Unofficial DT 36t Star Ratchets, any good?

I’d like to upgrade my 18t to a 36t. Official kits are around £90 which is on the face of it not cheap.

Standard Ratchet hub rather than EXP. Are any of the aftermarket options any good?

I know I can probably pick up a wheel or hub for parts for cheaper but from a quick look not many listings mention the engagement. I also know some Roval wheels use DT internals..

Doesn’t answer you question but I got one of these recently

https://www.certini.co.uk/components/wheels-spares/roval-control-alloy-350-6b-29er-rear-wheel–blackcharcoal__91426

Xd only but 900 grams, dt 350 hub with 36t ratchet, sapim spokes etc seemed like good value for £220

I think that you need to factor in the price of the tools to, which again aren’t cheap for the official ones. You’ll need one to remove the 18 tooth ratchet & another to fit the 36. Do the official kits include the new freehub or is that extra?

I bought a super cheap chinese one just to try but so far I’ve been too scared 😛

@Pjay, the ratchet just falls out when you take the freehub off, no special tools, no need to change the freehub.

Has anyone tried the oneup ratchets yet? I’m sure they were supposed to fit dt swiss hubs.

How does the price difference of DT vs unofficial ratchet compare to the potential faff of a (likely wet and cold) ride home with a slipping freehub?

The prime Ratchets fit.

thepurist
Full Member

How does the price difference of DT vs unofficial ratchet compare to the potential faff of a (likely wet and cold) ride home with a slipping freehub?

TBH the smart thing to do at least for a while is just stick the DT ratchets in your bag. I’ve not placed with the new EXP hubs yet but swapping ratchets is easily trailsidable- though if there’s any debris that’s not ideal of course.

@Pjay, the ratchet just falls out when you take the freehub off, no special tools, no need to change the freehub

That’s useful to know, thanks. I’ve been wondering if there’s anything to gain by upgrading my 3 pawl freehub (G1800 wheels & 370 hubs) to the Ratchet LN 18 tooth. Again the official upgrades are pricey.

TBH the smart thing to do at least for a while is just stick the DT ratchets in your bag.

Fair point – weighs about the same as some emergency Haribo and can be swapped by hand, so no reason not to.

Dont know about unofficial, but if it helps there is a sale of them at Merlin cycles.

https://www.merlincycles.com/brand/dt-swiss/

I spoke to an engineer at another company making hubs. He said star ratchets are difficult to manufacture to achieve a low failure rate in use.

The teeth are known to chip easily on the cheap copies. This then leads to little bits of metal floating around inside your hub and causing all sorts of damage. Not with the saving in my opinion. Either leave the genuine 18t in there or pony up for the genuine article. If it softens the blow the real things come with a little pot of ludicrously expensive grease – which again is highly recommended over just workshop grease if you want to keep things running in tip-top condition.

He said star ratchets are difficult to manufacture to achieve a low failure rate in use.

Which is why the ratchets themselves are still made in Switzerland in DT’s HQ, hence why they’re expensive.

That’s useful to know, thanks. I’ve been wondering if there’s anything to gain by upgrading my 3 pawl freehub (G1800 wheels & 370 hubs) to the Ratchet LN 18 tooth.

All I’d say about that is getting the ratchet ring out of the hub is a complete ball-ache. Couldn’t do it myself even with a massive lever – actually part of my work stand on it. My excellent LBS failed to budge it with two people and a vice. Gave up when the tool started to distort. My last hope is a different ring removal tool with a hex and the local garage’s torque driver thing. If that doesn’t work, I’ll give up and sell the conversion kit on eBay.

What do you gain? A bit more long-term reliability, a nostalgic Hugi hub freewheel noise and many happy hours of trying to remove that ratchet ring with an additional special tool on top of the one you need for installation of the star ratchet 🙂

I’ve used ZTTO rachets for years, they’re very good and some test will say they’re more reliable than DT ones as they’re steel, bit heavier though. They won’t come with DT ‘special grease’ but it’s Molykote TP-42, you can buy a lifetimes worth for £10.  

Or you could buy one of these for the silence and WCDH kudos.

“Zero Drag” DT Swiss Internals — Williams Racing Products

Thanks all. Turns out between 3 DT wheelsets and a Specialized super boost hub I bought ages ago “just in case” I already had a 36t and 54t set, so they just got shuffled around.

I definitely don’t want metal shards in the hub so will note the ZTTO ones for future..