DT Swiss has announced its new Ratchet DEG freehub, which will appear on the brand’s 240 mountain bike wheels.
When designing the Ratchet DEG, DT Swiss says it wanted to deliver the smallest angle of engagement possible by using new 90-tooth steel ratchets.
To put that into context, the ratchet in the brand’s 240 Ratchet EXP freehubs have 36 teeth, although a 54T Star Ratchet Upgrade Kit is available separately.
The new Ratchet DEG freehub sits alongside the brand’s revered Ratchet EXP (which is lighter) and the Ratchet EXP OS eMTB freehub, as well as its cheaper Ratchet and Ratchet LN options.
4 degrees of engagement
The 90t ratchets translate to a 4-degree engagement angle, the smallest engagement angle in any wheel DT Swiss has ever offered.
DT Swiss says the “simultaneous full engagement of the ratchets provides a larger contact patch than pawl hubs and thus a more balanced load distribution, resulting in higher reliability”. This will be particularly useful when you need to accelerate quickly when riding up a technical climb, for example.
To achieve this result, DT Swiss says it had to adapt the driveside of the hub. The brand has adapted the hub’s profile and removed the threaded ring you previously needed to remove to access the hub bearings.
This will be good news for mechanics, because you no longer need to invest in a specific tool to remove this threaded ring.
Pricing
The hubs will be available in a Classic Edition, as well as a Limited Red Edition (of which there are fittingly 240 available).
The Classic Edition is available in 12x148mm and 12x157mm Boost, with your choice of Shimano MicroSpline or SRAM XD freehub, and in six-bolt disc only. You can pick between 28 and 32 spoke holes. A rear hub will retail for £354.99 / $499.90 / €376.90 / AU$599.
The Limited Red Edition is only available in 15x110 front and 12x148mm axles in 32h and SRAM XD freehub only. The pricing for the rear hub is identical to the Classic Edition, with the front £159.99 / $229.90 / €169.90 / AU$289.
DT Swiss will be including these hubs on two complete wheel models – specifically the EXC 1501 Spline One and XMC 1501 Spline One wheelsets.
