War against pedal kickback goes mainstream with DT Swiss Degrees of Freedom

DT Swiss is wading into the war against pedal kickback, realeasing a “Degrees of Freedom” upgrade kit for its mountain bike hubs. While several smaller and boutique brands are garnering attention for diferent approaches to the same problem, having a major manufacturer like DT Swiss release its own design is a major sign that the anti-pedal kickback movment is moving from fringe fad to the mainstream.

What is pedal kickback?

“Have you ever felt like your bike is working against you?” DT Swiss’s engineers open, as they help explain it in the video below. That’s perhaps a bit dramatic. But basically, pedal kickback is what can happen when your bike moves through its travel. If your bike has an axle path where the rear wheel moves away from the bottom bracket at all, and many do to different degrees, the distance between your rear axle and BB grows slightly. Since the chain connects those two points, this can cause the chain to pull backward with the wheel, rotating the cranks backwards as it does. This can feel like your pedals are “kicking” back against you slightly. Especially if you are trying to pedal as your wheel moves. But big compressions can also cause the same effect.

This is also why high pivot suspension designs, like bikes from Frobidden, many Norco’s, Devinci and Trek’s new Slash line, all have an idler pulley wheel. That kind of suspension layout feels so good largely because it has a more rearward axle path. The entire purpose of the pulley is to mitigate chain growth as the rear wheel moves through its travel.

Since pedal kickback is the result of suspenion movement, the effect is far more pronounced on longer-travel bikes. That’s why enduro and downhill are where a lot of these new designs are gaining the most popularity.

What is Degrees of Freedom?

Degrees of Freedom is DT Swiss’ solution to pedal kickback. A play on degrees of engagement, the typical measure of how quickly a hub will engage in response to pedal forces, the system allows riders to choose between three set ranges of “freedom.” The hub can be set to have 20 degrees of free movement, 10 degrees, or a zero-degree instant engagement. When the hub is moved forward – by pedalling or by the movement of rear suspension through its travel – the DF system allows the hub to move forward by the specified about before it transmits force to the pedals. As long as you are freewheeling, the DF…