[shackleton450]

I know there's no right answer but what's your preference on this subject.My riding is mainly gravel roads with surface ranging from smooth to VERY chunky.I live in central PA so I'm either going up or down and many climbs are close to 1000' vertical.Over the coarse of a ride averaging 100+ ft vertical per mile.
Thoughts/experiences.

 

[Impetus]

I ride a singlespeed 100% of the time and have ridden hubs with 18 PoE, and hubs with 88 PoE, it honestly made very little difference in my technical climbing ability, which is the only place that PoE matters- steep ledgy climbs where one must backpedal to time pedal placement to avoid pedal strikes.





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[127.0.0.1]

to me in any and all riding POE never mattered to me, but what does matter is if pawls skip or not. high POE setups tend to be better built and don't skip like a bog-standard shimano freehub does on occasion.

 

[tdc_worm]

as far as ratcheting goes....as you get stronger and ride in higher gears, the effect of less POE becomes less noticeable. that said, i ride onyx. the sound of a ziptie being zipped in my head is just too much, especially on sustained descents that can take several minutes.

 

[*OneSpeed*]

I know there's no right answer but what's your preference on this subject.My riding is mainly gravel roads with surface ranging from smooth to VERY chunky.I live in central PA so I'm either going up or down and many climbs are close to 1000' vertical.Over the coarse of a ride averaging 100+ ft vertical per mile.
Thoughts/experiences.

On a sustained fire road climb it will make ZERO difference. The whole point of high engagement is when you stop pedaling, pause, ratchet, etc. It will not make a difference on a fire road.

It seems most people aren't super picky/sensitive about engagement. I much prefer a high engagement hub. The higher the better. I also think it's more "important", or at least nicer to have, on a SS.

 

[Blatant]

What Impetus said.

 

[LoneStar]

Like a lot of folks here, I've owned all kinds of hubs with varying degrees of engagement. Is high engagement necessary to have a good time? Absolutely not. Is the higher engagement noticeable? It is to me. I just hate the slop you get with lower engaging hubs. Everyone is different though in the value they place on that.

 

[802spokestoke]

I can see wanting increased engagement when you're cresting a climb and the last push means punching through a rock field. I have a ss hub with 44 poe. I couldn't imagine needing anything more than that. That hub is designed for trials riding for what it's worth

 

[*OneSpeed*]

I can see wanting increased engagement when you're cresting a climb and the last push means punching through a rock field. I have a ss hub with 44 poe. I couldn't imagine needing anything more than that. That hub is designed for trials riding for what it's worth

What hub?

 

[J.B. Weld]

Higher engagement hubs have lots of benefits but sustained gravel climbs isn't one of them, 1 poe would be enough for that.

 

[802spokestoke]

woops..it's 88 poe on the pro 4 ss. the pro 4 is 44

 

[adaycj]

I know that I often don't see things like others do, but I think the real improvement in high POE hubs is in constant curves or switchbacks at speed. It is the one case where the rider is attempting to maintain a high rate of speed with pedaling, but cannot pedal much of the time because of bike weighting and obstacle avoidance. When suddenly taking a stab at the pedals between apexes to keep the speed up, that is when the lost motion of more degrees of engagement causes a loss in speed, and often a harsh engagement.

On the other hand, the much touted "ratchet" in technical terrain ... I have no problem calibrating my response to varying engagement degrees in a few seconds of riding. Yea, a high POE is likely better from a timing and propulsion standpoint, but really can't tell.

 

[The Squeaky Wheel]

On constant climbs? POE doesn't matter

I agree with the above comments about POE during brief hard accelerations.

For me, where I really notice differences in POE is when pedaling fast through rocks, with the rear suspension cycling quickly. In this scenario, low POE hubs feel very sloppy to me and I really notice the dead spots in the pedal stroke. I can't stand that sensation.

I hated the stock DT hub (18 pt, I believe). It was tolerable with the upgraded 36 POE, even better with the 54. But I elect for I-9< King, Hadley type hubs and would probably love the infinite Onyx hubs.

 

[*OneSpeed*]

I can see wanting increased engagement when you're cresting a climb and the last push means punching through a rock field. I have a ss hub with 44 poe. I couldn't imagine needing anything more than that. That hub is designed for trials riding for what it's worth

woops..it's 88 poe on the pro 4 ss.

That's what I thought.

 

[Forest Rider]

I'd like to replace the hub with higher POE. As I ride the quicker flatter type trails, my feet can't keep up with the power in that I'm constantly hearing the clang as I come up against the pawl and drive forward. Basically, my cadence isn't quick enough to keep up with the sloppy hub so it's constantly engaging/disengaging.

On a steep climb, I don't think it's an issue. Perhaps on a less steep climb I notice the sloppy hub. Steep/less steep is subjective to the rider and their strength of course, but it really just translate to speed.

Funny how I notice this on just one bike though. The SRAM hub may be even cheaper than a basic model Roval hub on a stock bike.

 

[KingOfOrd]

ut:

 

[mikesee]

POE is meaningless on a constant gravel climb, and makes very little difference anywhere else.

 

[J.B. Weld]

POE is meaningless on a constant gravel climb, and makes very little difference anywhere else.

Based on reports here and elsewhere the last part of that sentence is up for debate, seems like lots of riders find them very beneficial. I haven't ridden a high poe hub for any length of time and then went back to a lower one so I can't really say.

36poe suits me, 18 seemed fine before that but maybe it would feel sloppy now? Don't know.

Reconsidering my first post, I guess if the road was really bumpy poe might possibly come into play on a sustained gravel climb?

 

[mikesee]

seems like lots of riders find them very beneficial.

Sure, lots of people like higher POE.

But no proof has ever been offered to show that POE matters.

In short, it's a preference.

 

[fmendes]

My response is that, yes, agreeing with the most, it makes little (if any) difference is smooth climbs.

About the other scenarios, what about the impact that the freehub receive from cassette cogs? The higher engagement would allow for lower impact speed, right?