So I got this 2025 Bottecchia with a Shimano GRX 1×12. Wheels are Fulcrum Lite ER.
Used degreaser to then wax the chain. Afterwards the freehub was much louder, worrying me I removed the required grease in there. So I took the cassette off to re-lube. When doing this, I realized I could just pull out the axle – and the freehub was just stacked on top (meaning, the brake side of the wheel just had the axle coming out, a washer and a “distance-piece”.
After a failed attempt with too much play, I successfully re-assembled and it seems fine except the highest two gears are a bit vibrate-y, however, not sure if I just didn’t notice that before.
Is this a very maintenance friendly axle/freehub or did I do something really wrong and likely need LBS help?
by imbadatchoosingnicks
5 Comments
your hub is held to your frame by your axle’s compression.
Pretty normal
Have you got both end caps in place? It’s perfectly normal for these hubs and axles for them to be taken apart. Just ensure the freehub is correctly engaged with the wheel hub, I find slowly turning it counter clockwise and a small amount of pressure seats the freehub in place.
Yep, mt dt swiss hubs does this, Its pretty normal
It’s a through axle hub, many of them do that, yes. My QR hub only does it after removing the end caps from the axle, but through axles take the whole thing out.