Author Topic: Rear wheel that's reasonably quiet -- my new (knockoff?) DT240 wheel is loud  (Read 251 times)

monocongo

I recently bought a wheelset for a new bike I built. The wheels have DT240 hubs but I'm very suspicious they're knock-offs. Here's what I ordered: https://www.ebay.com/itm/225762245586. If they weren't so loud these would be perfect, and I have no complaints overall.

The loud, buzzing noise while coasting is unbearable. It seems that quietening them by adding grease is tedious and doesn't work that well anyway. I want a hub that's just quiet and doesn't require more than normal/routine service.

It might be cheaper to order a new wheel than trying to rebuild my wheel with a different hub. Can anyone make a recommendation? I have another cheap carbon wheelset that used DT350 hubs, and I think these are probably legit (from BTLOS). Maybe those are the sweet spot for me in terms of getting a reasonably quiet hub which is low/easy maintenance. Who sells a good/legit DT350 wheel I can use as a replacement? Should I just cut to the chase and go back to BTLOS after learning my lesson?

Thanks in advance for your advice or suggestions.



toxin

Those 240s are definitely fakes, but I doubt the reals ones are much quieter. All ratchet hubs are going to be pretty loud. Maybe if you replace the ratchets with lower tooth count count ones they'd be a bit quieter but I don't have any experience with that.
« Last Edit: March 18, 2024, 12:06:34 PM by toxin »

coffeebreak

I was looking at the same thing (quite hub not fake hubs) and some posts on mtbr suggested that going higher teeth count is quieter than ratchet with less teeth. Article on Scribe cycling also suggests same and explains why. On single track world I have read opposing views. Those ratchets are cheap, if yours is not 54t already may be try that.

On my ICAN hubs I went with thicker grease and that really shut them up. DTS recommends using their own grease but there are some useful comments using synthetic oil mixed with normal grease to a great effect.

Serge_K

It may well depend on hubs, but it takes me less than ten minutes to remove the wheel, the cassette, the cassette body, add grease (with a cotton ear bud thing), and put it back together.
If that's tedious, the entirety of my life is tedious. Have i been living a tedious life this whole time? Who am I? Is there a God?
I don't have great things to say about the hubs I've done that on, but I can say it's reduced the noise a lot. I used random bike grease.