Hi everyone
Please see video. When free wheeling, cranks are still turning.
I opened up the free hub body and noted one of the pawl springs were broken so
I’ve removed that and ordered some new ones. I cleaned the others out and then replaced them but the problem persists.
Is it time for new bearings or new hubs in total?
Thanks!
by jay_cowie
6 Comments
Nothing I would be too concerned about, it just means the drag in the freehub is more then the bb bearings. Not unusual at all
Ive seen that happening when the grease used in the freehub body is too thick. Reminds me of the working principle behind a fluid coupling.
this is due to drag in the hub, and there could be many causes. I’ve had this happen to me a few times, and the answer is always to take the hub apart and check:
* the bearings for drag from excessive wear,
* the seal between the hub body and freehub for lubrication, and
* the pawls moving freely without excessive grease
missing or improperly manufactured spacers between the hub bearings and the freehub bearings will cause drag, wear, and damage to bearings.
for example, I recently had to rebuild an Industry Nine 1/1 hub that was locking up. I didn’t realize how bad the hub was until I went to rebuild the wheel with new spokes. with the spokes all removed, I clamped the hub in the frame with normal torque on the thru axle. the hub basically froze! it was hard to tell with the weight of a tire on there, but the bearings were smashed. the freehub would spin freely with the pawls and seal removed, but the hub body was almost unmoveable.
I had just paid a bike shop to replace those bearings (the only time in 25 years I’ve paid a bike shop for labor on anything because I didn’t want to buy all the proprietary I9 tools) and the bearings were already damaged. the culprit was the inner sleeve of the axle being manufactured too narrow, allowing the spacers around it to press the inner race independently from the outer race. I9 happily sent me some replacement bearings and a new axle. I installed everything with a super thin shim inside the hub, and that not only made the hub spin smoothly again, but should prevent future damage.
TL;DR: your wheel should not do that and you need to service your hub.
Hi this is either pawls perm engaged because of muck ususally OR more liklely a new drive chain / hub which is fine
but if its a hub thats just started doing this then keep an eye for the chain getting slack when you freewheel. This isnt the end of the world, you just need to change the bearings in the freehub body. but def do it in order to avoid chain suck
EDIT i see its a hope hub. if its not brand new change the bearing in the fee hub. I cant remember the size just measure and order accordingly, theyre less than a tenner per bearing and you might as well do them both. They knock out and press back in easily enough.
Did you changed the cassette before?
Someone has used thick grease on the freehub pawls or not enough grease in the bottom bracket.
Nothing to worry about, just because this happens doesn’t mean you’ve got losses anywhere.
Many people spend hundreds on the wanky ceramic speed BBs to experience this, so consider yourself lucky!