Ratchet Sound

I've noticed something similar in a wheelset I own it has quite a few miles and has never given any problem so I guess it should be O.K. After greasing it a few times I've greased the ratcheting teeths and now I can barely hear it. A new one is much more noticiable and even annoying once you enjoy the silence of the other ones 🙂
Maybe the uneven sound is some grease got into some teeths and not to the others and it absorbes some of the noise.

I rebuilt the older hub and used a light oil at the recommendation of my LBS...the uneven noise didn't change and even they can't figure out why. I think its a Bontrager trait judging by listening to other hubs. 😕

Bontrager's hubs used to be made by DT swiss. I have three sets of these which exhibit this to greater or lesser degree and it is no problem.

I've often wondered whether this effect is entirely down to the hub or whether the position of rim's rotation has an effect on the reverberation.

Set your bike on a stand, hold the crank steady and spin the back wheel. Look at the rear sprocket and see if it is occillating. If the rear sprocket occilates side-to-side or up-and-down slightly while free-wheeling then there is a slight error in concetricity in the rear sprocket compared to the axle.

No problem as long as it works. Probably within the design tolerance and the only problem is the sound it makes.

A slight error in concentricity will make gear changes more positive I rekon.

Thanks to all who responded and it's good to hear that others have noticed the same sound difference. I have a spare rear hub and it made the same uneven sound even without a rim and spokes, so I pulled it apart and now believe it is either the shape of the springs that hold the ratchets together (i.e., uneven pressure) or slight machine tolerance differences between the ring nut and rotor that cause the uneven sound. The hubs work perfectly and I would not change them...but I would be happier if the sound wasn't uneven! 😉