Still having freehub drag issues (Mavic with "DT-Swiss" style hub)
08-02-21, 09:13 PM
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Still having freehub drag issues (Mavic with "DT-Swiss" style hub)
I originally posted about my freehub woes in this post: https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycling/1234035-chain-falling-off-cassette-not-what-you-thinking.html
Bottom line I have freehub drag in my two year old Mavic Ksyrium UST CL Disc hub. It is so bad it can cause my chain to come off, in my biggest gear when I stop pedaling at high speeds (see my original post). I built this bike myself, but had never been in the hub. So I took the wheel to the local "good" bike shop, and they said "Oh yeah, Mavic freehub drag, we can fix that, $20". I asked if they could show me how to get into the hub. After the repair he showed me how he just pulls hard on the cassette and the freehub comes off. And then "See, that pink grease is the right kind of grease. This is a DT-Swiss style hub." I take the wheel home and they did absolutely nothing to improve the drag issue. I finally find a great video on how to take this hub apart and clean it. I discover the shop just superficially cleaned the hub, they didn't actually remove the ratchet mechanism. I could tell, it had black grease. They definitely did not clean the guts of the ratchet mechanism.
Mavic hub guts
I figured this is easy. I got the entire ratchet mechanism completely taken apart, cleaned, lightly greased with the pink DT-Swiss hub grease, and put back together. And I still have the same drag. One easy check, I put the bike on a stand and start to slowly pedal backwards and the wheel starts rotating backwards. Almost right away. Next I went to my friend who is a very good bike mechanic, and does this kind of maintenance on his DT-Swiss hubs all the time. He did it all over again -- took it apart, closely inspected the ratchets for any issues or wear or metal burrs etc. He puts it all back together and I still have the drag.
What is going on? Where is the drag coming from? Is there an issue with a bearing? Is there some friction point I'm missing? This is kind of driving me crazy. The bike rides fine, but there is some drag, and I can't use my biggest gear going downhill (and in Colorado this is an issue!)
Bottom line I have freehub drag in my two year old Mavic Ksyrium UST CL Disc hub. It is so bad it can cause my chain to come off, in my biggest gear when I stop pedaling at high speeds (see my original post). I built this bike myself, but had never been in the hub. So I took the wheel to the local "good" bike shop, and they said "Oh yeah, Mavic freehub drag, we can fix that, $20". I asked if they could show me how to get into the hub. After the repair he showed me how he just pulls hard on the cassette and the freehub comes off. And then "See, that pink grease is the right kind of grease. This is a DT-Swiss style hub." I take the wheel home and they did absolutely nothing to improve the drag issue. I finally find a great video on how to take this hub apart and clean it. I discover the shop just superficially cleaned the hub, they didn't actually remove the ratchet mechanism. I could tell, it had black grease. They definitely did not clean the guts of the ratchet mechanism.
Mavic hub guts
I figured this is easy. I got the entire ratchet mechanism completely taken apart, cleaned, lightly greased with the pink DT-Swiss hub grease, and put back together. And I still have the same drag. One easy check, I put the bike on a stand and start to slowly pedal backwards and the wheel starts rotating backwards. Almost right away. Next I went to my friend who is a very good bike mechanic, and does this kind of maintenance on his DT-Swiss hubs all the time. He did it all over again -- took it apart, closely inspected the ratchets for any issues or wear or metal burrs etc. He puts it all back together and I still have the drag.
What is going on? Where is the drag coming from? Is there an issue with a bearing? Is there some friction point I'm missing? This is kind of driving me crazy. The bike rides fine, but there is some drag, and I can't use my biggest gear going downhill (and in Colorado this is an issue!)
08-02-21, 10:48 PM
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Is there any wear marks on the hub body in the finish that would indicate the freehub body is dragging on the hub? I assume it only drags when clamped in the frame, seems like there must be some sort of spacer missing, or one two many, that allows the freehub body to drag on the hub or too many allows for too much pressure on the freehub bearing.
08-03-21, 03:34 PM
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There are no wear marks, we looked for those. The hub had never been off the axle when this all started. So I don't think there are any spacers extra or missing. Like I said, there is a great video that shows a guy completely taking this hub apart which I followed. There are no spacers.
The drag can be seen when the bike is on a stand. But also happens when I'm riding.
The drag can be seen when the bike is on a stand. But also happens when I'm riding.
