DT Swiss 54t Star Ratchet Kit: Customer Review

The DT Swiss 54T Ratchet Upgrade is arguably one of the best moves you can make to increase engagement on DT Swiss hubs. For less than $100 dollars you can significantly increase the engagement points of your bike and transform your ride for the better. In this review, our customer Kenneth picks one up for his son. Let's see what he thinks!

Overview

My son with his high-flying riding style badly warped the rear wheel on his bike. The kid can send it off jumps and I want to encourage his progression, so I upgraded his wheels to some DT Swiss spline two rims with 350 hubs. These wheels are so much stronger than his stock wheels and he loves them.

Why Did I Upgrade?

There was one issue with the DT Swiss wheelset though. We would swap bikes from time to time and we both noticed my stock Stan’s hub had better engagement than his stock DT Swiss 350. The DT Swiss engagement is in no way bad, but we both knew it could be even better. I did the ole’ Google search and came across a couple of videos about the DT Swiss 54t Star Ratchet Upgrade Kit. Every video I saw said how great of an upgrade it was and recommended everyone do the upgrade. Well with the glowing reviews, we had to try it.

Installation

Of course, I go to my favorite bike shop, Worldwide Cyclery, and order the DT Swiss 54t Star Ratchet Upgrade Kit. As usual, the package arrives in a couple of days along with some other upgrade parts (I hope my wife doesn’t see this!). The DT Swiss 54t Star Ratchet Upgrade Kit comes with everything needed—the star ratchets, new springs and enough grease to not only complete the upgrade but to service the hub for like 10 years. Completing the upgrade is super easy. Take off the wheel, pop off the end cap and freehub body and just replace the star ratchets and springs and put it back together. It took us about 5 minutes to install the upgrade.

Final Thoughts

HOLY GUACAMOLE! The engagement is now pretty much instantaneous. It is better than my Stan’s and now I am super jealous of my son’s bike. I guess it looks like I will be upgrading my wheelset now. Don’t tell my wife!

Check out our video on the kit!