Has anyone tried the Williams Racing zero drag DT Swiss ratchet? It's kinda pricey for what it is, though I do understand that making them in small batches is way more expensive than mass producing. But the idea of combining DT Swiss reliability with a silent rear hub is intriguing. What is concerning me is that based on the few videos I've seen it seems that when coasting in a real world riding situation the sound of the ratchet would come and go as the angle of the pedals changes slightly and re-engages the ratchet. The video is from on one of the few reviews that are out there on Escape Collective.
Williams Racing Zero Drag DT Swiss ratchet
byu/ihmemokelo inMTB
by ihmemokelo
2 Comments
The main benefit of the system isn’t about noise reduction, it’s primarily a gravity product to reduce rolling resistance at the freehub. A side benifit is a bit of chain feedback reduction as well.
If you want a quieter (not silent) DTSwiss hub Dumonde Pro X freehub grease work pretty well.
I’m wondering if you’d just get used to giving a quick back-crank to disengage the mechanism whenever it kicks in. Reminds me of a BMX freecoaster (depending on how loose you set the hub slack, you usually have to do a quick backpedal to disengage the mechanism, but it becomes subconscious pretty quickly).