Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner

Why freewheels?

3K views 13 replies 6 participants last post by  mack_turtle 
#1 ·
Why do people still run freewheels for single speeds?

Just curious.
 
#2 ·
A freewheel hub has, in theory, a stronger axle as it is supported by bearings that are spaced further apart. The axle just spins on its bearings instead of getting interference front the freehub pawls. It's also easier to design a hub with wider spaced flanges, which can allow for a stronger wheel build. There's also the aesthetic appeal "purity" and "simplicity" associated with freewheels.

I run a regular hub with a freehub that could accommodate a 10 speed cassette with a Surly cog and spacers and it works fine. It's easier to fine-tune tune the chainline with a freehub and spacers, because a freewheel chainline is effectively non-adjustable. (You can move a freewheel out with spacers, but not in, and the outward adjustment is limited to a few millimeters.)
 
#3 ·
I am running Paul WORD boost hubs on my new Karate Monkey, with a White Industries freewheel. Honestly, I am not a fan of freewheels but I wanted a threaded hub because I run my SS fixed gear for most of the season. I will only put a freewheel on for racing but wanted that ability.

If it were going to be a full time regular SS, I would have definitely picked up a normal pawl hub. There are way too many quality hubs out there these days to run a freewheel full time imo.

Edit: and as myself and Mack were discussing in my other thread, swapping gears is always more expensive with a freewheel.
 
#6 ·
You know why they call that a "suicide hub," right? I tried that once on an old road bike I had converted for city riding. Loctite 242 on the cog and BB lock ring, roto-fixed it with the chain, carried a lockring wrench just in case. One near-fatal failure in traffic and I just put a freewheel back on.

Having a disc brake on the hub probably makes that a lot less scary, but I still would not trust it.
 
#7 ·
Interesting, I have put a lot of miles on the one I have and even done some racing with it and never had an issue. When I have pulled my rear cog off in the past it takes a good amount of effort to get the lockring and cog off.

The only thing I could see really going wrong would be if the lockring broke in half or something... I also only run a front brake when I ride fixed. I find a rear brake to be extremely distracting when it comes to feedback in the pedals from the rear of the bike. Very unnatural to stop your legs from spinning with a brake.
 
#9 ·
Im not arguing that it can't happen. I just don't worry about it because my local terrain is just a bunch of punchy stuff, so I am not flying down long downhills with it. I imagine breaking a lockring would be similar to breaking a chain on the trail, you'll probably have some banged up knees but damage will likely be minimal.

Now with my gravel bike, I ran a Surly Ultra New fixed hub and the correct lock ring. I didn't want to be hauling ass down the street and have a slipped cog throw me into traffic.
 
#13 ·
You can run freewheels on track threads. Remember, people used to put entire cassettes on the same number of threads that your regular Paul hub has.

I did some looking into this when I considered putting a freewheel onto my Fixed Word hub, and there seemed to be a consensus on bikeforums (and good old Sheldon Brown) that it was a non-issue.

As to why I'm running a freehweel-it's because I wanted to try fixed gear riding, and I decided it's probably not for me. So I put a White on, and enjoy coasting for now. I'm not ready to say I won't try fixed gear riding again, but so far the White seems nice enough.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top