Bike Project Europe: DT Swiss builds the wheels for our European mountain bike

Martin Walther, CTO DT Swiss:

Wheel construction is a craft. People are simply better at it than machines. They learn quickly and are flexible. Incidentally, the best wheel builders in the world are female.

All topics:

• The DT Swiss headquarters in Switzerland
• Spokes every second
• DT Swiss is the world market leader in the spoke business
• There are robots, but you can't do it without skilled labour
• Handmade in Poland
• Emotional moments with Marketing Manager Friso Lorscheider
• Spoking wheels is usually a woman's job
• DT Swiss company history
• The DT Swiss production facilities

The DT Swiss headquarters in Switzerland

The words of Swiss luxury watch manufacturers are emblazoned large and mighty above the city. They sound like what the Swiss Confederation is known for all over the world: Swiss precision workmanship. This doesn't really fit in with the many trolleybuses that circle between the post-war buildings in Biel. If you still have a spontaneous desire for a fine watch, you can satisfy your craving directly from your car seat at the Swatch Drive-in not far from the Omega Museum. Just over the border of the Champagne neighbourhood, the Tissot Arena rises above an industrial area.

Right next to it, a sliding door opens the entrance to the DT Swiss headquarters, a company that has always been associated with Swiss ideals. "We have always produced where we sell. As a supplier to the bike industry, today that naturally also means Taiwan. But as a Swiss company, it has always meant Europe for us," says Friso Lorscheider as the panes of the sliding door slide aside and adjusts his large, white sports glasses. The interior design is reduced to the bare essentials and is based on just four colours. The white walls are lined with red armchairs and black tables on a grey carpet. A single green houseplant stands somewhat lost among all the corporate identity. But the interior design is secondary here, as the hubs, spokes and glass boxes full of nipples on the walls make clear.

"We would also prefer to build the same bikes for ten years. The fast pace of the industry is often demonised, but the pressure ultimately also comes from the customer."

Spokes every second

Another door leads directly into the large spoke workshop. It smells of oil and the hammering of the forging machines shatters the conversation into scraps of words. Friso tries anyway: "There are exorbitant differences in spoke quality on the market. Spokes have to behave the same way on the surface as they do on the inside. Although most mountain bikers have 64 of these parts on their bikes, this is often completely underestimated." To ensure that all bikers get enough spokes, they fall out of a mixture of brand new and ancient equipment every second. The lining for each of the machines for classic round spokes is wound from 800-kilo wire spools.

DT Swiss is the world market leader in the spoke business

They are used up after just one day. First, the wire is cut to length, then the spoke head is cold forged and bent. Finally, the machine rolls the thread before the spoke falls directly into a dispatch box. Its destination is already clear, as everything produced here has already been sold. The trend towards 29-inch wheels in particular has led to a surge in the production of high-quality spokes. After all, large wheels have to withstand more forces, but should remain light. "Demand is growing every day. That's great, but it also scares me sometimes," admits Friso. DT Swiss is the world market leader for spokes, and the competition is hungry for their expertise. That's why the most important production processes are guarded like a Swiss numbered account.

There are robots, but you can't do it without skilled labour

Where the noise comes from, robots in transparent boxes hammer on butted spokes to reduce their diameter. The entire process is visible and is reminiscent of an explanatory piece from the German TV programme "Sendung mit der Maus". Next to it, large industrial washing machines polish tooth discs with the help of ceramic particles. An employee stands next to almost every machine and checks the results. "I'm glad for every colleague," says Friso, talking to the robots. "Here in the area, the skilled workers have always had a lot of knowledge about precision mechanics. Quite apart from the high labour costs, we have almost full employment in Switzerland. As a manufacturing company, it is extremely difficult to find staff."

This was also a reason for the move to Poland. DT Swiss manufactures not only spokes, but also hubs, nipples and rims there, geographically close to the important European market. In Oborniki, Poland, the company found a fertile labour market, no time difference and a Western culture, which simplified the implementation of the company values. "We identify ourselves as Europeans, but also explicitly as Swiss. When we say ten o'clock, we also mean ten o'clock. The customer associates this with high quality and reliability. Quick success is not our goal. In life, you always see each other twice." Pride resonates in Friso's voice.

Handmade in Poland

For DT Swiss, there was never any question of moving the entire production to Asia. Instead, the company found what it was looking for in Poland in its search for a competitive production location to serve the European bike market quickly and efficiently. The subsidiary in Oborniki was founded in 2007. Since then, hubs, spokes, nipples and rims have been manufactured there. Like all subsidiaries, the Polish subsidiary also works under Swiss management. There is a Swiss coffee machine in the kitchen. The wheel builders in Oborniki assemble all models by hand using Swiss tools. Thanks to its proximity to local customers, the company is able to react flexibly even in times of crisis and deliver supplies competitively.

Emotional moments with Marketing Manager Friso Lorscheider

Just behind the electrochemical blackening system for the spokes, a sign in red letters raises great expectations: "DT Swiss Performance Centre" is written above the hinged door. Behind it is a well-lit torture chamber for wheels. Compared to the factory hall with its many signs and workbenches full of patina, the ensemble of test benches and carbon wheels on transport trolleys actually looks like a sterile laboratory. A 3D printer hums away in one corner, while in another, spoke holes are being examined with a magnifying glass. "When I see one of our products break, it takes an emotional toll on me. And it affects me just as intensely, only in a positive way, when Nino Schurter stands on the podium with our wheels," announces Friso. On mountain bikes, it is particularly difficult to assess the real stresses and strains on the trail. "Customers have become more demanding. They pay high prices and scrutinise everything," says Friso, who has worked in the bike industry for decades.

Spoking the wheels is usually a woman's job

A small group sits in the sun on the roof terrace of the neighbouring building. The menu in the neighbouring canteen is in several languages. Polish instructions are also on the wall on the floor of the wheel builders. What happens at a handful of assembly stations in Biel is the one-to-one model for impeller construction in Poland, Taiwan and the USA. Training courses for international employees are organised regularly. Impellers are built by hand here in pleasant silence and with a view of the mountains of the Swiss Jura. The only larger pieces of equipment are ovens for curing the water-slide decals. Friso takes a 24-inch rim off the shelf. "This one is for Fabio Wibmer's trial bike. We'd have to set up a machine for it first. Our wheel builders simply sit down and start spoking. Finding the point between maximum spoke tension and minimum deviation is an art that people master better than machines." Flexibility and authenticity are the advantages of a manufactory. A computer cannot ride your own products after work. That's why the wheel builder's name always ends up in the digital fingerprint of the wheel. Right down to the very first DT Swiss wheel, the exact tension of every single spoke at the time of delivery can be traced in a database.

Friso carefully places the wheelset for our Europa bike in the boot. "If you consistently know what you're doing, you can also precisely track supply chains." He looks over at the Tissot Arena logo and adds with a grin: "Precise, like Swiss clockwork."

DT Swiss company history

In 1634, the United Wireworks Biel was one of the few companies in the world to produce metal wire. In the Taubenloch gorge, they began using water power to produce wire for pasture fences and later other metal products. The company soon became the largest employer in bilingual Biel. From the word Wire mills and the French translation Tréfilerie a logo with the two initial letters was created. Even today, the DT sandstone logo, which is a listed building, towers over the Taubenloch gorge and can be seen from a hiking trail. When the wire works ceased operations in 1990, spokes and screws were the last remaining production areas. In 1994 DT Swiss became a Management buyout of the long-established company. From the very beginning, the core business was spoke production for the bicycle industry - until 2011 in the old buildings of the wire works. In order to produce geographically close to international customers, a subsidiary was established in the USA in 1996. USA. Daughters followed in Taiwan and in Poland. When the Swiss company finally had all the individual wheel components in its range, customers also wanted DT Swiss to assemble them. Today, the portfolio also includes forks, shocks and a telescopic seatpost.

Wheels are built by DT Swiss in Poland, Taiwan and the USA

Developed in Switzerland, built in Poland: For the wheelset of our Project Europe bike, the added value in Europe scratches the 100 per cent mark.

1st model

The DT Swiss ES 1700 Spline wheelset was specially developed for the tough demands of enduro use. DT Swiss Competition straight-pull spokes and EX-511 Enduro rims with an inner width of 30 millimetres rotate around the model 350 hubs. DT Pro-Lock Squorx nipples ensure a stable connection. On our project bike, the wheelset is tubeless and installed in a mullet setup.

Technical data

• Front wheel: 29 inch
• Rear wheel: 27.5 inch
• Weight: 1940 gram/set
• Price: approx. 750 Euro/set

2. hubs

The hub and freehub bodies of the DT Swiss 350 are produced in Oborniki, Poland. The seals, springs and axles also come from Poland. The ball bearings and lubricants come from European suppliers. DT Swiss only manufactures the ratchet discs for the Ratchet SL system at its headquarters in Biel. 36 teeth on the disc ensure freewheeling in the rear hub and power transmission when pedalling. To protect themselves from being copied, the Swiss produce their toothed discs exclusively in-house. The hubs are assembled in Poland.

3. spokes

DT Swiss manufactures spokes at all locations in Poland, Taiwan, the USA and Switzerland. The exception is flat aero spokes, which require more work steps and are only produced in Biel. The starting wire for butted models is also only produced in Switzerland. Cold forging reduces the diameter in the centre section to 1.8 millimetres, while the ends remain at 2 millimetres. This results in a weight saving of 62 grams per wheel set with 64 spokes. Their production is a core business for DT Swiss, and the processes are correspondingly well guarded.

4. rims and nipples

As nipples are easy to ship thanks to their small packing volume and the production facilities are particularly investment-intensive, DT Swiss manufactures them exclusively in Poland. If you want to ship rims, you pack more air into the box than material. This is why they are produced directly on site at the two most important wheel manufacturing locations in Poland and Taiwan. The same applies to the decals and rim tapes. If you buy a DT Swiss wheelset in Germany, you can be almost certain that it was made in Oborniki. Exceptions only occur in rare cases of overproduction in Asia.

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