msweig

Bit of background. I used to have a bike that when I coasted was completely silent, as opposed to the typical click click click. The LBS that sold it to me asked me a couple years later how it was holding up, and it was doing fine. The mechanic mentioned that there was a component that made the bike silent, but that it turned out to be unreliable so it was taken off the market. I think it was a Shimano Silent Clutch, but I'm not positive. I was never able to figure out how long mine was going to last because the bike got stolen.

So I was rarely cycling at the point when the bike was stolen, so I never replaced the bike. Now I have a daughter who has learned how to ride a bike and wants to start going on rides. So time to get a new bike for me. I've been to most of the LBS, and I've seen some bikes that seem to be silent, but I can't totally figure out why (I'm only looking at bikes with multiple gears). Initially it seemed like the silent bikes had belt drives, but then I noticed some that had chains that seemed to be silent (with an IGH). Then I started to find some belt drive bikes that went click click click. Now I'm totally confused. What should I be looking for if I want a bike that is silent? Is it a specific model of IGH? I tried looking some stuff up on the various models, and I noticed someone noting that on a specific 3 speed that it was silent in one of the gears, but not in all (though this article was several years old). During my in person examinations at the local shops, I've never bothered to switch gears to see if it had an effect. I've noticed the pattern that the more expensive the bike, the better chance that it was silent. Is this a Alfine vs. Nexus thing? Or does it matter which Nexus (I swear I've seen some that are silent, and others that are not, but I'm not sure if I'm just mistaken at this point with things blending together in my memory).

So, in short, what should I be looking for if I want a bike that is silent when coasting?

fietsbob

powering, not freewheeling makes less noise

u235

A little grease around your free hub pawls will quiet it down some. I've used grease a few times because it was within reach although a light oil is technically the right lube. People have claimed grease gummed up their hub eventually but it never happened to me. Worst case you can clean it out.

General Geoff

Different freehubs make different levels of ratcheting noise, from nearly silent to very loud clicks.

TrojanHorse

Shimano hubs - almost dead silent
Chris King - way not silent.

And in between there's' a lot of real estate

I personally prefer noisy hubs. I call it the coasting alarm.

fietsbob

Police bike hubs are made to be stealthy, intentionally...

KraneXL

Less expensive. The good ones make the devil own noise.

*Scuba 

I remember reading on Sheldon Browns blog posts years ago, about a freewheel or freehub designed by Shimano to be able to coast silently that was at the request of the Tokyo metropolitan police department for their police officers to be able to get around and ride up to people without alerting them. Cannot seem to find the specific entry now though.

dabac

The clicking is from the pawls in the freehub/freewheel. The pawl design is a very common one, and has nothing to do with type of gears or type of drivetrain.
While some brands are louder, some ticking can be expected from all bikes with this design.
Disassembling and deliberately adding (excess) grease to the pawls can lessen the noise, but will also increase the likelihood of the pawls failing to engage properly.
And pawls slipping under power is as bad as the chain breaking, and can easily lead to a nasty accident.
Shimano Silent Clutch is the only one I know of that doesn’t use pawls.
Still available on eBay.
If quiet coasting is so important to you, go shopping.

KraneXL

Here's more from a couple years ago: Shimano patent shows silent ring drive hub internals that could be the next Dura-Ace

Kontact 

There have been plenty of silent clutch freehubs, but they don't seem to catch on. Hugi made some for many years.

But your typical Shimano freehub is darn quiet, just not silent.



I don't understand the attraction of loud coasting freewheels.

rydabent

Other than the clicking of the freewheel when coasting, a well maintained bike is pretty much totally silent.

fishboat

OP..no need to worry about "clutches, and pawls, and freehubs, and greasing.." as I'm guessing any of those terms mean nothing to you. The noise you're concerned about comes from the rear hub. Noisy rear hubs can be experienced with very cheap (department store) and much more expensive (Chris King..etc..) equipment. If you want near-silence, make sure the bike you're looking at has Shimano hubs (you'll run across Shimano trade names like Sora, Tiagra, Deore, 105, Ultegra, & Dura Ace). Either buy Shimano, or if no-name hubs are on the bike..take it for a ride, you'll know.

Bill Gem

www.prioritybicycles.com

wphamilton

I'm with OP, I like a totally silent bike. It's one of the reasons I like fixed gear although that's outside of the scope here.

How noisy the freewheel, or freehub, is doesn't correspond to its quality in general. Other than knowing which brands are quiet, I think there is no way to tell by inspection.

leob1

Fixed it.

u235

For an understanding...
As you are coasting, those pawls scrape against and rapidly snap back causing a "click" noise as they are rotating against the inside of the sawtooth shaped hub body as it spins. When you pedal forward they grab or lock against the back of the sawtooth giving you motion. Just like a socket ratchet or a ratchet strap. Based on the overall spring pressure, size of the unit, materials, ramp of the sawtooth, amount of sawtooth teeth, resonance, etc, they can be louder or softer. In the mention of grease and thicker oil added good or bad.. It will absorb and deaden some of the vibrations and make it a little quieter. Similar effect to having a wax coating on a bike chain.

tagaproject6

It si really hard to understand the silent bikes. They don't talk much and reveal almost nothing. You really have to be with them for a while in order for you to get a modicum of understanding.

Sy Reene

Clicking noises are the expenditure of watts as they're converted into sound.

Hoopdriver

Is this true? I reckon I could believe it. However the knobby tires on their bikes kinda defeats the stealth approach objective.

To the OP. Most of my bikes don't make much noise when coasting, however I do have one that is quite loud. I find that it serves as a good warning to pedestrians I approach from behind on MUPs. As I get close I coast. They hear the hub pawl racket and move to the right. Neat, huh?

tyrion

They're working on low friction (hence low noise) hubs.

GuessWhoCycling

I was going to build some wheels with White Industry hubs some time back. Heard they sounded like angry bees so I went with Shimano Ultegra instead.

rollagain

Here's one ... Hub | Efneo

Efneo claims that the old style silent hubs wore out quickly, but I wonder if they weren't dropped due to higher manufacturing cost. Pure speculation. I had a bike with a silent hub in it and I loved it.

KraneXL

On the other hand, car enthusiast actually covet the sound of their engines (especially the exulted V8) when referring to exhaust systems -- a by-product of the internal combustion engine. Doesn't seem to be anything inferior about that?

athrowawaynic

Onyx makes quiet hubs. But they are expensive...