After the successful debut of DS1(D) with more than 200 hubsets sold worldwide, we didn't stop but continue our efforts to make this version better.
Chrome mirror finish logo with high polish black finishing
Rethinking the concept of engagement.
Wheels play a major role in ride quality and its rear hub is like the nervous system of the bike which in turn is characterised by the concept of engagement & its design. The free wheeling and engagement style determines a huge part of the ride quality.
There are a few designs commonly use for rear hubs, but eventually the drive system is mainly responsible for:
1. The rear hub's rolling resistance.
Ceramic or Steel Bearings cause very little friction and resistance to affect your wheel spinning duration. If your rear wheel stop spinning too fast when freewheeling, the resistance is from the drive system rather than the bearings. It is wiser to spend your money elsewhere than to upgrade to expensive ceramic bearings and try to solve the problem.
If the drive system has high resistance in the first place, one will not experience the benefits of installing smooth bearings.
As with the DS1 series, the pawls in DS2 hubs are activated by magnets to engage the ratchet ring. Instead of using springs to activate the pawls, this method of using magnets for engagement drastically reduces the friction & resistance created between the ratchet ring and pawls.
Pawls are activated by magnets rather than springs for low spinning resistance.
Velotechnic rear hubs are one of the longest spinning hubs made. The DS2 improves the stiffness between the main hub and the freehub. So it does not create a flexing point and becomes a cantilever to create resistance in the driver.
2. The degree of engagement relating to the amount of backlash in your pedal stroke.
The DS2 rear hub has 42 points of engagement with 4 pawls activating simultaneously (8.57 deg). Comparitively, many road bike hubs commonly use 36 points of engagement with 3 activating pawls (10 deg) which works ok as well.
4 pawls are activated simultaneously for high power transfer
The predecessor, DS1 used 4 pawls which are grouped into 2 sets provides a finer degree of engagement at 4.25deg. However we decide to proritise torsional stiffness in the DS2 design by activating 4 pawls simultaneously which will be explained in the next paragraph.
3. The torsional stiffness - the effective power transfer to turn your wheel.
Factors that can improve power transfer:
Activated pawls are closer to tangent with all 4 pawls activated and engage simultaneously.
Design using 20mm diameter axle with sleeve bearing for better bending stiffness to stop cantilevering (flex) between the freehub and main body.
3 addtional sealed bearings in the freehub to prevent unwanted movements due to the clearance between the sleeve bearing and axle.
The distinguish qualities of 4S (Strength, Stiffness, Stability and Smoothenss) from its predecessor, DS1 are continued in DS2. Be sure to continue reading here to learn more.
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