Noisy freehub - quieten with grease?

[Brucey]

A noisy freehub can be a useful addition to a bell on shared-use paths, of which we have a lot in Germany. People recognise the sound. Pedal backwards for even more volume.

Or just very irritating when you're out to enjoy the sights and sounds of the countryside.......

I have done a lot of riding on shared use paths in recent years and it is fair to say that hitherto I hadn't really appreciated how useful a good bell could be.

[TheBomber]

Unfortunately the sound of a bicycle bell was adopted by WhatsApp as its default new message sound. So now it’s not just older men who don’t recognise a bell as the sound of an approaching bicycle (because they can no longer hear those frequencies), it’s just about anyone carrying a phone.

[Brucey]

what kind of cycle bell is used for the whatsapp sound? It ought to be possible to differentiate the sound of your bell from this...

[TheBomber]

It’s a simple ’ping’. A ‘ding-a-ling’ bike bell might do better, but they’re generally larger units that I wouldn’t really want to be carrying.

[plancashire]

You can ping the simple kind of bell more than once, also softly or loudly. You need two pings separated by a pause for anything: one to distract from phone or conversation and one to register that it is a bike approaching.

[Brucey]

that is pretty much what I'd do anyway tbh

[Cyclothesist]

I try to avoid dismantling freehubs, the most they get is some wetlube dribbled through the gaps. The reason being the phenomenon of "ping flip it" as described by 531colin. Shimano pawl freehubs (and especially the innards of their brifters) have a high "PFI" index.

[hoogerbooger]

I try to avoid dismantling freehubs, the most they get is some wetlube dribbled through the gaps. The reason being the phenomenon of "ping flip it" as described by 531colin. Shimano pawl freehubs (and especially the innards of their brifters) have a high "PFI" index.

Just searched and 'ping flip' is what I thought.. although being uncouth the version in my garage is 'ping f@#@'. I have 2 shimano freehubs to service and re-shim. I've only done one before and with the state of my garage, with benches you'll never get behind and piles of various precious clutter, it was nerve-wracking. Using the dining room table is not much better ( wooden floor and gaps under the skirtings)

[Brucey]

note that you only need to disassemble a freehub if you need to change something like the pawls, pawl springs, balls etc.; re-shimming merely requires that the dust seal is removed and one part is unscrewed, so it doesn't take too long, and nor does it require a particularly clean and tidy workshop, either. Cleaning and relubrication does not usually require any disassembly, since the unit can be flushed with solvent and relubricated in a number of different ways.

BTW if you remove one of the shims, then finger-tighten the adjusting race onto the balls, provided you know where you started from, this can tell you exactly how thick the bed of shims needs to be (in relation to whatever you just removed), or how much thinner the adjusting race needs to be. The final position of the adjusting race needs to be a little bit CW from the 'finger-tight' position, but as long as that is understood the adjusting race can be lapped.or re-shimmed in accordance with the screw thread pitch. Effectively, this arrangement contains its own built-in micrometer for use when setting up, and just for once you don't need to worry about backlash or clearance in the screw threads, because the loading is always in the same direction.

[Cyclothesist]

note that you only need to disassemble a freehub if you need to change something like the pawls, pawl springs, balls etc.; re-shimming merely requires that the dust seal is removed and one part is unscrewed, so it doesn't take too long, and nor does it require a particularly clean and tidy workshop, either. Cleaning and relubrication does not usually require any disassembly, since the unit can be flushed with solvent and relubricated in a number of different ways.

I was thinking the freehub could do with a nice lubrication port. Trouble is where to put one??

[Brucey]

anywhere on the hub body will probably do. Injection of solvent will allow in-situ cleaning, Later injection of SBG (solvent-borne grease) via the same port will provide relubrication for all the bearings. I have designed all that is required to make this swift, easy and economic to do

[Cyclothesist]

anywhere on the hub body will probably do. Injection of solvent will allow in-situ cleaning, Later injection of SBG (solvent-borne grease) via the same port will provide relubrication for all the bearings. I have designed all that is required to make this swift, easy and economic to do

Something like a drilled hole in the freehub under the splines of the cassette? I can see that working with a fluid-tight plug over the lubrication port.

[pliptrot]

I have 3 Campag freehubs and they all have lube ports in the freehub body. Given that they use 2 "sealed" cartridge bearings in their freehub I don't know what value that has. You will have to squeeze grease past the external seals to do any good.

[Brucey]

originally the campag design included a lube port on the freewheel body. It was intended that this could be accessed when the sprockets are off.
Being between the two cartridge bearings, this can be very effective, especially if the inboard bearing seals (ie. the ones you cannot see easily during servicing) are removed. The lube port on the hubshell is just for the hub bearings really. If a fluid lube such as gear oil or SFG is used in either the main hub or the freewheel body and some of it leaks into where the pawls are, this is arguably no bad thing.