Avanti Inc 3: DT Swiss R 24 Spline Disc Road Front Wheel

In a previous post, when I upgraded the disc brake rotors on my Avanti Inc 3 to Shimano RT81 Ice-Tech rotors, I took the chance to weigh the stock wheels on the bike. It was only then that I realised how heavy the stock wheels are!

With a stock front wheel weight of 1124 grams and a rear wheel weight of 2711 grams, those wheels are heavy! By reducing the weight of the wheels, it will improve the acceleration of the bike. However, due to the fact that the rear wheel is specially laced to the Alfine 11 internal hub, there is no way to change it easily, unless I choose to lace the hub to a new rim, which is troublesome.

As for the front wheel, it is possible to change it quite easily, as it is just a normal front wheel. The front wheel of this bike has a standard 700C rim, with a disc brake front hub. All I need to do to replace the front wheel is to get a 700C front wheel with disc brake mounting.

Due to the increasing popularity of hydraulic road disc bikes, 700C wheels with disc brake mounting is becoming more common. Thus it was quite easy to find a suitable front wheel to replace the stock wheel on the Avanti Inc 3.

The front wheel that I chose is the DT Swiss R 24 Spline Disc Road. Why did I choose this wheel? Read on to find out in more detail!

Overall view of the new DT Swiss front wheel

Each wheel comes with a card that is individually signed by the wheel builder

Large logo uses the entire rim profile. Without a rim brake track, the logo can be much bigger even though this is not a high profile rim.

Internal rim width is 18mm wide, which is good for wider tires, such as the 32C Schwalbe Marathon Supreme tires.

Hub with straight pull spokes, and Centrelock disc brake rotor mounting!

This front wheel weighs 820 grams as claimed by DT Swiss. This makes it 300 grams lighter than the stock front wheel, which is a big deal!

Comes with rim tape, QR axle and an adaptor for 6 bolt disc rotors.

Adaptor is provided, if you want to mount a 6 bolt rotor on the Centrelock splines.

The rotor adaptor, which allows the 6 bolt rotor to be mounted on this hub

Together with the lockring, a 6 bolt disc rotor can be fixed onto the Centrelock hub.

Comparing the wheels side by side. The stock front wheel with 32 spokes vs the new wheel with 24 spokes.

Rim height and width are similar, but the old wheel has a boxy profile while the new wheel has a smooth toroidal rim profile.

Bladed spokes on the new DT Swiss wheel. Also, with Centrelock disc brake mounting, the RT81 Ice-Tech rotors can be installed easily.

High quality cloth rim tape, which I use on all my wheels to avoid punctures from sharp spoke holes.

New DT Swiss wheel with the tires and disc brake rotor installed!

Seen as installed onto the Avanti Inc 3 bike

Appearance mis-match between the front and rear wheels, but this makes it unique too.

I really like this new DT Swiss front wheel, as it just looks so good with the large decals. In fact, it will match a road bike really well! This large decal is possible even with a low profile rim (around 25mm), as there is no need to have a rim brake track. The entire height of the rim can then be used for the wheel decals.

Also, the new front wheel weight of 820 grams is a lot lighter than the stock front wheel, which is a nice touch. I am not expecting any speed boost with this wheel upgrade, but it does feel better to be using a lighter and more high quality front wheel. I wish it was possible to upgrade the rear wheel to the same rim too!

Lastly, with Centrelock disc brake mounting, I can continue to use the newly upgraded RT81 Ice-Tech rotors. With the use of just one centre lockring, the brake rotor can be installed easily!