d8168055

I have the 2011 Reynolds Sixty-Six clinchers, and it has come to my attention that the freewheel hub is really quiet when compared to other Reynolds wheelsets that I have heard. I have ridden with friends with the SDV66, Forty-six, and DV3K and they are plenty loud when coasting...

Now I cant provide a quantitative analogy of the difference in sound, but lets just say I can sneak up on a runner w/ earbuds on (which of course can lead to disastrous results), and my friends can't.

Jealous? not really: but i like the sound of a loud hub like I would like the buzzing sound of an import rice-rocket exhaust. Concerned? a little: Did I get a faulty hub? Do they not use the same hub between wheelsets?

antmeeks

The freewheel hub on my Easton EA50's is essentially silent... If you try really hard in a quiet room, you can hear the faintest "click click click" as you spin the wheel. I too wondered if this was problematic, but it seems to perform fine(?)

s4one

it has to do with how much grease or type of grease is used in ur freehub. i recently had this concern on my pt hubs. i removed the freehub and grease and now its super loud, i am actually thinking of putting some grease back in.

baj32161

This is one of the things I have been wondering for a long while. I like a loud hub as well and mine are very quiet. I am STILL trying to get used to them.

mmmdonuts

Some freehubs have more assembly grease than others. And most tend to get louder over time with use. If you want to make it louder you can take them apart, remove the thick grease and re-lube the pawls and ring with thinner grease or oil.

Kupkake

Yea, my hub that I got used was very quiet. I came from bmx.. so I like them loud.. very loud.
Pulled it apart, cleaned out the grease and it got louder.. Prob pull it apart again and clean each paw too. I'm not worried about it 'wearing' faster.. meh.

Another neat trick is to preload each spring on each paw more, this creates more force on the paws, but also makes that 'click' louder.. as well as removing almost all the grease. You just pull the hub apart, clean off all the grease, pull the paws out, cleaning more grease off, then bend each paws spring in order to 'pre-load' it, then put it all back together.

I also believe that it helps when riding up not only on runners, but also bikers - the added sound that is.

tardman91

My Velocity wheel hub is loud. I like it especially riding in a group because it gives people behind me a heads up that I'm coasting.

dstrong 

This method makes noise even if you're pedaling!

nhluhr

I like the silence of my Dura Ace 7850 hubs and even on my Fulcrum Racing 7 winter wheels. The Zipp 188 hubs though are annoyingly loud. I'm actually considering some lithium grease on the pawls when I overhaul it.

adriano 

i prefer a quiet one, and my current is full of angry hornets. at least it reminds me to pedal.

tagaproject6

Hub noise is not there for your enjoyment. That is your HTFU alarm...and when it goes off, you need to move out of namby-pamby land and start pedalling!

pdxtex

^^^ and fulcrum hubs on fulcrum rims are the loudest wheels on earth!! mine sound like a swarm of bee's in a coffee can....

on the path

This ^^ makes way more sense to me than removing grease from a component that needs lubrication...

Hiro11

I just completed an interesting experiment related to this.

When I received my wheels from Farsports earlier this year, the cassette could barely turn on the Novatec hubs. When I took the freehub apart, I found lots of metal filings in the freehub body (nice quality control, Novatec!) that were binding the freehub. The body was packed with what looked like thin green Dura-Ace grease. I removed all of the grease and relubed the cassette with mineral oil as that's what I had and that's what I'm used to using on freehubs. The hub has been running fine for about 1,500 miles.

After a rainstorm washed all of the oil out of the freehub, I decided I probably should repack it with grease as that's what it came with and it's less likely to wash out of the hub. I ordered some Shimano freehub grease online and repacked the hub. Suffice it to say, the difference in freehub noise after applying the grease was astounding to me. With oil, the hub sounded like a pissed rattlesnake. With grease it's almost completely silent. I knew there would be a difference but this was night and day. Long story short: freehub noise is 100% driven by what kind of lubrication you have in there.

Sidenote: I've learned that if you're using grease in a freehub, you have to use freehub-specific stuff. Regular grease is too sticky and the pawls can't operate fast enough. I learned that years ago when I lubed a freehub with regular Park grease and had some problems. Freehub grease is transluscent and very thin. I went to three different LBSs and none of them had freehub grease. In fact, two mechanics didn't even know what I was talking about. The stuff is easy to find online but I'm guessing this is not a very common service...

Homebrew01

Are those ordinary playing cards ? I have found that those tend to fatigue rather quickly and cannot handle a lot of cycles. Additionally, they are suseptible to the elements which can further reduce effective usefulness.

I suggest using a 100 % synthetic card of a more resilient plastic that will give you many more miles of use before needing replacement.

Also, the attachment pictured appears to be celophane tape based, which I don't think is sturdy enough for long term use. A more rigid clamp will last longer and keep that card properly placed for optimal performance. The type of clamp will depend on the type/size of seatstay.

cvall91

Or you can just buy one of these bad boys

StanSeven

You can safely replace with thinner lube

Dwayne

If you can hear your freewheel, you're not pedaling.

Slacker.

More pedaling, less complaining.

Gramercy

I like that mine is quiet, though I feel in general, if the freewheel is quiet, it means you have less expensive parts. I rode with my brother that has a nice bianchi with campagnolo (Is that what they're called?) parts and his is pretty loud when coasting.

Hiro11

It's like you didn't even read my post.

StanSeven

There is some truth to what his post is about though. More expensive hubs tend to have more pawls. Those make noise

RoadMike

Campy hubs are notorious for being super loud.

ThermionicScott 

You can feel however you want, but well-designed hubs don't have to be loud -- it's just a bling feature that people want these days. In fact, noise usually means that energy is being wasted somewhere. I find loud freehubs to be pretty annoying.

nhluhr

Definitely not very common. Shimano freehubs are easily replaced which is what most opt to do and I can say as a mechanic who has maybe 5 years experience over the last 15 years, I've never seen a freehub repacked. Occasionally, the head mechanic at the first shop I worked at would flush one with a solvent like PB-Blaster or something, then re-lube it with Phil's Tenacious Oil but that's about the extent of it.

Interesting experimental results with your various greasing!

nhluhr

Well obviously expense has little to do with quality, but for counterpoint, shimano freehubs are widely regarded as extremely high quality (and they aren't usually cheap, either) but they tend to be pretty quiet.