I just received my bike back from a repair shop after a week. I love cycling so I immediately hit the road and went hard. At first everything worked well but about 40 minutes in i felt something wrong. I do not know if it was like this or if I hit a bump hard. Two problems as seen in the video:
1) When starting to pedal forwards and then stopping, the chain becomes slack and gets tangled up.
2) It will not pedal backwards at all and the chain becomes completely slack and tangled up.
I’d rather attempt to fix this myself since I enjoy cycling and dont want to risk not having my bike for another full week+.
Can anyone please explain what the issue is and how to fix it?
Can anyone help me figure out what’s going on, and how to fix it?
byu/Good-Ad4898 inbikewrench
by Good-Ad4898
10 Comments
The freehub/freewheel is broken or seized up. It could be fixed with a service, or it could be trash, hard to tell.
I would guess you need to deeply clean the old oil grease in it, but I’m not an expert.
Please allow me also to wish you good luck with your bike riding! Hearing body building stuff and riding your bike is the way to go for a better life!
Should be a simple freewheel swap. Would take a shop 10 minutes to do.
It looks like the pawls aren’t releasing inside the hub (cassette) and the rear cog remains engaged with the wheel. I don’t know how difficult it is to get at them on a multi-speed bike like that. On my race bike (one speed), the cassette comes right out once the wheel is removed. The pawls are usually spring loaded to engage when you pedal and release when you stop pedaling. You might have a problem with the springs in your pawls or maybe it just needs a good lube (grease). No matter what, you are going to have to take that rear hub apart to find out what is wrong and fix it.
That looks like the freewheel is not freely operating anymore. it probably needs servicing or replacing, though this is an old bike by the looks of the group set , is this friction meaning no index gears.
With those old systems you have to trim the gears your self until they are sitting in the correct gear.
That can also lead to issues back pedaling .
But for me this looks like a free wheel hub related problem.
Freewheel
Freewheels are like $16. The labor to swap might cost $11-$20.
I wouldn’t bother doing this service yourself. You need the correct freewheel tool to fit your specific freewheel, buying that tool alone is basically the labor costs for something you’ll likely use once and will take a week to arrive and hopefully you ordered the correct one. Also freewheels get crazy tight over time. Usually mechanics mount them in a vice and it takes 2-3 mechanics pulling on the wheel to get the old one off.
If you’re nice about it and mention that you just got the bike serviced the shop should let you cut the line and handle it immediately as they clearly missed something on the service.
Measure chain with 12 inch ruler, from middle of pin to middle of 12th pin, should be spot on on new chain. 1/16 is allowed extension, translate to 0.5% extension, its maximum.
Check that and dissasemble rear drive, take off, clean with soap and water, regrease moving parts only inside. Check if teeth are sharp or not. Sharp, meaning new rings.
If you want to work your way in to servicing your own bike then buying a freewheel removal tool (I’m assuming a freewheel, like others, based on apparent component vintage) and doing it yourself is a good idea – if you buy a new freewheel, but first I would try lubing the freewheel. Oil, almost any grade will work. YouTube is your friend here on where to drop in the oil, and no tools required. But you won’t save much over having a shop do it. One advantage of the DIY option is if (low probability) you ever needed to replace a drive-side spoke the freewheel must come off. AND… Bonus Round: many Shimano freewheel removal tools have the same spline as many Shimano and SRAM free hubs, so only one tool required for both.
Edit: seems odd that this starts so soon after it comes back from the shop, but stranger things can happen. It’s just timing. Nothing the shop would have done would initiate this. Luck of the draw.
Edit 2: to lube it yourself, remove the rear wheel, look closely at the freewheel where the axle is, spin the freewheel to find the spot where the freewheel moves independently of the body of the freewheel. Drip oil into this space and spin it some more. You can’t really over do it. There’s a similar gap on the back side of the freewheel that you may be able to see from the hub side. Add oil here too.
The freewheel is seized. It’s not freewheeling when the pedals stop rotating.
Option A: research what make and model freewheel it is, buy the tool to remove it, and buy a new freewheel.
Option B: research what make and model freewheel it is, buy the tool to remove it, and research how to disassemble the freewheel carefully and see if you can repair it. If it can’t be fixed, buy a new freewheel.
Option C: take it back to the shop.