Whats the matter with me

[daddyshambles]

whats wrong when the chain is on the cogs at the front and rear but the peddles just spin, the cassette spins and the wheels dont turn. then it suddenly kicks in and away i go. stop at lights or for a breather and it happens again. seems to happen every time i stop now. any ideas.

 

[ianrauk]

The pawls inside the freehub body have stuck open. (the 3 springs in this pic)

A quick fix is to take wheel off bike, take off cassette. Lay wheel flat. Feed freehub body with WD40 until it losens the pawls. However this is a quick fix not a permanent one.

If you are not confident at servicing/cleaning/greasing/changing the freehub body yourself then it is a bike shop jobbie.

 

[gbb]

99% sure to be a frozen, or cream crackered freehub.
Have a look online or i'm sure someone here will come up with a solution...although it could be a new freehub for you.
My old bianchi used to do it occasionally...then righted itself.

It's probably possible to get oil into it to free it up...ive never had to do one

 

[Gerry Attrick]

If the cassette is turning with the chain but the drive is not being transmetted to the wheel then it sounds as if your freehub is cream crackered. How old is it? Has it done lots of miles in poor weather?

They can be repaired but its not for the first timer or mechanically, er challenged. The alternative is to rebuild the wheel with a new freehub, or a new wheel.

You could as a last resort try taking the wheel out, removing the cassette and spraying copious amounts of WD40 or similar between the free hub splined sleeve and spindle. Trouble is you may wash out grease from your wheel bearings too ... not good!

 

[steve52]

often its water in there freezeing wd will do the jobby but will cause problems as it drys out strip clean and grease is best,

 

[accountantpete]

If your freehub is the same as Ian's pic - there is a very thin delicate spring,about the size of a key ring but very thin and not very powerful,which goes over all three pawls and rests in the groove that you can see in the middle of them.

It only takes a bit of muck or freezing water to counteract the spring and keep the pawls down so that they don't contact with the hub and move the wheel.

On the other hand the hub can wear so that the pawls don't contact properly in certain areas in which case you need a new hub.

 

[daddyshambles]

thanks all thats been really helpfull, cheers

 

[Banjo]

whats wrong when the chain is on the cogs at the front and rear but the peddles just spin, the cassette spins and the wheels dont turn. then it suddenly kicks in and away i go. stop at lights or for a breather and it happens again. seems to happen every time i stop now. any ideas.

your bike may have a freewheel casette instead of a the hub shown above. these are cheap to buy and a 5 minute job to replace bike shop changed mine for nothing except the cost of the bits on an old appollo hybrid I had.

Take it to a bike shop and ask them what type you have ie free hub or freewheel cassette.

ps I just looked in your profile to see what bike you have. It will almost certainly be a freewheel type either buy the removal tool and swap it yourself or get the bikeshop to do it.Obviously you need an identical one to the one coming off.
sometimes they are on tight. you may need to put the tool in a vice and use the wheel to spin it off.
FREEWHEEL

 

[daddyshambles]

thanks a lot banjo et al thats me just back from the shop and back on the road, brakes and gears done as well into the bargain, thank you