I have 700 flawless miles on this bike (Voltbike Yukon) and really love it but finally suffered my first mishap yesterday. Was assisted pedaling uphill and i think was changing/had just changed gears and heard a crunch/pop. Thought it was just a simple chain popoff since i had messed with derailleur settings recently after I was hearing too much noise in gear 7 with occasional skipping lately.
Upon getting the chain back on though, i was barely able to pedal a few rotations until the chain would lock and seize up again. Got 6 miles home all on motor without pedaling. Messed with the derailleur limits a little bit but soon realized it was probably a deeper problem.
As seen in the video —- the lowest gear 1 and gear 2 cogs have movement but gears 3-7 are seized with 0 movement and gear 7 looks awfully tight squeezed in toward the frame with probably not enough room for the chain even if it worked on that gear.
TL;DR: Took it to a local bike shop and the master mechamic said my "freewheel imploded" and I would need a replacement, so I ordered one. Just wonder what specifically happened besides "it broke". I am reading online about different issues and how freewheels work and wondering if the pawls wore out or busted but I am an amateur and just looking for a better explanation 🙂
E-bike Freewheel suffered catastrophic failure, but what actually happened?
byu/teufelhund53 inbikewrench
by teufelhund53
5 Comments
That looks like a cassette that is missing its lock-ring. Weird.
its just what the mechanic explained, but hopefully its only the freewheel(the thing with cogs) and not the freehub(the thing that contains the pawls or ratchets and were the freewheel is mounted on).
considering its an E-bike, you maybe pushed that little freewheel too hard and the rivets holding it together sheared off
Low end freewheels like SunRace and “Sinmano” are known to simply disintegrate under normal use. Shouldn’t be too expensive to replace, but unfortunately good quality freewheels aren’t made anymore. It’s a warranty issue.
Trust me on this one. Never, ever buy a freewheel or fixed hub wheel again. Buy a freehub-based rear wheel and a 7-8 speed cassette. Or this will keep happening over and over.
My guess something plastic broke.
I tried out Ultegra for a while instead of 105 but the plastic they use to save a couple of grams got ground up. Ultegra probably isn’t the right choice for my setup but it’s pretty ridiculous they’re using cheap plastic on a part of the bike that experiences so much torque.
On an e-bike it’s even more ridiculous.