Fastest engaging rear hub

Wondering what is the fastest.

I’m currently running DT Swiss 240’s having been very impressed with them on another bike 3 or so years back. But recently had a shot of a bike with a sram x0 rear hub. The instant pick up made the 240’s feel pedestrian. They also had an amazingly ‘positive’ drive. Hyperactive noise but I could live with it.

Anything else out there as quick as these?

I’m a big fan of fast engaging rear hubs, of all the various bike bits I don’t think anything else has such a dramatic effect…

Dt ratchet upgrade 36 point
SRAM X0 52 point
Chris King 72 point
Industry 9 120 point
True precision stealth has a clutch.Instant pick up

of all the various bike bits I don’t think anything else has such a dramatic effect…

Each to their own I guess.

I’m a big fan of fast engaging rear hubs

Time to try some fixed-gear off road then 😉

the fastest pick up hub I had was my trizoid freehub superstarcomponents superleggera.

It uses two serrated wedge pawls rather than ratchet and tooth pawls. It has a genuinely instantaneous pick up. My clunky XTR hubs annoy me now!

The SSC hubs were rebranded novatec I think…might be the other manufacturer will have to check.

EDIT Halo supadrive is the same tech

I remember riding a Nuvinci hubbed bike, it had a clutch to instant pickup, and totally silent. Was heavy tho, as it’s filled with a special oil.

The only problem with faster engagement is complexity.

In most hubs you either need more pawls, or larger pawls with smaller engagement ramps and better springs, all whilst trying to keep weight down.

The Chris King Ring Drive is the sweetspot IMO. VERY simple, very easy to service, nothing to go wrong.

This is speaking from direct experience of owning two sets of I9s, one set of DTs, 8 sets of CKs and a single rear Superdrive.

I don’t think this has any benefit whatsoever!

Each to their own.

Cheers. All very useful.

(Al. it’s quicker to get the power down and drive the wheels. Beneficial when sprinting and racing (and on certain techy climbs). Also good in making a quick getaway after a bit of street argument argy-Bargy with cafe owners…or so I’d imagine)).

I’ve podiumed in xc races and I disagree!

I use CK’s because they have faster engagement. I find it helps me on very tough technical climbs, like where you have to do a minor back pedal to stop a strike, but need to be pushing down to create tension almost immediate or risk stalling.

I can really notice the difference between my proII and CK in those type of circumstances.

Just pedalling along, no difference….

Is there really any noticeably difference? It seems like a bit of “cash milking” for me to be honest… 🙄

I understand if there was like 1/4 of a turn to do before the freehub engages on the “cheap” stuff, but I assume we are talking about fractions of the centimeter, aren’t we? 8)

it’s quicker to get the power down and drive the wheels. Beneficial when sprinting and racing

You mean there’s times when you’re not pedalling?…..amateur.

I don’t think this has any benefit whatsoever!

Try telling that to a trials rider

it’s one of those things that if you notice, you really notice, if you don’t you can’t understand what all the bother is about.

OP – 240s with the standard ratchet are some of the slowest engaging decent hubs out there, almost everything else has a quicker pickup. The ratchet upgrade makes them noticeably better so if you haven’t already swapped the ratchet out for the lightweight/quicker pickup one then do that first before you look at other hubs a it might be enough for you.

I had some mavic wheels that had very few engagement points and they were awful. At the same time I had some older hope pro2 evos with less poe than the current 40t. When riding the mavics it felt like you had to do 1/4 of a crank rotation before it picked up. This was annoying when steep rocky climbing where you may need to back off to avoid a strike or obstacle but not really noticeable anywhere else.
I now have 2 sets of pro2 evos with the 40 poe and cant really tell the difference between these and the last model (which I still use).
If buying again I would look up how many Poe the old hopes had and not go lower than that.

I use CK’s because they have faster engagement. I find it helps me on very tough technical climbs, like where you have to do a minor back pedal to stop a strike, but need to be pushing down to create tension almost immediate or risk stalling.

+1

amedias – Member

I don’t think this has any benefit whatsoever!

Try telling that to a trials rider

Fair enough for trials riders.

I notice it, but am hardly a trials rider. What I find I dont like about it is the mechanically unsympathetic clank to the take up, especially on the single speed. I know a lot of it is technique, and certainly when climbing SS under load you should try and be as smooth as possible over TDC so you dont stop/clank, but sometimes you cant help it. I prefered my SSC hubs over the XTRs, but then M965 never had quick pick ups anyway.

If I had the money…….. Chris King every time. As above a perfect balance between simple and effective and they seem bomb proof.

Sooooooooooo you talk about fastest engaging hubs then ride on wheels that are slowly to pick up/get going than a obsolete 26’er. Hmm.

I notice the difference on climbs like Twrch at cwmcarn. So hardly trials riding…if you don’t notice you are either a god and can float over the toughter sections or you are probably walking..

No idea as I’ve used Hope for years now. CHris King previous to that but I got sick of tightening the cones/axle up and the freehub freezing.

Sooooooooooo you talk about fastest engaging hubs then ride on wheels that are slowly to pick up/get going than a obsolete 26’er. Hmm.

hora – quick physics check for you 🙂

Does the degree of take up from first pedal input to engagement get longer, shorter, or stay the same for any given wheel diameter at the same gear inches?

I think he’s referring to the inertia thing….but I’ve got tea and custard creams here.

hora – Member
No idea as I’ve used Hope for years now. CHris King previous to that but I got sick of tightening the cones/axle up and the freehub freezing.

The first is usually a sign that you’ve not tightened it correctly in the first place, the second is often a sign of too little of the correct type of lube in the drive.

I’ve been using CK hubs for almost 14 years and haven’t had a single hub freeze on me despite riding the Dales, Moors and Peaks throughout the worst of the Winters including 2010.

Dt ratchet upgrade 36 point
SRAM X0 52 point
Chris King 72 point
Industry 9 120 point
True precision stealth has a clutch.Instant pick up

Kappius 240 point engagement

As above, get yourself a 36t star ratchet for your 240’s. Huge difference/improvement imo.
DT also did a 54 I believe as a special to trek/bontrager but probably not available aftermarket.

industry nine here amd they are very very luuuvvverrrrly,

I’ve got 36T ratchets in a couple of my DT hubs and a standard one in my other one. I can tell the difference, but it doesn’t really bother me or make any difference to how I ride. There’s no power loss when ratcheting after all, it’s just a fraction of a second’s dead space.

Hope hubs on my Cove Hummer and King hub on my Tripster, it’s easy to notice the quicker engagement of the King vs Hope.

As an aside i rode a bike with a clutch rear hub a few years ago, can’t remember who made it but it was very boutique/expensive and from the states – utterly silent in use and immediate engagement.

I’ll go for the 36t upgrade, see where that takes me. Thanks again

It’s easy to notice for sure.

I’m going to market Spoon-tech 482-point engagement hubs with a special “free coffee” black version.

Is there any cafe’s near you where we can get the coffee from?? 😉

I CAN RECOMMNED A GREAT ONE WITH FREE BIKE PARKING

Damn cl

That Polish shop on Ebay had some of the 36T ratchets the other week.

Kappius 240 point engagement

$499 though

Fastest engagement on any hubs are the Stealth ones with the clutch system. It’s instantaneous so better than any others.

You mean like someone said in the 2nd post?

Fastest engagement on any hubs are the Stealth ones with the clutch system. It’s instantaneous so better than any others.

Onyx hubs also have instantaneous engagement with their sprag system: info on pinkbike
There is massive thread re these hubs on mtbr as well.

I’ve got an old Shimano roller clutch (LX I think) in the garage somewhere, it had a faster pickup than my CK’s but heavier than a heavy thing and only 7 speed.

I had a set of I9 hubs with the 120 point engagement.
Whilst it was fast, it was also draggy. I removed 3 of the 6 pawls and I am sure the lesser drag made for a faster wheel than the reduction in engagement points.