libertarian

I recently got myself a Pinarello Gan RS that came with Shimano Ultegra (8000) and Fulcrum Quattro wheels. Not sure which freehub this is, probably a Shimano compatible Fulcrum (and who would actually make these)?
In any case, it is relatively quiet but the sound is uneven (apparently this is not uncommon these days). Not sure if this will go away with more miles m, but I was wondering what options I have for a even more silent freehub? My very old Campa wheels on my previous bike were pretty much silent and I prefer that.

DrIsotope

Shimano makes pretty much the quietest hubs, so long as Foss continues to be vaporware. My wife's bike has WH6800 wheels, and they are nearly silent. My emergency-backup wheelset is a Shimano WH-RS500, and they're nearly as quiet. No buzz.

Andrew R Stewart 

Ah the trendiness of how loud is the ratchet...

Manufacturers will often say that any addition of lube to the ratchet will void warranties. The fear of pawl hang up with thick, and quieter, lube drives this. That said and as said already some brands are louder then others. Sometimes the loudness level changes over the miles with lube bleeding into the ratchet or dirt/grime doing so too. Andy

Jeff Wills

Indeed. A Shimano freehub lubed with Phil Tenacious Oil is darn near silent. I haven't had problems with them in cold (but not freezing) weather.

smashndash

Glad there’s another people out there who like a quiet freehub. I know Onyx is dead silent and if you have a disc brake bike, Project 321 is decently quiet and low drag. Personally, I love cup and cone hubs with quiet freehubs. But I also like low spoke counts which makes it hard to like Shimano hubs. They’re really doing themselves a disservice by not providing standard 20/24H hubs at the 105/ultegra level.

HillRider

I have Shimano hubs on three bikes and the freehubs are nearly dead silent. I lube them with Tri-Flow, which is quite thin, but have had excellent durability with over 55,000 miles on one Dura Ace hub and still going strong. Obviously this lube is thin enough not to cause winter problems.

I have a Campy Chorus rear hub on one bike and it is anything but silent. I tried lubing it with light grease but all that did was make it sticky in the cold and just as loud. I'm surprised the OP found his Campy hub quiet.

I agree with Andy that the current trend among boutique hubs seems to be to make them as obnoxiously loud as possible.

Edit: I just remembered that Shimano used to make (maybe they still do) roller clutch rear hubs that were truly silent. They were used on most Police bikes so officers could approach suspects with no noise to alert them. Amazon still lists the FH-T300 Silent Clutch hub in 7-speed, 130 mm OLD form.

Marcus_Ti

Fulcrum wheels are manufactured by Campagnolo
As for silent hubs...there's one option AFAIK. It is blingy. It is beautiful. It is silent. It is durable....but a wee bit heavy (like 270g+450g) grams for the hubset), and not cheap ($600-700USD). There are other options, but they won't get much quieter than Shimano hubs, and lubrication measures don't last long.

https://onyxrp.com/tech/

Not my wheels/hubs, but for IRL sound:



The reason Onyx can be like this--is because there is no ratchet and no pawls. Nothing to actually make clicking noise. They use a sprag clutch, which is a kind of one-way bearing (used in helicopters for example).

fietsbob

Some Police bikes got silent freehubs to sneak up on suspects ..

Eric S.

30 years ago I had a bike with 6sp Shimano 105 and the rear hub started "freewheeling" in both directions on a cold day. Luckily I wasn't too far from home and some Tri-Flow freed up the pawls.

I like a quiet freewheel/freehub. When I worked at a shop in the early '80s we had a Phil Wood tool for injecting grease into a freewheel. I had a Japanese Bianchi Special at the time and loved that it ran silent.

I have a set of Velo Orange wheels with large flange Grand Cru hubs. Beautiful wheels but that freehub is NOISY!

Iride01 

Perhaps you all are coasting too much. <grin>

pressed001

Shimano FH-7700. Practically silent. I love it and wish all hubs were so quiet.

AnkleWork

Search Shimano FH-T300. Don't know if the freehub body can be swapped.

pdlamb

Go for a ride with someone riding a King hub. Trying to drop them so you lose the racket is good exercise.

Wilfred Laurier

As others have said, Shimano FHs are generally very quite. They even made a one-way-bearing-based freehub some years ago which was actually silent, but had (IIRC) significantly slower engagement... I don't recall what they were trying to achieve, if anything, beyond silence while coasting. I have noticed for many years that aftermarket 'fancy' freewheels/freehubs are much louder than most stock, esp. Shimano, parts.

Dan Burkhart 

Here is a conversation with the man himself. Interesting how he talks about working toward a silent hub, but realizing that wasn't what people wanted.
Well, it's what I want, but obviously not everyone.

BCDrums

I have the current Ultegra 11sp free hub. It's inaudible on the road, and only slightly audible in the quiet of my workspace.

bluehills3149

The new Shimano XTR hubs use "SCYLENCE silent hub technology" (at least when they sort out the bugs..) and this is rumored to be the basis of the next durace hubs which will then most likely filter down the range. My guess is in 10 years all manufacturers will follow and silent hubs will rule the day.

pressed001

I have to disagree.

Same concept as fart cans on cars. Idiots and children love loud vehicles even if they are not fast.

Same as Chris King, Maserati has designed a special exhaust system for this market.

I wonder if a Chris King freehub would score someone a hot date in the red light district.

Bike Gremlin

The new Shimano XTR M9100 freehub concept is similar to Chris King's "RingDrive" in a way that pedalling torque puts more preload on the ratchet mechanism, making it "grip" even better, the harder you push. Which is a good thing for a ratchet mechanism I'd say.

Other mechanisms, often marketed as the better, the more pawls they have are just a marketing gimmick IMO (in the pawl count sense, not that they are all bad), since, because of elastic deformation under load, only one pawl can carry the load at any one time. So it is better to have just one, or two larger pawls, than more smaller ones. For more pawls and wider contact area to carry the load, preload is needed - as both Shimano and Chris King have "discovered".

Shimano made their silent freehub completely disengage when no drive torque is present. I've never paid attention to whether the hub makes a sound or not, except when looking at grown ups' 10 speed bicycles as I was hopelessly trying to catch up on a 16" single speed bike ("these fast ones make a buzzing sound, buzz is cool!").

I agree with pressed001: Chriss King has made a brand of their "Buzz TM" sound, so I'm not sure they will be eager to push towards silence.

DrIsotope

I dunno, I hear a lot more clackety hubs than I do quiet ones.

I don't care for the can of bees, but I don't really want absolute silence either. People turn around when they hear the sound. And by people, I mean joggers in the bike lane, walkers on paths, etc. I have hubs of medium buzziness (I reckon) and they can and do serve a purpose.

But like some above, I absolutely don't see an industry switch to silent hubs. People like noise. CK made a cottage industry out of it.

Oso Polar

My Jamis Renegade Escapade 2018 came with the wheels supposedly equipped with some "Formula alloy Centerlock sealed bearing hubs". Dead silent and I absolutely love this fact! Unfortunately, Jamis doesn't list the exact hub model number used.