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I have a stock DT Swiss 350 and I don't like the huge hub engagement delay. With considering upgrading it to 36 either 54 teeth to reducing it, I am concerned if 54 teeth will be reliable enough for me with my weight of 240lbs/110Kgs, or it is better to stick with 36? I am riding mainly off-road with the pedaling power of ~300W, and sometimes steep climbs. My bike is fully rigid monster-cross.

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  • Welcome to Bicycles Exchange. You actually have two distinct questions here (18-36-54 star ratchet AND bearing quality differences between DTS 240-350 hubs). Please split them up into two distinct questions.
    – Ted Hohl
    Commented Apr 26, 2023 at 9:40
  • Re: reliability of 54 tooth star ratchet - I can’t speak to that, but I found that I liked going from 18 to 36 personally on my road and gravel bikes. 10 degrees of engagement is a nice upgrade from 20 and I did not feel the need to go to 6.7 degrees myself - not an answer per se because it doesn’t address reliability and is a purely subjective opinion of mine. I was concerned that the 54 would be too noisy/too high of a pitch for my tastes. I found the 36 very palatable.
    – Ted Hohl
    Commented Apr 26, 2023 at 9:48
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    Thank you, I have removed the second question
    – Sergey K
    Commented Apr 26, 2023 at 9:49
  • I've ridden my 54t ratchet for about 5000km now, with peak system weight of almost 180kg when on tour, sprinting out of the saddle, everything. I wouldn't worry about it.
    – oscu0
    Commented Nov 10, 2023 at 12:20

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I would think that either the 54 or 36 would be reliable if maintained well, and not over-greased. Service guides for the Star Ratchet system mention using DT Swiss' proprietary Star Ratchet grease, and warn not to put too much on. I have two years on an upgrade to a 36 tooth on two different bikes and have not had any issues with them. I don't carry the same weight as the questioner, but still put that power down steady for a few minutes.

The 54 may have a smaller engagement profile per tooth, but then again, there are 50% more teeth to share the load when compared to the 36. If there were rampant reliability issues with them, then DT Swiss probably would not offer them. Their name brand would suffer.

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    One factor in your decision should be noise. More engagement points raises the pitch of the sound that the freehub makes when coasting at a set speed. I was surprised at how little I noticed the noise difference of 36 tooth system. I can't speak for the 54 tooth noise but it would be good to get some other information/examples on that from the internet. I once had a Chris King rear hub and that was an annoying buzz, at least to me.
    – Ted Hohl
    Commented Apr 26, 2023 at 15:34
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    Thank you all, that is so clear now, and my assumption/research around the question showed that choosing 36 teeth will be the best option here. +1 for the grease warning. I am a client of a garage full of professionals, but also will mention about it.
    – Sergey K
    Commented Apr 27, 2023 at 13:23
  • If you can't get the original grease, you can use some other bearing grease that is NLGI class 1. Normal bike greases are class 2 and can lead to slipping in cold weather.
    – oscu0
    Commented Nov 10, 2023 at 12:18
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The DT350 hub overall is a bastion of reliability. A couple things I'll point out (in addition to the appropriate amount of the right grease--that's very important in these ratchet systems and too much kills quicker than none at all by preventing full engagement leading to premature wear of the ends of the teeth. This causes slippage, especially under power. Soon after, no engagement: failure). A little tub of grease is supplied with the upgrade kits.

Point one: there is a dramatic difference in terms of feel when going from 18 to 36 toothed ratchets. The effect is less pronounced upgrading to 54 from 36. Durability concerns rise steadily with growing tooth counts and many who can put down the power opt for 36.

Point two: tool-free, trail side repairs of the star ratchet system can be easily carried out if one has spares. Carry the swapped out 18 tooth ratchets in your repair kit so you can ride away should the upgrade fail.

Point three: in my opinion, if I don't like some aspects of my ride, the bit of joy that robs from me is of greater concern than would be the reliability of the upgrade that rids me of the annoyance. Hub engagement can be that way. When I switched wheels going into the winter months, the degree of engagement of the Shimano hub of the replacement wheel was so different that I had several moments in the first rides where I thought I was having mechanical issues before realizing I was experiencing the lag prior to engagement. At any rate, for me, the excellent record of the whole line of DT Swiss star ratchet hubs combined with not liking the feel of the current set up would cause me to fearlessly choose the upgrade.

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    My LBS uses a lot of DT hubs (due to reliability) and their experience mirrors yours. 36t is fine for most. 54t adds risk. I broke an 18t on my first climb and dt confirmed it wasn't too much grease but a manf defect (rare but possible). New ratchet is working fine but I never had a failure with my pawl hub dt370.
    – shox
    Commented Apr 27, 2023 at 4:12
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    18 —> 36 is +100% pawl count. 36 —> 54 is only 50% more.
    – MaplePanda
    Commented Apr 27, 2023 at 4:59
  • The person that mentioned "the ratchets can be changed out tool free" is just incorrect, at least on any road bike I’m aware of.
    – Jim
    Commented Nov 7, 2023 at 4:34
  • @Jim that’s cool. But the fact remains that DT350 hubs do not require tools to swap out the star ratchets.
    – Paul H
    Commented Nov 7, 2023 at 21:38

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