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Normal clicking sound from the cassette when coasting

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Normal clicking sound from the cassette when coasting

Old 10-06-19, 11:55 PM
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shard
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Normal clicking sound from the cassette when coasting

I recently picked up a Gary Fisher Avant Garde and I noticed that when coasting the normal ratchet sound wasn't there, it's totally silent. Is it something I should be worried about or is this normal for some bikes. It says " Sunrace A 7049 on the cassette.
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Old 10-07-19, 12:21 AM
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While coasting, the cassette doesn’t really do anything as it’s stationary WRT the chain. It’s the freehub - a separate part from the cassette - that creates the traditional ticking while coasting.
While there is/has been an intentionally quiet Shimano freehub called ”silent clutch”, usually when freehubs go quiet it’s either from build-up of contamination or from more-than-average grease being applied internally at manufacture or service.
One option is to ride until there is a problem.
Another is to flush the freehub, preferably after having removed it from the wheel.
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Old 10-07-19, 12:28 AM
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Recently, I noticed that my normally clicky Campagnolo freehub suddenly went quiet. When I removed the freehub to investigate, I found 2 of the 3 pawl springs were broken, so my hub was working on borrowed time on the last intact spring. If the last pawl spring were to break, the freehub will no longer function. I replaced the pawl springs and all is good now.
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Old 10-08-19, 01:34 PM
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Thanks for answers. I'm going to check things out
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Old 10-08-19, 02:38 PM
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Coasting ticking sounds vary a lot. I haven't ridden a SunRace cassette but do have three SunRace freewheels. They all run much more quietly when coasting than my Suntour and Shimano freewheels and cassettes. No problems in actual use.

My 10-speed Shimano cassette on an aluminum semi-aero wheelset emits louder ticking while coasting than my Shimano and MicroShift 7 and 8 speed cassettes on low profile aluminum wheels.

If you're accustomed to the loud ticking of current Shimano and other brand cassettes, amplified by the resonance of carbon wheels, some other cassettes and/or freewheels will seem oddly quiet, especially on low profile aluminum rims.
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Old 10-08-19, 03:21 PM
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There are some totally silent Shimano rear hubs. Their major market is police bicycles. All the ones that I've seen have 7-speed cassettes.
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Old 10-08-19, 03:24 PM
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Is the Sunrace a cassette or a freewheel?

As mentioned, they all will click some, but vary tremendously.

I find that the Shimano freehubs (with cassette) tend to be very quiet if I put a drop of grease behind the freehub when assembling. I'm not sure if it is contaminating the pawls slightly, but they are internal to the freehub.

Other brands often have pawls external to the freehubs, and may be rather noisy, although grease may decrease the ratchet sound slightly.
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Old 10-08-19, 03:46 PM
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I have a wheel that I salvaged from a trash-pile hybrid bike last year. It has a 7-speed cassette driver (unknown brand) and, though it did freewheel and engage correctly, it made ZERO noise while doing so. Based on the generally poor condition of the rest of the bike (appears it lived outside in the weather), I speculate that the pawls weren't ratcheting back "home" very far, and perhaps only skate along the "tops" of the ratchet ramps. I've used this wheel for about a year now, and the coast clicking does appear to be getting louder over time. I'm guessing that aged or hard grease may be softening some with use, allowing more travel in the pawls. This is only a guess on my part.

Comments about the silent clutch are true, but I suspect you'd know if this bike had one of these hubs. It has a fairly large bulge on the drive side of the hub just inboard of the spokes (to make room for the internal clutch mechanism). They did come only with 7-speed freehubs (at least back in the day). They were used to some degree by Trek on civilian bikes (my '97 750 has one from the factory). Does it look like this?

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Old 10-08-19, 03:56 PM
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Originally Posted by CliffordK
I find that the Shimano freehubs (with cassette) tend to be very quiet if I put a drop of grease behind the freehub when assembling. I'm not sure if it is contaminating the pawls slightly, but they are internal to the freehub.
That's been my experience as well. I've got a couple older Deore hubs that are damn near silent while riding. So far I've not had any problems with them, despite the lack of noise.
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