Customer Review: DT Swiss 350 Hubs

DT Swiss has long been known for crafting some of the best and most reliable bike components around. When it comes to wheels and hubs, it is tough to find a better combination of strength and affordability than the DT Swiss 350 Series Hub. In this review, our customer Theodore is a big fan of DT Swiss and is pumped on his new set of hubs. Check out his review for more!

Overview

DT Swiss hubs. What can you say? They’re light. They’re reliable. They’re easy to service. They’re easily changed to new configurations. Centerlock? Check. IS 6 bolt? Check.

First Impressions

I use DT Swiss hubs on all of my bikes. Road bikes, cross bikes, XC mountain bike, and trail bike. I use mainly the 350 series hubs. They are hard to beat from a price to weight standpoint. Looking at these hubs, they are nearly identical to a made in Europe 240 series hub, just slightly heavier. They are about half the cost. Don’t get me wrong, 240 hubs are great and if funds were unlimited, I’d use them on all my bikes. But that’s the problem, I have a lot of bikes…and even more wheels. The 350 hubs allow me to build up great wheels with nearly identical performance and weight all for less money. I really like building wheels with straight pull spokes and DT Swiss makes offerings in the 350 hubs that allow me to do just that. Don’t worry though, they offer regular flanged hubs too if you’re into that sort of thing!

Installation

You can easily change the front hubs from 15mm through axle to 12mm through axle, 9mm through axle to even quick release if you like. Same with the rear. Just buy some new end caps. Want to change your rear freehub driver? It’s easy. Just buy a new one of your choosing (with the appropriate end cap) and pop the old one off and the new one on. No tools required. The only real drawback to these hubs that I can see is the 350 rear hub comes stock with 18 tooth step ratchets, which means 20-degree engagement out of the box. Those that do a lot of technical riding typically prefer a little better engagement from their hubs. The good news is DT Swiss has you covered. You can upgrade your star ratchets to a 36 tooth or even 54 tooth star ratchets. The only downside to the upgrade is that it is a little pricey. It can all be done tool-free in a matter of minutes. Just pull off the cassette body, pull out the old star ratchets and put in the new ones.

Check out the Worldwide Cyclery review of the DT Swiss Ratchet Kit!

Performance and Final Thoughts

If you’re mechanically inclined, you can buy the DT Swiss service tools, which contains drifts for all of the bearings and the tool to remove the ring nut for the rear hub to get to the drive side bearing. If you have a lot of DT Swiss hubs as I do, it’s money well spent. I rarely have to do extensive service on my hubs, but I have replaced some bearings from time to time and having the proper tools to do it comes in handy. The bottom line is these hubs provide good performance for their price. They are upgradeable/configurable and I have never had a hub failure. Those are the reasons I use DT Swiss hubs.