Fatal Swan
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I spent quite a while researching this fix so I thought I'd do a comprehensive write-up on this up in case it helps anyone else in future...
Apparently quite a common issue (judging by other bike forums) with DT Swiss rear hubs that use the 'star ratchet' freehub (like the 240, 240s, 350) is that they appear to be working just fine until you install them on the bike - when you tighten the rear skewer up the freehub locks in place and just turns with the wheel, i.e. not like a freehub at all. There are a few possible causes cited, including the hub bearings not being seated quite correctly, even though everything appears to be done right.
I have a DT Swiss 240 rear hub (branded as a Roval) on a lovely sub-1400g 26" wheelset that's been in the garage unused for a while, but when I came to use it I found it had this issue. It's surely too good to bin (straight, superlight, smooth bearings), but also not really worth enough nowadays to justify spend a lot on getting repaired - I don't have the DT Swiss workshop tool needed to access the bearings and hub I'm rubbish at doing this sort of thing myself.
I read on one forum a report that someone had had success by adding a washer to the axle assembly, so after I'd checked for any obvious problems, removed and reassembled the freehub assembly a few times with no joy, I pursued it as a last resort. Finding the right size washer isn't easy since there are no dimensions for what's required, so a bit of trial and error followed. I measured the axle as 15mm, and so a washer would need to be M15, but also it would also need to be very small in diameter, something like 18mm. A search for this by size online and browsing a hardware store didn't bring up anything that slim, but I did come across this "Sealey Sump Plug Washer M15 set VS15SPW" online, on the basis that they were M15 and just by the look of them they seemed thinner than anything else I'd found:
On p7 of the DT swiss manual for this hub there's a picture of the assembly. The extra washer goes on one end of the "RW spacer" part 7:
And it worked
Even better, it's a completely tool-free fix and extremely cheap.
Many thanks to Sealey's sump plugs for using exactly the right size washer where no-one else seems to manufacture them
Apparently quite a common issue (judging by other bike forums) with DT Swiss rear hubs that use the 'star ratchet' freehub (like the 240, 240s, 350) is that they appear to be working just fine until you install them on the bike - when you tighten the rear skewer up the freehub locks in place and just turns with the wheel, i.e. not like a freehub at all. There are a few possible causes cited, including the hub bearings not being seated quite correctly, even though everything appears to be done right.
I have a DT Swiss 240 rear hub (branded as a Roval) on a lovely sub-1400g 26" wheelset that's been in the garage unused for a while, but when I came to use it I found it had this issue. It's surely too good to bin (straight, superlight, smooth bearings), but also not really worth enough nowadays to justify spend a lot on getting repaired - I don't have the DT Swiss workshop tool needed to access the bearings and hub I'm rubbish at doing this sort of thing myself.
I read on one forum a report that someone had had success by adding a washer to the axle assembly, so after I'd checked for any obvious problems, removed and reassembled the freehub assembly a few times with no joy, I pursued it as a last resort. Finding the right size washer isn't easy since there are no dimensions for what's required, so a bit of trial and error followed. I measured the axle as 15mm, and so a washer would need to be M15, but also it would also need to be very small in diameter, something like 18mm. A search for this by size online and browsing a hardware store didn't bring up anything that slim, but I did come across this "Sealey Sump Plug Washer M15 set VS15SPW" online, on the basis that they were M15 and just by the look of them they seemed thinner than anything else I'd found:
On p7 of the DT swiss manual for this hub there's a picture of the assembly. The extra washer goes on one end of the "RW spacer" part 7:
And it worked
Even better, it's a completely tool-free fix and extremely cheap.Many thanks to Sealey's sump plugs for using exactly the right size washer where no-one else seems to manufacture them
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