Rear hub freewheel life expectancy

[bluepeds]

Hi all,

This is my first post and have limited technical knowledge on bikes so please don't grill me...

I have a Ridgeback Velocity 2007 owned since new from October 2007 which has a Shimano RM30 rear hub. On Tuesday night I was pulling off at the lights on my way home from work where I was able to pedal but the bike wouldn't move off. After spending some time looking at what the problem was, it looked as if the ratched mechanism within the rear hub/freewheel wasn't locking in thus causing the pedalling problem. Everything else seemed ok, chain, cassette/sprockets.

Eventually I had to try turning the pedals back and forth for it to lock in. Unfortunately it again happened after idling downhill and had to revert to forward/back pedal until it locked again.

Now, I've covered just under 3000 miles on the bike for commuting in London over the last 14 months and am wondering if the hub should be expected to cover more than that. My last bike (lower spec) covered over 6000 miles and I never had trouble with the rear hub.

I've been told by the bike shops that it would be best to buy a new wheel rather than replace the hub as it will turn out to be the same cost if not more. Problem is finding somewhere that supplies similar black wheels to what I have does bump the price up a bit, Alexrims ACE19.

Can anybody give me any guidance on this? Would the hub still be under warranty or be considered defective?

TIA

Pedge

 

[kyuss]

I'd expect a freehub to last longer than 3000 miles. A new hub or wheel sounds like a fairly drastic and expensive measure though. Unless the LBS has taken the freehub apart to find the problem and pronounced it dead I'd be sceptical of going down this route. Extreme cold can effect the performance of freehubs (the grease/oil thickens and stops the pawls from engaging properly), and it's been pretty chilly lately.

I had a similar problem with a sticky Sora hub. A quick flush through with a light oil sorted it out and any decent LBS would be able to do this for not much money if you're not confident enough to do it yourself. There's decent instructions on the Park Tools site. I didn't even go as far as taking the freehub off. I had some finish line cross country chain lube to hand and just dribbled this down the gap between hub and freewheel until it ran out the other side clean (took a while), and that sorted the problem with the unexpected side effect that it is now totally silent. It's worth a try before shelling out any money on new wheels.

 

[Steve Austin]

in this cold weather a freely spinning freehub is likely to have got cold and frozen. I would put my money on that before i invested in a new wheel.

 

[jay clock]

All my hubs have lasted much longer. Does sound like a possible cold weather problem, and a mate of mine sorted his with a large amount of WD40

Ifyou do not want to do it yourself, and if the wheel is a very cheap one, then a new one may be the best way. I prefer to do most repairs myself, so would buy the tool and have go. If you do not fancy this go to another shop and get them to have a look

 

[piedwagtail91]

i got about 40,000 miles out of an xt before it started to sound as if it was playing up, not failing.you can get the freehub for less than £20 if you can change it yourself and the wheel is ok

 

[bluepeds]

Thanks guys for your replies.

I do think that the recent cold weather has probably affected the freehub as I leave the bike outdoors. It seems to be locking in place now but will give it some serious WD40 or De-greasing medication to hopefully solve it.

After vising a couple of cycle shops yesterday I'm going to try and avoid Evans Cycles from now on. They seem to always want to sell rather than repair things. £60 for a wheel which isn't even the same colour (black) as what I have! An independent shop was much more helpful, the guy told me to spray some serious amount of de-greaser as there's no way that the hub could have gone this early on.

I'll be buying the chain whip and hub remover tool to look at it closer if it still gives me grief.

I'm also awaiting on a reply from Ridgeback.

 

[RedBike]

Although I would expect the freehub to last longer than 3000miles a years worth of commuting is bound to take it's toll on parts.
I don't think I've ever managed to get a wheel to last a year. Something always breaks or wears out (normally the rim).

I would supect you've got muck / water in there and it needs a good clean / re-grease. The problem is freehubs are often sealed so you can't easily get at the internals.

Spraying wd40 / degreaser on it should free it up and start it working again. However, unless it's properly re-greased again after I wouldn't count on it lasting for very long.

I would recommend a Shimano wh-R500 wheel. They're a good quality no frills wheelset. You should be able to pick a rear wheel up for about £35. (I think I brought a complete set last year from sjs for about £45.).

See what Ridgeback say first.

 

[fossyant]

Remove the freehub body before flushing. You'll need cone spanners, a HG Lockring tool and a 10 mm allen key.

Don't clean it through whilst fitted as it will damage bearings for the hub - i.e. strip the grease.

Or buy a new freehub body, or indeed a new hub (works out cheaper) and strip it !

 

[NickM]

Freehubs want oil lubrication, while hub bearings ideally need grease. The right-hand hub bearing on a Shimano hub is part of the freehub mechanism, so flushing with degreaser in situ is likely to be a bad idea - it will leave the right-hand hub bearing altogether greaseless.

If you don't have the tools or confidence to dismantle the hub (a job which is straightforward enough when you know how to do it, but intimidating for a novice mechanic), I would limit the treatment to flushing with GT85 - a few squirts, not a flood - and dribbling lube (Finish Line Cross-country is as good as any) into the right-hand cone/seal interface with the wheel horizontal, while turning the axle.

 

[llllllll]

I had a Sora hub go exactly the same. I kept stripping it down and re-greasing and it kept slipping, usually while I was out of the saddle, throwing across the road. After embedding the large chainring in the back of my ankle I decided to replace the hub, it didn't cost that much, about £30 quid for a Campag hub (I've had problems with Shimano hubs in the past and refuse to buy another) and £15 for a rebuild.

 

[bluepeds]

Freehubs want oil lubrication, while hub bearings ideally need grease. The right-hand hub bearing on a Shimano hub is part of the freehub mechanism, so flushing with degreaser in situ is likely to be a bad idea - it will leave the right-hand hub bearing altogether greaseless.

If you don't have the tools or confidence to dismantle the hub (a job which is straightforward enough when you know how to do it, but intimidating for a novice mechanic), I would limit the treatment to flushing with GT85 - a few squirts, not a flood - and dribbling lube (Finish Line Cross-country is as good as any) into the right-hand cone/seal interface with the wheel horizontal, while turning the axle.

I was actually going to ask what type of grease would be best to use on the hub but I'll give the above a go. I've found some videos on YouTube on how to take it all apart and it looks pretty simple, just need to order the HG tool and Chain Whip.

 

[NickM]

I was actually going to ask what type of grease would be best to use on the hub but I'll give the above a go. I've found some videos on YouTube on how to take it all apart and it looks pretty simple, just need to order the HG tool and Chain Whip.

Make sure that you have good cone spanners - Shimano do those locknuts up tight at the factory!

Likewise, they do up the bolt which attaches the freehub mechanism to the hub shell very tight. You are likely to need some extra leverage to undo it - I use an old MTB handlebar slipped over the end of the Allen key.