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Looking at new wheels and have two options of hubs. Intrigued by the DF hubs but have never really noticed much pedal feedback on the bike before. Also, it’s got an e-bike, so don’t really need the super fast engagement of a 90t ratchet. Can you swap this out for a lower count ratchet from another DT hub?
Anyone got experience of both these hubs?
DT do a 60 tooth version of the DEG DF ratchets especially for E-MTB, the 90 tooth version is for 'analog' bikes really.
Both versions of DEG DF can be set to 0 degree float which basically turns off the 'DF' part of it and make it work identically to a standard DEG hub.
The fact you can adjust it on the fly means it's pretty easy to 'suck it and see' and if you don't feel any benefit, just turn it off.
Whilst different suspension systems will respond differently, as a rule of thumb, the longer travel your bike is the more benefit you'll feel from an anti-kickback when descending, for 100mm I XC rigs it's almost a non-issue but if you're running 150mm+ then it would be worth a try.
Speaking to people I know who've used them the feedback has ranged from 'OMG it transformed how my bike behaves in the rough, love it" to "meh, didn't notice much difference so I switched it off" Overall, the more aggressive the rider and the longer travel the bike the more benefit they seem to get out of it.
At least with DEG DF you're not adding any weight or servicing requirements so if you decide it's not your bag you can just set it to 'off' and haven't really lost anything.
I've got a df hub on my trek fuel exe ebike, I went for the 90 tooth version, despite not being designated for ebikes it's been fine, I guess because mine is a low power ebike.
The df hub is beneficial but it's subtle, I wouldn't swap a working hub for one, but if I needed a new hub anyway there's no real reason why you wouldn't go for a df version.
It generally just makes the bike feel a bit calmer through the slower steppy downhill.