DT Swiss 54T Ratchet Upgrade Kit: Rider Review

Our "Rider Review" article series features honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for.

For around $100, you can seriously improve the engagement of your DT Swiss hubs. The DT Swiss 54T Ratchet kit will take your stock 18T hub and boost it up to 54T all in a matter of minutes! Our customer Larry had been looking for an affordable way to upgrade his bike and the DT Swiss 54T Ratchet kit was it! Read on to hear how he liked it!

My Problem

I desperately needed a new bike day. Riding my old faithful, a 12-year-old Titus just wasn't cutting it anymore. Limited funds...

Enlightenment

Enter the Prophet of Pedal. With glorious promises of breathing new life into my old clunker (not exactly the City Bike Jeff abused in Austin last year, but close) by giving it more bite. I figured, more teeth worked to make Jaws a more ferocious beast, maybe it would help me devour the trails.

Solution

Enter the DT Swiss 54 tooth Star Ratchet Upgrade kit. Promising 3 times the teeth and more engagement for 3 times the fun on my cycling adventures. At $100'ish it seemed like a good compromise between breathing new life into my riding and saving my relationship.

Install

I certainly don't eat bike parts for breakfast, I am however an expert at breaking parts, and was worried about installing this myself and leaving parts strewn across my garage. Surprisingly, the installation was simple and straight forward in my DT Swiss 350 hub, just remove the freehub body, lube up your gears and double-check your springs, and slide it into place.

On-Trail

My initial was...underwhelming, first rides on the street usually are. It felt a little better but it was loud. My understanding and appreciation came when I hit my local trails.

Riding here in Central Texas is mostly rock gardens, limestone shelves, and a lot of techie ledge climbs. The engagement was quick, precise and a big improvement over the 18 tooth ratchet it replaced. It didn't exactly make me a billy goat, soloing vertical faces with ease, it did help me with climbing those tricky little ledges, ratcheting the crank over logs and being more precise with my efforts.

A surprising side effect of the install was it really helped my downhill speed, yes I said downhill. Nothing motivates you to YOLO down the hill more than thinking you just ran over a beehive and the angry swarm is chasing you to exact their revenge. My personal beehive also had those pesky walkers (just kidding we love you) diving for cover and clearing the path, who needs a bell anymore.

Final Thoughts

You need this DT Swiss 54 tooth Star Ratchet Upgrade kit. Whether it's for billy goating up hills, carving up downhills, or impressing your friends with track stands. My only complaint goes to DT Swiss, for not making this the standard ratchet on all their high-end hubs. DT Swiss does get a thumbs up for making this system really easy to upgrade, especially for non-mechanically inclined.

While it wasn't exactly New Bike Day, and I didn't feel the need to curl up and cuddle with my bike, next DT Swiss 54T ratchet upgrade I purchase I will definitely slip it under my pillow. So if you're in the ATX and you hear a beehive chasing an old guy down the trail on a newly refreshed Titus, flag me down, I am sure I could use a breather. :)