Every time I go out in sub-zero stuff my free wheel freezes up. And before you ask, yes I have emptied my bladder over it as a short term fix, but it keep happening. In temperatures above 1 degree it's fine. It's not a novel thing either – I bought the bike (new) in Nov '08 and it was freezing up within 3 months up buying it. Couldn't be bothered complaining as I thought it was just 'character'.

Anyone else having this problem? Anyone got a solution?

A couple of my mates have exactly the same problem, they both run deore hubs. I run hope pro 2 and have been fortunate it hasn't suffered the same fate.

not called sh1tman-no-go for nuthin……….

I've had this happen a lot with my Shi£mano ones and at w/end my WI one packed up! I am considering carrying a lighter as I can't p!ss often enough.

Are Hope Pro 2's comparible to XT? (not wishing to sound like such a dumb-ass)

different.

kwakimatt – pretty much, yep.

The rest of you – oh fug, here we go again… 🙄

Bananaworld et al, thank you for your patience, in advance.. :D.

Don't worry, kwakimatt, I'm not frustrated with you, just with the same people that come out of the woodwork with their "shitmano" comments everytime this comes around.

They forget/don't realise/choose to ignore that Hope hubs can suffer the same problem, as can Chris King hubs, as can multiple freewheels, singlespeed freewheels, and pretty much anything going.

With a bit of care over how you wash your bike and decent maintenance, the problem can be lessened and people using hubs from different manufacturers can all learn to get along.

Surely the free-hub freezes because moisture inside it freezes, keeping the bike in a nice warm place when not in use or heating the freehub to drive the moisture out should solve the problem as oil/grease only freezes at a very much lower temperature.

Well that's the daft thing, Dibbs, as my bike is well and truly molly-coddled having it's own heated bike room. Perhaps it's the shock of coming out in the cold that's the problem. Perhaps I've got a chav for a bike (I don't excuse the pun).
Bananaworld, I've printed off the advice from Parks about servicing your freewheel and I was intending on having a go at that (and learning something in the propcess) rather than take it to a bike shop. Glad to hear it's not actually JUST XT tho…

unscrew the freehub body (8mm hex) and blast through with compressed air. The freehub is a no-no to take apart. Drip in light oil and screw back on.

I can only speak from personal experience,and that of friends who I've ridden with,I've been using White industries freewheels for several years,(previously I've used Shimano.ACX,AC Racing,and others)and have never had a problem with freezing,mainly due to the fact that they are actually sealed against the elements,where as Sh1mano are not (yes,we all know that their SS freewheels are not designed for the British climate)
So,speaking about SS freewheels only,I can honestly say that Shitman-no-go are exactly that.

right, back to my woodwork……..

Wally – Member
unscrew the freehub body (8mm hex) and blast through with compressed air. The freehub is a no-no to take apart. Drip in light oil and screw back on.

10mm hex, and wait for it to seize up nicely with corrosion, won't take long.

Can't I just fire in a sh1t-load of grease instead of light oil and let that do the trick?

kwakimatt – Member

Are Hope Pro 2's comparible to XT? (not wishing to sound like such a dumb-ass)

Pro II hubs are quite expensive compared to Shimano XT, but the free hub is a lot simpler and is easy to pull apart and clean (making sure there is no water in there for winter), where the shimano unit is sealed so you use it till it fails then replace the freehub. If you get water in the shimano unit it is quite difficult to get it out.

I've had XT free hubs freeze several times before, even quite new ones. I've never had a Hope hub freeze in over 4 years of using them in all weathers (none of this staying indoors in cold weather).

I think the design of the hope freehubs is quite difficult to 'freeze up' as I only rarely service them and they always have moisture in there after a few months riding (I hose the bike off nearly every ride in winter and the sealing on the hope hubs is not great) and no problemns with freezing.

Now problems with snapping pawl springs in Pro II hubs is a different matter altogether.

if you put grease in it,it wont work,well it will sort of……
it'll freewheel ok,but in both directions.

kwakimatt – Member

Can't I just fire in a sh1t-load of grease instead of light oil and let that do the trick?

The shimano freehub body is a sealed unit to keep out water and crap. You are not supposed to be able to get inside it or service the freehub body. It is virtually impossible to force grease into a shimano freehub body with a grease gun. You'd need to make a special grease tool.

There was a special tool marketed a few years ago that allowed you to flush a shimano freehub body with fresh grease, but I've not seen them advertised for the last few years.

Andy – interesting point. If it's a sealed unit surely there shouldn't be any moisture in there to freeze up?

cynical I see we are living up to our chosen forum names 😀

Hey, I'm not insane or anything "Wally"…

Ok, I've just looked up Hope Pro 2 on Wiggle and it's got a massive array of options. So which one do I choose as a replacement?

Frozen freewheel is not the same as frozen freehub 😯

I'm assuming frozen freewheel is what the OP means, I solved this by ditching Shi*mano for WI. It may seem like an expensive solution, but I like my s/s to be simple and bullet proof 😉

If you mean freehub then my Hope has proved to be totally reliable. All Shi*mano frrehubs allow ingrees of water on the drive side, then on into the freehub mechanism. I guess in the end this will freeze and cause your symptoms.

In fact I'll take that back, they are the same:

DITCH SHI*MANO!

OK, I had exactly the same problem with as cheap as chips £15 complete wheel from Decathlon. It was a shimano Malaysian hub/freehub. So the lower quality version. I did the whole complete removal thing, read up from the great and very sadly departed Sheldon Brown and realised they are not to be tampered with. But GT85 and compressed air did shove out loads of thick grease, which I think froze up. Notice the "think" part element here. I replaced with loads of thin oil and it never froze up again on the next freezing ride

However I then bought a £7.50 proper hub from on one and laced this on. This was really the best thing to do, the old really was a little bit heavy and rubbish. Sheldon also has excellent tips on wheel building too.

Cheers Kona. I don't have a SS but it's all pointing to Hope anyway. Not sure of the terminology now tho. When I'm pedaling there's no forward motion as the cranks are spinning so I had presumed that was the free WHEEL not working. What the hell's a free HUB?

Thank you Sheldon (may god rest his soul). I have a free hub and cassette…

Unless you still ride a 6-speed freewheel in which case you are a cyclist so you mustn't be on the STW 😉

Freewheel =

Freehub =

Singlespeed / BMX for the former, geared bikes for the latter.

Hairy, you are a proper old bloke! Join my club!

There's not too many of these left, probably….

I have over 50 of them inthe shop's workshop 😉

I took one of those old freewheel cassettes apart to try and service it once, never again! Not easy to get back together at all.

kwakimatt – Member

Ok, I've just looked up Hope Pro 2 on Wiggle and it's got a massive array of options. So which one do I choose as a replacement?

The standard fitment for xc / am frames is 135mm Q/R Hope hubs. The 135mm is the width between the two dropouts (some DH bikes are 150mm) and you have the option of 'Quick Release', 'bolt through' or 'bolt up'