ZTTO 54T Star Rachet upgrade kit for DT Swiss hubs

[tripleDot]

I just upgraded my DT Swiss 350 boost hub's 18T rachets with ZTTO 54T rachets. The ZTTO's cost me around US$32.60, comes with a pair of 54T rachets & a pair of springs. No special grease. I bought it from Lazada, it's our local equivalent of Ali-Express. Actually a lot of Ali-Express vendors are also there.

For about a third of the DT Swiss upgrade kit... well, we'll know if it's worth it a few months from now. Pics below of weight & some comparisons. Vendor's weight was pegged at 16.5 grams for rachets & springs. My scale showed 18 grams. DT Swiss 18T rachets & springs from my hubs we're 27 grams. 9 grams difference. For pics 4 & 5, I placed the 54T on top of the 18T to see if the 'grooves' aligns. Not perfect but they went in the hubs just fine. The upgrade was quite easy.

I wanted to put a video comparing the sound/noise of 18T & 54T but my cellphone's had problems picking up the sound.

Will update after a hundred kilometers. Oops, I mean after a thousand kilometers.

[carbonazza]

Having only a few degrees before engaging feels so good.
The key point here is how long will they last.
Even DT Swiss says they wear faster.
But ZTTO is good. I look forward for your longer term review.

[andymtb10]

I was wondering, are these still running nicely? I'm potentially interested in an upgrade for my xc bike.

[zilcho]

I have the ZTTO 54T in my gravel and mountain wheels.  1,600 miles on the mountain bike, probably 3,000 miles on the gravel bike.  I've re-greased them and saw no signs of wear and both are running flawlessly.

[tripleDot]

I was wondering, are these still running nicely? I'm potentially interested in an upgrade for my xc bike.

I'm still around 800km and I haven't opened to check them yet. But they are running and still engaging really well.

I have the ZTTO 54T in my gravel and mountain wheels.  1,600 miles on the mountain bike, probably 3,000 miles on the gravel bike.  I've re-greased them and saw no signs of wear and both are running flawlessly.

Wow! Those are great mileages. That gives me a lot of comfort and confidence. I've currently just have them on my mtb but now considering them for my gravel bike as well.

[tripleDot]

Finally got a thousand kilometers (1,015km to be exact) on the ZTTO DT Swiss Star Rachet 54T upgrade kit. Took me longer as it had been raining the past couple of weeks and cutting my rides few & short. Anyway here's the results.

As you can see from the picture, the outer edges of the ratchet showed some wear. You can see the color changed from silver to bronze. For comparison, refer to pictures on the original post, the 18T rachet had seen pretty much close to a thousand kilometers as well before the upgrade. The springs are pretty much unaffected. Performance is still very good and unaffected by the wear.

Is it worth the US$32.60? To be honest, I've never seen a used original DT Swiss 54T Star Rachet to make that answer. And judging from the wear, I'm probably going to get a few more thousand kilometers from it. But at that price, you can probably get 3 upgrade kits as compared to only 1 from DT Swiss. So I'll leave the decision to you.

So there it is. The thousand-kilometers review of the ZTTO DT Swiss 54T Star Rachet upgrade kit.

[carbonazza]

Thank you very much, tripleDot for this review!
I'll use them in a next build.

[Sitar_Ned]

Thanks for the review and following up with the update TripleDot. I have a riding buddy looking at the DT Swiss upgrade kit as we speak and think he's going to try these out based on your experience.

From what I can tell, ZTTO seems to be a good overall source.

[MtbNewbie]

Does anyone has a reliable place to buy the ZTTO part? Thanks in advance

[carbonazza]

Does anyone has a reliable place to buy the ZTTO part? Thanks in advance

Here is their official store on Aliexpress:
https://ztto.aliexpress.com/store/4424045?spm=a2g0o.home.1000002.3.650c2145uxyKxu

[tripleDot]

It's now April 2022... and after April Fool's day. With close to 5,000km, my cheap ZTTO star rachets are still in good working condition.

Sorry the pic doesn't show the full details. The bike was being serviced and I just did a quick snap. But the mechanic was quite impressed with it's condition.

[bamboo_mountain]

Are you using the DT Swiss grease?

[tripleDot]

Are you using the DT Swiss grease?

No, I'm not. Just some cheap no brand grease.

[Tangerined]

Just curious, did you use the springs that came with the Ztto ratchet?

I purchased the 54t Ztto and they slipped 10 minutes into my first climb with them and would not stay engaged after that. I contacted Ztto and they sent me a replacement but I'm hesitant to try them again. I used the DT swiss springs that came with my 18T and DT Swiss grease.