I replaced the shimano freehub on my single speed in October, after about 18 months use. Now the new one has just died – [doesn’t engage when pedalling – tried flushing with/soaking in GT85 but no help] – so maybe 5 months from the new one.

To be fair, the bike takes a reasonable amount of abuse, ridden in all conditions, loads of mud and water and simply gets dumped in the shed after use – but aren’t freehubs supposed to be the longest lasting bit of the drivetrain? Any ideas on what might be causing them to wear so quickly? Any maintenance that might help?

Is the hub body damaged so the freehub won’t bite on it?

It’s probably just the pawls (the little arms that grab the free hub body) sticking especially if you use it a lot in wet conditions without any maintenance.

Oh and this is how you kill a singlespeed hub! 😉

Thanks for the replies.

The hub body is fine – no visible wear at all, and after flushing with GT85 spins pretty smoothly.

Given that shimano free hubs are pretty much sealed units, what sort of maintenance can you do on them?

None in my experience. Flushing with GT85 just delays the inevitable.

Double post sorry

Have a look here

Swapped mine for a Surly hub…

Andy S – I suppose swapping hubs is an option – I guess you’re happy with yours? What did it cost to get a new wheel built up on a surly hub? This is supposed to be my cheap, maintenance free winter bike – surly hubs sound expensive.

Is it really too much to ask for a cheap, light, reliable freehub that I can ride through mud and water for six months of the year without ever doing any maintenance on? 🙄

maybe 5 months from the new one.

5 months of what? 5 months doesn’t tell us anything. 5 months for my singlespeed would be **** all, cos I don’t ride as much as I’d like to (and I have other bikes that get ridden more). How many miles have you done on it?

If you’ve just done a few hundred miles then yes something’s wrong, either you got a duff freehub body or you’re trashing it somehow. If you’ve done 5,000 miles in the weather we’ve had over the last five months because you’re a superhuman singlespeed killing-machine training for the Tour Divide or something, then you need to just buy a new freehub body. 🙂

Anono – I can’t remember exactly but whatever the hub cost plus maybe thirty quid for building and spokes… It was more than I wanted to spend but I figured screw on freewheels are cheap as chips and easy to replace.

My SS road commuter has 3500 miles plus on the original screw on freewheel…

Thanks Andy – I’ve got a new shimano free hub on order – i’ll see how long this one lasts and I kill this one, maybe a I need to invest in a surly.

Mint – probably less than 500 miles on this hub – but all off road and lots of mud/water.

Any ideas on what could be trashing it? Bad chain line? Chain too tight/loose?

I have stripped Shimano freehubs in the past. It’s a right old ballache, and only buys you a little more time.

Something serviceable like a Hope hub should be better.

I used to get about 18months – 2 years from shimano hubs, or about 2000 average miles. Deore didn’t seem to last as long as XT, but it’d be too small a sample size to say conclusively.

Not much that could be done other than spray with GT85, allow to dry then pack with exposed bit with grease.

I pretty much just use hope hubs now, they’re not perfect, but the customer service and warranty is brilliant. I had a hub go like Roter Stern’s* and they rebuilt the wheel and had it posted back in about 10 days, complete with an apology for taking so long!

*yes a £160 hub shouldn’t fail, but it was second hand, I’d had a good innings from it, and I’d say my riding must be pretty hard on hubs!