XM 481

The XM 481 is labelled as an All Mountain rim in the DT Swiss line-up, however, some confusion often arises as this category can mean different things depending who you talk to, not to mention we will be assessing two different rims from within this category. However, mostly we are looking forward to seeing how the XM 481 handles itself and then compares to the XM 421, both classified as All Mountain yet with 5mm difference in overall rim width. We do expect that these wider rims will prove to be the most sturdy and durable out of our three test wheels and across our three chosen trails, but enough of this chitchat, let’s get setup and get out there !

THE RIDE

As this was the first set of wheels and tyres we setup for this test, along with perhaps being the most suited to our 160mm travel test bike, we started with our baselined air pressure (rear pressure of 27psi and a front pressure of 25psi) and suspension setting using a ShockWiz. Out on the trails this setup did offer very low rolling resistance and little to no tyre roll on turns, but was lacking the grip we were chasing equally across the three tracks. This was to the point