DT Swiss 350 Rear Hub [Rider Review]

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With the amount of abuse an typical mountain bike component takes over the years it's no wonder they eventually need to be replaced. The rear hubs being one of those bike components that can acquire wear over the years. Our friend Chris shares his thoughts on the DT Swiss 350 Rear Hub. Check it out!

Overview

While riding on my local trail, I felt a weird crunch from my rear wheel. I had just gone through a rocky section and happened to bounce off a little boulder (I swear it came out of nowhere)! Turns out that I crushed the rim in one spot. I guess this was a blessing in disguise as I was unhappy with the stock wheelset. My trail bike came with no-brand hubs and rims. The wheels were heavy, the hubs hard to service, loud, and only had three pawls to engage the drive. Time for an upgrade!

Back in the day, I built a solid wheelset with Hubba Bubba hubs, Mavic rims and DT Swiss spokes. I had no idea what people were using today. I watched a number of YouTube videos and saw that everyone was building with Chris King, Industry Nine, or Hope Pros hubs. Definitely eye candy, but more than I needed and not within my budget. I explored some pre-build wheel options and noticed that DT Swiss sold hubs separately and were competitively priced.

The freehub was quite and the engagement was significantly better than my old wheel.

Enter the DT Swiss 350 Rear Hub 28 hole 12x48 Thru Axle with Boost spacing for 6 bolt disc! It has a classic black and white design that looks great on any bike. I was immediately impressed with the aluminum body, star ratchet system with 18 points of engagement, contact free seals and high precision bearings. Also, the ability to swap out the freehub body is a plus. I opted for the stock ratchet system, but will eventually upgrade to the 54T option for even better engagement. I ordered the hub, Stan’s no tube ARCH MK3 rims and of course DT Swiss 14/15/14 gauge spokes with alloy nipples. Being only 140 lbs, I felt I could get away with a 28 hole rim instead of 32.

I stopped by my local bike shop and had them build the wheel. After picking it up, the first thing I did was a weight comparison. I saved 4 ounces over the stock wheel. The difference in bearings was incredible. The DT Swiss hub was smooth while the stock hub was sluggish and gritty. I was so impressed that I bought the matching front hub and had the shop build it as well.

Final Thoughts

Time to hit the trail. The first thing I noticed was how smooth the wheels rolled. I could freewheel and maintain my momentum through technical sections without grinding to a halt. I don’t think you can appreciate the quality difference until you ride a quality wheelset. Reduced rolling weight and smooth bearings was a great upgrade for my bike.