By
DeadwateR
I have seen many threads regarding DNA wheels with many people saying that they are great and many skeptics "hearing" about failures, so I thought that I would add my own personal experience with these wheels. This is a little long, but if you really want to know, you may appreciate the time that it took me to write it.
I purchased my first off-road bike in March 09, a 2002 YZ250 set up for off-road Hare Scramble racing. This bike had been beat to hell and when I say this, it was justified by the pipe wrapped around both sides of the downtubes, dented frame, chain guide bent with the chain gnawing through the last bolt, ripped seat, and fork tubes that looked like they had been "distressed" with chain links. But the price was right since I didn't have alot of money, but I did have the time and mechanical knowledge to give it alot of TLC. It had DNA wheels on it and and two front spokes were broken. I was told that by the seller that I could probably get spokes easily enough for it.
So after bringing the bike home, I started looking around the internet for DNA wheel dealers and did not find anything. I did however, find the manufacturers website and contacted them through their e-mail contact, asking for a dealer so I could buy new spokes. A guy at DNA e-mailed me back the same day and said that he could ship me a spoke set and all I had to do was pay for the set and shipping. I was such a noob that I had to ask him if a set meant the spoke and nipple or if a set meant all the spokes needed for a wheel! I think that he realized that I knew so little about wheels that he even offered to re-lace and true the wheel for me with all new spokes if I paid for the spoke set and shipping to and from DNA.
I jumped at the opportunity since I knew nothing about re-lacing a wheel and I was busy enough tearing the bike down to the frame. So I made a custom box with lots of packing, sent the wheel off, sent him the payment through Paypal and continued to work on the bike. When my wheel came back a couple weeks later, it was in a brand new DNA box, had all the spokes and was trued.
Upon closer investigation, I noticed that the wheel had new bearings, seals and spacers, but only the broken spokes had been replaced. I figure that he just replaced the spokes necessary and focused the rest of his time and the money that I paid him on the bearings/spacers that needed replaced and to be honest, I was happy and satisfied with that since the customer service was so good to begin with and I now had a complete wheel to put on the bike.
So, on to my first season of riding. I put alot of hours on this bike, ripping everything from a small motocross track to single track technical stuff, riding through clearcut forest areas where there were no trails with stumps and trees on the ground, ATV trails, rocky brooks, fire roads, etc. Speeds from 10MPH to 83MPH, all with the experience of a newbie which means that I was hitting rocks, dumping it in mudholes, landing short off jumps. I pretty much did everything to this bike except case a jump with it and I am no lightweight at 220lbs.
How did the wheels fare? I broke one spoke in a swamp when I leaned the bike over while spinning and caught a root from a tree stump with the rear wheel. I broke a spoke on the front wheel and two on the rear wheels when I hit a rock going fast which also flattened my year tire. I later realized that I had not checked the tire pressure before riding and the bike had sat for a couple weeks. I only had 7psi in the front and probably below 12 on the rear.
End of season one - one broken front spoke and three broken year spokes so I e-mailed DNA once again and got them to send me two sets of spokes so I could replace the front and rear. I sent payment for them and shipping once again through Paypal and the contact at DNA was again very helpful. With much more knowledge about wheels and spokes, I got my wheels ready for season two and I have been pounding them just as hard with very little more riding skill and they are standing up great. My only vice so far, is that I ordered a set of YZ250 bearings and seals last week to replace the rear bearings before they start going bad to find out that you need to buy the bearings from DNA? I just took the wheel off last night and it looks like they are not the same bearings and threads here on TT say that I need to get them from DNA or take them to a bearing shop and get something that matches.
So, long story short, my verdict on DNA wheels is that with proper care and maintenace (no dumbass newbie tricks), these wheels, spokes, and hubs will stand up to anything that stockers will, and more. They look great doing it, and my experience with their customer service has been excellent! You just need to get the bearings from DNA or find replacements from a bearing shop elsewhere...
I would definitely buy another set of these wheels. Let me know if anyone has any questions.
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