My experience is similar to yours. When people talk about "ratcheting up a technical climb" I don't really recognize that. I haven't had any issues cleaning Shore technical climbs on low engagement hubs and I haven't really found high engagement hubs to make a significant difference either. Whenever I don't clean a climb I blame my line choice, fitness, skill, last night's beer, but never my hub's engagement.
I suppose the closer you get to trials style riding, the more sense a high engagement hub makes. I ride trails, not trials, so I can't really judge how significant the difference is.
March 14, 2023, 8:28 a.m. - Niels van Kampenhout
My experience is similar to yours. When people talk about "ratcheting up a technical climb" I don't really recognize that. I haven't had any issues cleaning Shore technical climbs on low engagement hubs and I haven't really found high engagement hubs to make a significant difference either. Whenever I don't clean a climb I blame my line choice, fitness, skill, last night's beer, but never my hub's engagement. I suppose the closer you get to trials style riding, the more sense a high engagement hub makes. I ride trails, not trials, so I can't really judge how significant the difference is.