Rim failures

[BeR]

Just a quick reminder:

https://www.dtswiss.com/en/recall

All brands (even the best) experience manufacturing problems. While this can be dangerous, there can't be a 100% reliability rate.

"Chinese" brands are no less reliable when purchased from a reputable seller (Long Teng, Speeder, XM carbon speed, Carbonda, Zen, ...). Furthermore, most major brand products are made in China.

The only notable difference is the communication aspect inherent in these defects. DT Swiss issues a statement, whereas TanTan (I chose a brand at random...) wouldn't (in my opinion) issue a statement to warn its customers.

[Sakizashi]

No. We still have no data on actual failure rates. No metrics or understanding of relative QA practices. You can't say based on a recall that the products we see on here are "no less reliable" or "just as safe". The experience of the community and engagement go a long way, IMO, of showing that a product is safe enough to feel confident using. Data supplied by the manufacturers shows that they pass the relevant standards. That doesn't mean they are the same level of safety, just that they meet the basic standards.

Brands often exceed these standards. A good example is the safety factor used when designing the rim for the drop test, which is part of ISO 4210. A product only needs to pass it, but we used to see >3x for many major brand wheels (sometimes even 4x). Some of the ultralight options are down to 1.5x or 2x. Is that a problem? IDK.

[BeR]

Even "Chinese" brands (not of all them) go beyond the ISO4210. They are as reliable (even more sometimes) as western brands if choose correctly.

Moreover I am thinking of Zen who asks you what is your current weight and what would you use as maximum weight limit for the rim. Of course higher maximum weight limit means heavier rim but also stronger.

It is a good example of confidence and a brand who cares about customers needs.

[Sakizashi]

Nearly everyone is exceeding ISO 4210, the lowest safety factor I've seen is 1.5x, but passing the standard doesn't guarantee reliability. A QA program requires statistical sampling and understanding the failure rate, etc. That is going to be a huge input into reliability and recalls, likely as much as the design. I also don't know how relevant that ISO test is with tubeless, but that's for someone smarter than me to figure out.

I've never worked with Zen, but nearly a year on, I am pleased with my wheels from DFS. I'm a fan of THR Industries hubs, and I don't regret getting them built with steel spokes. After completing a bunch of aero testing, the results have me selling a couple of my other wheelsets and sticking with these as both an all-around and an aero wheelset. I dove into their catalogue to find a front wheel profile that matched the original HED Toroidal patents' general profile, and paired with the Aero 111, it's a fast and stable enough setup for my uses.