Having spent £500 plus on a new wheel set is the 36t worth spending even more, through techy singletrack there is at times noticeable lag on pick up.

Ohh I can answer this!

One wheelset has the 36t setup and my other has the 18t.

I can tell the difference between the two and will probably upgrade it soon, but it isn’t a big deal for me to be honest. Once you’re rolling along it’s harder to tell.

I can only feel the lag if I’m stood still and trying to look for it.

it makes a nicer sound, how do you put a price on that?

I’ve got an 18t on one bike and a pro4(more t) on the other.
Can’t say the 18t has ever bothered me, but I’m not really into techy climbs, and the 18t is on a more gravity focused bike.

johnw1984

Ohh I can answer this!

🙂

I have one with 18t and 3 with 36T, it makes no practical difference to me whatsoever, even when doing ratchety stuff, the real world difference is so trivial. But, the 36T does feel nicer and so I still usually add it just for that reason.

The 36t one is for power chumps, the 54t star rachet is where the gains are!

If you’re not bothered, stick with 18T the big chunky teeth are harder to clog and make them pretty bombproof, even for the most neglectful types.

As a rule of thumb, the faster a hub engages the finer mechanism and the more vulnerable it is to wear and ingress of crud into the hub, all other things being equal a slower engaging hub will always be more reliable so if it doesn’t bother you just leave it be.

Yeah, the 54t kit actually warns you that the service intervals are more frequent! That’s why I think I’ll stick to the 34t for when I put the finishing touch on the bike 🙂

36 tooth is a good ‘goldilocks’ level.

Even the 54 is solid, just so long as you give the ratchets a good clean and regrease whenever you give the bike a good service.

But, if you’re not bothered stick with 18, they just go and go.

I’ve not got a 54t ratchet but as they’re piss easy to take apart to service and grease get one of those if u can afford it!

Upgraded from a silent 18T to a very noisy 54T – worth it for the noise:)