Frozen Rear Hub!

km991148

Dont know if this has been covered recently, but..

Lost power on the way to work (Chain/cogs etc all spining, but no power xfered to wheel). Thought I would need a new hub, but seemingly these things fail in v cold (< -5DegC) conditions.

I know many of you will know this, but thought Id post for the less experienced-
have never noticed before as I previously kept my bike indoors a few nights a week, but last 3 weeks its been constantly outside.

Glad I found this out, and had the sense not to buy a WHOLE NEW WHEEL following the advice from a lbs (I probabably shouldnt name them, but they are in rathgar). The guy in ranelagh advised me I may need a new hub but cant tell until he looked at it properly (he was just opening up at the time, thanks for your efforts if reading this!) but at least he didnt try to convince me of anything over the top..

anyway, semi rant/heads up over,
Am so happy I dont have to walk home in the ice!!

Greyspoke

Also, riding in the snow with rims brakes, snow and ice accumulates around the brake blocks causing the wheel to gradually sieze.

Barname

it is natures way of telling you to stay off the bike.

Gavin

I'm guessing this happens on poorly sealed hubs where water gets in and then freezes ?

Surely the grease in hubs has a very low freezing point?

km991148

Barname wrote: »

it is natures way of telling you to stay off the bike.

yeah, but its either a 90min walk in the ice or a combined 'cycle on middle of carridgway'/walk of 40..

Gavin wrote: »

I'm guessing this happens on poorly sealed hubs where water gets in and then freezes ?

Surely the grease in hubs has a very low freezing point?

-7 according to this apparently, but I think its more to do with the internal grease becoming too stiff to allow the pawls expand and engage rather than poorly sealed/water getting in and freezing, although I would say thats can be an issue as well.

@greyspoke - have been aoiding the snow/slush completely, too dodgy for me, especially after falling on my @rse the other day with road tyres (now deflated a little..)

Greyspoke

km991148 wrote: »

-7 according to this apparently, but I think its more to do with the internal grease becoming too stiff to allow the pawls expand and engage rather than poorly sealed/water getting in and freezing, although I would say thats can be an issue as well.

.)

I get you now - I didn't realise that the freehub was just spinning but it makes a lot of sense now! Would this work? Hold a hairdryer over the freehub area for a few minutes before you set out? - never tried it but I guess it might be worth a try (if you have one).

km991148

Greyspoke wrote: »

I get you now - I didn't realise that the freehub was just spinning but it makes a lot of sense now! Would this work? Hold a hairdryer over the freehub area for a few minutes before you set out? - never tried it but I guess it might be worth a try (if you have one).

I guess it would, when I got to work, I took it indoors (not knowing the problem) to dry off so that I could get some parts at lunch time, but by the time someone else suggested it (<2hrs later) I tested and the wheel was spinning. I then rested it near a radiator as the room it was in was still cold to make sure, as I didnt want it to be semi engaged and risk damage.

Seemingly this behaviour is common knowledge.. but it wasnt to me!

Found my key to the bike storage area at home, so it will be getting put back there tonight; meanwhile I am going to pledge to clean it down fully this weekend, and maybe replace the hub to be sure!

fran oconnor

thanks for the tip,my bike has been in the shed for two weeks now..i might take it inside,i dont want it getting angry with me:D..wish i could take the feckin thing out though the ice is just nuts..

kona

Frozen hub? Whats the freezing point for grease?

I find it very hard to believe that these parts would fail at -5 C(which is not low at all).

It sounds like the freehub/freewheel has packed in(quite common).


I think that you were just unfortunate for it to happen on such a **** day. You were right not to go for the new wheel though, some LBS are just cowboys.


Even if it seems to have corrected itself, you will want to replace it as its on its way out soon.

That article says that they START to have problems at -7. Where in this country has it been -7 for a decent length of time? Id imagine for total failure your looking at -10.
I really doubt its the grease becoming solid, any freehub that ive opened the grease is really really thin.
How many miles are on the freewheel?

Dr_Colossus

I'd agree with Kona on this. My MTB hack is left outside all the time and I never had any bother so far leaving the house at 07:15 each morning to get to work. Maybe you've some water in your freehub or something as can't imagine the greese freezing in this temperature.

nomadic

I've had a freehub stop working this week aswell. Searching Bikeradar it appears that they can freeze. Not sure if mine is frozen or nackered. I'll leave it inside for a while to see.

km991148

@kona, Dr_Colossus

I think its a combination of factors, I think the hub is on the way out (possibly due to being a little trigger happy with some degreaser earlier in the year, although I was carful enough around the hub/cassette area).

However, the first day it happened, it had been -7 overnight, I freewheeled to work, left it indoors and it worked again. On the way home, I stopped at supermarket for 15mins, came out it was gone again (temp I guess was -4/5 ish, feezing fog as well), poured a mug of hot water and picked up again. Kept indoors overnight, was grand this morning until almost at worked, where it started slipping again, I estimate the tempt o be about 0-1.

So it looks like its fecked and low temerature isnt helping, possibly due to water mixing with the grease, or the grease having ran out and/or just a cheapish hiub in the first place;

I started another thread about this, Mr. Skeffington has kindly offered to look at it as I have a bit of a buckle also. I estimate to have done 1000-1300, maybe 1500 tops km on it over 2yrs 2months, which I dont think is a lot, well below average at least;

kona

km991148 wrote: »

I started another thread about this, Mr. Skeffington has kindly offered to look at it as I have a bit of a buckle also. I estimate to have done 1000-1300, maybe 1500 tops km on it over 2yrs 2months, which I dont think is a lot, well below average at least;

TBH Ive seen shimano freehubs fail with less miles.:mad:

I Doubt its the grease freezing, could be the water that you poured in though.

Im sure Mr.Skeff will see straight away when he opens it up. Ive never heard of a freehub freezing, and Ive talked to people who MTB in canada and Finland in the winter.

My bikes are all working fine, Although they are well maintained, they are stripped every few months and regreased.

km991148

kona wrote: »

TBH Ive seen shimano freehubs fail with less miles.:mad:

I Doubt its the grease freezing, could be the water that you poured in though.

Im sure Mr.Skeff will see straight away when he opens it up. Ive never heard of a freehub freezing, and Ive talked to people who MTB in canada and Finland in the winter.

My bikes are all working fine, Although they are well maintained, they are stripped every few months and regreased.

yeah, next time I am buying online, I will throw in a chain whip and locknut to allow me to properly clean.. I am normally not too bad, but havent maintained much since october - which is probably exacly when I should be cleaning more regularly..

There is a hose kicking about the appartments, at least if i used that a bit to get the real bad dirt/salt off it would help!

kona

km991148 wrote: »

yeah, next time I am buying online, I will throw in a chain whip and locknut to allow me to properly clean.. I am normally not too bad, but havent maintained much since october - which is probably exacly when I should be cleaning more regularly..

There is a hose kicking about the appartments, at least if i used that a bit to get the real bad dirt/salt off it would help!

you will need a set of cone spanners and a fairly long 8mm allen key with a 90 degree bend.

km991148

kona wrote: »

you will need a set of cone spanners and a fairly long 8mm allen key with a 90 degree bend.

More tools! - my gf is gonna love this

cdaly_

kona wrote: »

- cone spanners

Are these the thin 15mm for the cones in a nut and bolt axle or is there different needed for QR axles?

kona

cdaly_ wrote: »

Are these the thin 15mm for the cones in a nut and bolt axle or is there different needed for QR axles?

Typically its 13 +15 for the front hubs

15 + 17 For the rear.

Although there are exeptions.:)

Wez

Same thing happened on my fixie.. NOT!

I've got the same problem on a mtb here, as Stein told me, it's prolly just the freehub that's wrecked!

It just seems like such a weak point in the design of freewheel bikes, relying on those little pawls to transfer all the power you're putting into the pedals. Or so I think..