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The freehub on my girlfriends bike (Specialized Expedition Elite) has given up after a little over 6 months use (it's sticking when trying to coast as opposed to disengaging when trying to pedal), very disapointing. I've taken the cassette (which is an Sram 8 speed) off and removed the axle and bearings as per usual. What I'm used to finding here is an tubular 8mm allen bolt that allows the freehub to slide off the hub, but an 8mm allen key goes right through. I tried a 10mm and that is also way too small, did a bit of Googling and it seems that some brandless hubs use 12mm allen keys (which I didn't even realise existed). I tracked down a 12mm allen key for under £2 in the plumbing section of Toolstation rather than the £8-9 Park Tools etc offerings but that is way too big, it wont even fit into the hole. Now before I spend time and money looking for an illusive 11mm allen key, can anybody tell me if I'm looking for the right thing. The picture shows some kind of grooves inside the hub, but they look much further down than I would expect and I'm not convinced they are for an allen key at all. I have some memory of the bike being advertised as having a "silent freewheel" (not that it was ever silent in the first place) but I can't find any info about that online now. There is no visible branding on the hub or freehub. If I do manage to get this piece of crap off (it's on a fairly nice double walled rim, as well) am I going to be able to replace it with a standard issue Shimano or similar or am I going to be faced with either tracking down another fragile "silent" freehub or rebuilding the whole wheel? Any help appreciated.

8738355677_b4f8a1b0ba.jpg

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My son's bike has the freehub riveted to the rest of the hub and can't be changed - I wanted to change it for an 8/9/10 speed instead of the 7 that's on there. It's on an orbea, so it's not a cheap bike.

I've had a sticking freewheel on my winter hack and that usually responds to having oil applied whilst the bike is left on its side. It frees up however is gritty for a couple of days then it's ok for a year or so.

My other bikes are all Campagnolo and unlike the ShimaNo equipped ones have never let me down. They are however definitely not silent freehubs!

 

What's the mileage on the hub - they should be good for thousands of miles.

 

NB Alnwick on the site crew may be able to help. Alternatively have a look on the Sheldon Brown website.

Edited by Chalky
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Can I see three slots in the outer ring? Could this mean a special tubular tool is needed?

 

Alex

Well spotted. I've had another look down there and I can definitely see 3 slots, I will try adding the number 3 etc to my search terms and see if that turns anything up.

 

This thread mentions using a 12mm Allen key from the non drive side...

 

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12893969&p=18027149

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

I think that was the thread that first sent me in search of 12mm Allen keys. I've tried from both sides but unfortunately the holes are too small. I'm still open to the idea that it may need an 11mm Allen key from one side or other, looks like I'm going to be waiting for one of those to be delivered before I can even find out whether I can replace it with a standard unit. (really, really hope so!)

 

My son's bike has the freehub riveted to the rest of the hub and can't be changed - I wanted to change it for an 8/9/10 speed instead of the 7 that's on there. It's on an orbea, so it's not a cheap bike.

I've had a sticking freewheel on my winter hack and that usually responds to having oil applied whilst the bike is left on its side. It frees up however is gritty for a couple of days then it's ok for a year or so.

My other bikes are all Campagnolo and unlike the ShimaNo equipped ones have never let me down. They are however definitely not silent freehubs!

 

From appearances I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be replaceable, but I can't be sure. Aside from the lack of an 8mm Allen bolt it looks just like the Shimano STX/Deore hubs I've had in the past as well as the brandless copies on cheaper bikes, I can't see any sign of rivets. It'll be a real waste if I can't replace it, the rims are actually really nice for the price of the bike, I'd have to go down the getting the wheel rebuilt route rather than replacing the whole wheel with a throwaway job. I'll try the oil trick, I've had similar stuff work before but there's something about the way it's stuck that feels terminal, if you know what I mean, like it's caused by a broken mechanism rather than just gummed up with dirt.

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Having just re-read your post about it being an unbranded hub you may be in a similar situation to my son's bike. In that case I'd re-build the wheel using a shimano hub. If you've never done one then follow the instructions on the Sheldon Brown web pages. If you can re-use the spokes it'll save a bit - the last set I bought cost about £8 for ACI double butted from Spa Cycles. Lacing the rim takes about an hour. Trueing it is another couple. Most bike shops will carry out a final tureing for less than £10 if you're not too confident.



I can't see any sign of rivets.

 

On the hub it wasn't rivets - the "hub tube" came into the freehub and was swaged over like a rivet to hold the whole assembly together. Really disappointing since like you I'd hoped to replace the freehub with a better one.

 

Just looked at the hub - no make or name on it and it looks like a deore however its machined alloy and not painted.

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Having just re-read your post about it being an unbranded hub you may be in a similar situation to my son's bike. In that case I'd re-build the wheel using a shimano hub. If you've never done one then follow the instructions on the Sheldon Brown web pages. If you can re-use the spokes it'll save a bit - the last set I bought cost about £8 for ACI double butted from Spa Cycles. Lacing the rim takes about an hour. Trueing it is another couple. Most bike shops will carry out a final tureing for less than £10 if you're not too confident.

 

 

On the hub it wasn't rivets - the "hub tube" came into the freehub and was swaged over like a rivet to hold the whole assembly together. Really disappointing since like you I'd hoped to replace the freehub with a better one.

 

Just looked at the hub - no make or name on it and it looks like a deore however its machined alloy and not painted.

Oh dear, what you're describing sounds exactly what I'm looking at here, what an awful, wasteful bit of design. As you said the alloy of the hub looks just like the Deore hub on my mountain bike, bar not being painted (and the fact that the seals are absolute pants, the bearings were frighteningly filthy for a 6 month old road-only bike). I've never attempted a wheel rebuild but I am confident at trueing up wheels, are you saying that the lacing is the easy bit and the trueing the hard bit? I'd been led to believe the opposite.

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Take pictures of the spokes and how they are fitted. Lacing a wheel is not hard, but like splicing ropes, you need to get the first start right, after which the rest simply falls into place. Call me if you need a hand. Also, there are different lenght spokes in a rear wheel, to account for the off-set.

Edited by luctor et emergo
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If it's 6 months old I'd have a chat with the shop you bought it from - it shouldn't fail after 6 months (unless you're clocking up thousands of training miles!)

 

Wheel building is quite straight forwards, you just need to be methodical and follow the instructions carefully. I've built 4 so far. Sheldon Brown gives clear instructions about how to do it.

 

http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

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If it's 6 months old I'd have a chat with the shop you bought it from - it shouldn't fail after 6 months (unless you're clocking up thousands of training miles!)

 

Wheel building is quite straight forwards, you just need to be methodical and follow the instructions carefully. I've built 4 so far. Sheldon Brown gives clear instructions about how to do it.

 

http://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

 

The shop's a fair way away so as much as I think this should be their problem I think it'll be less work overall just to do the rebuild. It's probably about time I learned anyway.

 

 

Call me if you need a hand.

Thanks Henk. I'll let you know if I get stuck.

 

Oh, one more question. Does anybody know if the Sram cassette will go straight onto a Shimano freehub?

 

edit: Crazy, it looks like the complete hub/freehub is cheaper than a freehub alone http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=81858

Edited by Doug Scullery
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Some years back some Taiwan manufactured hubs/cassette used a M9 sized allen bolt to hold the gubbins together, some thing to do with patents I was led to understand. Have you tried an imperial size allen key ?, as some of the more obscure brands although having metric fasteners had the odd imperial size ones



Some years back some Taiwan manufactured hubs/cassette used a M9 sized allen bolt to hold the gubbins together, some thing to do with patents I was led to understand. Have you tried an imperial size allen key ?, as some of the more obscure brands although having metric fasteners had the odd imperial size ones

 

Disregard the 9mm bit but maybe still worh trying the imperial size there used to be a gadget which fixed to the freewheel unit to enable you to force cleaning fluid & then grease into the freewheel. Have a look on sheldon browns site lots of useful gen on there



Some years back some Taiwan manufactured hubs/cassette used a M9 sized allen bolt to hold the gubbins together, some thing to do with patents I was led to understand. Have you tried an imperial size allen key ?, as some of the more obscure brands although having metric fasteners had the odd imperial size ones



 

Disregard the 9mm bit but maybe still worh trying the imperial size there used to be a gadget which fixed to the freewheel unit to enable you to force cleaning fluid & then grease into the freewheel. Have a look on sheldon browns site lots of useful gen on there

On the cassette front yes only Campagnolo uses different spline sizes/spacing

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Thanks for all the help, everyone. I think I'm going to go down the new hub route, it's only a tenner and I could easily spend that trying to find the right Allen key, I do have a set of smaller imperial sizes but it's definitely not them. At least this way I know that next time this happens I'm just dealing with standard parts and tools.

 

In reply to an earlier question that I missed, I would estimate the mileage at about 1000 road and towpath miles, 2000 tops. This on a branded bike that retailed at around £400. Now it does get kept outside and the towpath does get pretty muddy but I'm still seriously unimpressed with this hub, the bearings were absolutely filthy, and although the seals looked much like the Shimano ones I'm used to you could feel that they were effectively decorative. Unfortunately each visit to the shop we bought it from will cost me £7 in bus fare, that plus the inevitable time it'll take for them to sort something out means they're gonna get away with this one. Clearly I've found where Specialized skimped on componentry on this bike, for the price point it came with unusually nice tyres, rims, shifters etc (the parts you can see!), I predict discovering that the headset, bottom bracket etc are equally shoddy. Let's hope at the very least I don't need rare tools to remove them!

Edited by Doug Scullery
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