacement rims, and insisted that the wheels be sold in pairs, so the only option was to buy a new set, or have a new wheel built.
This sounded a bit off, particularly as at least one other local bikeshop had a single front wheel for sale online - I'd considered buying it and getting the rims swapped as the next best option. Before that, I thought I might as well give DT Swiss a try direct, as the idea they were selling unrepairable wheels seemed a little 'off' when most companies are trying to give the appearance of being 'green' to some extent or another. DT Swiss directed me to Madison as the UK distributor, and they came straight back to me with a confirmation that they could replace the rim for £60 plus the cost of the rim. They quickly followed that up with an email giving details of the return process, and a pre-printed label for posting. Assuming they do a competent repair, then that's a gold star for Madison at least.
Assuming they do a competent repair, then that’s a gold star for Madison at least.
Indeed, but pretty piss poor from Veloworks who didn't want to support a previous custom - especially one who was willing to spend more money!
Does that £60 include all the postage? Sounds like a pretty fair deal if so
Don't TFT do wheel rebuilds on DT Swiss factory wheel sets? They certainly were when I was looking for a replacement rim for a 1501 set
Now Madison rather than TF for all DT service and warranty issues.
Postage - I’m paying for posting to them, the £60 includes them sending it back.
DT Swiss site has TFT for forks and shocks, Madison for wheels.
No idea the circumstances behind Veloworks response - didn’t pursue it with them, and didn’t want to speculate.
Weird, why would the shop not just order the rim from Madison? They could have made margin on the rim and labour to fit.
Only fiddly bit can be working out what the correct replacement rim is for some complete DT wheels.
Personally i wouldn't be paying 60 plus cost of rim, that'll be up there at 130 or 140, and if postage isn't inside that even more, you can buy a new wheel for around 200 quid, you can buy a 28 hole rim similar to this one for 50 quid and get it fitted cheaper, it seems a bit of a faff for a rim replacement to be honest.
...so rather than pay £130 to replace the rim on a 2 month old wheel, you'd buy a new one for £200 😀
Yeah, generally they don't sell their factory wheel build rims at retail even though those rims will probably be one of their catalogue rims with different decals. Can be a right pain if you want to keep a particular wheelset matching with the same decals. Kudos to Madison for coming good but it'd still be cheaper to find out which rim is used in that wheelset, buy the retail version, get it swapped over by an lbs and put up with mismatched wheels.
afaik, spline decalled rims are available through distros but the lead time is significant.
I came across a company doing spline re-rims with oe decaled rims. its full service based so no rim only sales.
Cant find them again now though.
In your case, the G540 appears to be the rim on your wheelset, so entirely repairable like for like, decals aside. Which could also be what Madison are doing for you?
You're lucky. A mate ****ed a pair of SRAM Roam 60 carbon rims on the same root. If that wasn't need enough, they were on a second hand bike so no warranty. And even if not, the sram warranty basically said if you ride them and they break, tough (unlike the rims).
To top it off, there 24 hole straight pull. Try finding any decent 24h rims.
Yep, 24h SRAM is a real pain. I ended up turning a 24h carbon SRAM wheel into a Stans crest 24" wheel as that was the only was I could breathe life back into that hub.
Argh yes I have a spare 24h SRAM (DT) hub for this very reason.
ditch_jockey
Full Member
…so rather than pay £130 to replace the rim on a 2 month old wheel, you’d buy a new one for £200 😀
Nah, was just stating the cost of replacing a rim against the total price of the wheel, i was saying just get a rim and replace it locally, if it's a new rim you can save pretty much everything, spokes, nipples, etc, and get a G540 rim and you'd save a fortune, any competent wheelbuilder would do the switch for less than 60 quid.
I imagine that DT want to ensure that every 'DT wheel' out there has been built and checked by them or their service centre network, hence why they don't supply matching decal rims on their own.