Any experience of these? DT Swiss are having a laugh aren't they; £100 for 2 small cnc'd pieces? To be honest a lot of the Chinese copies are £50 which still sounds steep. What are they made of that makes them so expensive?
What are they made of that makes them so expensive?
Steel.
Just look at cheap chain rings, cheap chain rings are 6xxx series aluminium, decent ones are 7075 and cost twice as much, no because the alloy costs more but because it takes considerably longer to machine the harder alloy. Extrapolate that to Steel.
OTOH Shimano XT is now a 52t ratchet ring (and only 305g) and only costs £60 for the whole hub.
Given the recent release of ratchet exp in 240 hubs (which is a higher tooth count by default). It might be more economical (with some man maths) to swap the hub and sell the old one.
I'm just looking ahead at wheels that come on a potential new whole bike purchase. Deciding whether to swap the wheels or upgrade the ratchet. I like a faster engaging hub.
So the copies on eBay are often advertised aluminium. That's definitely a bad idea as a hub engagement mechanism.
German prices are much less anyway (~70€) but availability seems to be issue at the moment. 36T version is often cheaper but if that engagement is enough depends on the rider.
Alloy would be a really bad idea. The 36t has a nice pick up speed. I've upgraded both my hubs to these now and it cost more like £25 each (one second hand, one a lucky new buy in a hub). Even UK based SJS are less than £100 for the 54t. Also remeber you can sell the unsed 18t straight away to offset some of the cost.
Where's charging £100? Even the UK srp is £84.99, and that includes the springs and a tub of ratchet grease.
The reason they're expensive is that they're made in Switzerland from very high grade Swedish steel to very tight tolerances and finshed to a very high standard.
So.. yeah, not cheap.
Not sure why you'd risk the reliabilty of a £300 hub to save £30 but hey, your money, your teeth.
I've used Chinese 54t ratchets for a few years. No issues.