I’m used to a nicely oiled ss cog or a silent freehub on my road bike and this buzzing is going to spoil those silent-singletrack-freewheel times.. i’m sure i’ll get used to it but i’d rather tone it down from ‘up to 11’ to about ‘3’. It’s the SS version too so it’s got more clicks per rev than the 9-spd hub.

So I’ve re-packed it with thick grease and that’s made little difference.

Before i go and ruin the pawls experimenting, has anyone found a way to quieten a Hope freehub?

I thought of trying the zip-tie pawl spring bodge, or just flexing the pawls to offer less spring, but i was hoping to find a simpler solution – but nothing’s come to mind.

cheers.

It’s a Hope hub, did you expect it to be quiet?

mine went completely silent for a while, was told it “was on the way out”, about 18 months ago but it’s still going strong and louder than ever now. Don’t know why it went silent but i prefer it loud scares horses and small children and means i don’t need to talk to people.

Just keep pedalling ?? no more freehub noise then !

😉

Ref the ‘zip tie bodge’ I did that a couple of weeks ago out of neccessity, & the ‘hope click’ was still there. You’ll not get rid of it that easily!

Put some grease in there. Personally I don’t mind it and put a wet lube in instead.

The main reason for the noise is to let people know you have a hope hub – embrace the clique (or click, I think they’re both appropriate)!

silent a hope hub lol 🙂 haha… really??

I like both my silent Shimano and my noisy Hope Pro II. However, the noise makes a huge difference when commuting or riding in parks or along canal paths. I don’t always want pedestrians to hear me. Sometimes it is much safer to just stealthily dart round pedestrians in silence. People get so ridiculously jumpy around bicycles, and the Hope noise isn’t always useful or wanted. In my experience a pedestrian is likely to get more stressy and get in your way if they hear you coming.

Also, the hoise can prevent you sneaking up on wildlife. It can be nice to peddle a little behind a deer or close to some rabbits.. you’ll find that much harder on a noisy hub.

TADTS

I love Hope Hubs – but on a road bike? Never!

hate the noise, the only solution is to change hubs and ride alone.

I agree completely with Junkyard. The noise is horrendous and makes Hope rear hubs a complete no-no for me.

So that’s a ‘no’ then.. )

I only chose the Hope SS for the freehub size / design. I know they’re noisy and I’ve avoided Hope hubs in the past because of this but for what I’m building up it makes sense. I just wondered if there were any less-than-obvious tricks to tone it down a bit.

I’ll figure something out.. I like a challenge.

earplugs…?

You buy Hope hubs to be able to pedal up behind people ninja style and then use the freehub to scare the life out of them. I’ve only had one ride on them so far but it kept my simple brain amused.

The other plus is that I can’t hear the things that used to (and probably still do) creak elsewhere on the bike

earplugs maybe, or an excuse for more ipod-riding ) call me a hippie but i like the sounds in the woods, the birds or wind-rush noise, the crunch of gravel etc these days. the hope hub doesn’t really mix too well with all that.

Dan, i can see the fun in that too… too tempting!

I have a hope xc and a pro 2 the xc is a lot quieter, (how ofter should I strip and service them by the way?)

remove 2 of the pawls instant 50 percent reduction in something??

on a more serious note the ones I have the only limited time cure was grease

i do have the XC on one bike and it is tolerable on a MTB as most freewheeling is downhill and other stuff is clattering around anyway.
My heart does sink when I push the bike and hear the click though
XT rear is the most cost effective alternative IMHO about £30 from rose bikes.

I thought about removing pawls but it doesn’t seem like a good idea, better a noisy hub than stranded with a bust freehub. plus if there was only 2 pawls i’d loose the fast pick-up the SS hub has and i like that (uses ofset pairs for half the engagement rotation of std hub)

hope’s only comment was marine grease, it works to a point and thinking about why it works has given me an idea. will try it out this aft.

i couldn’t be arsd to pull the bearings out and try some sound-deadening material in the open centre-section, it’s behind a bearing so I wasn’t convinced it’d make much difference. But tweaking the pawls to be less springy and getting enough grease packing out the free space in that area has turned it down from a loud ratchet buzz to a more subtle purr that’s much more acceptable.

With a sharp scalpel and some elastomer and i reckon i could get it even quieter but i’m going to stop there and see how it goes for a few miles, before i draw blood or wreck the hub.

putting lithium grease in there deadened mine for a bit, but it got loud again over time

I guess it will as it spreads out. It doesn’t stay on the pawl / ratchet surface but if you rotate a bit and repack it until the open spaces are almost full it seems to deaden the sound nicely, not sure how long it’ll last for yet. Making sure there’s plenty around the pawls and springs themselves also helps reduce the noise and it should stay put there. Luckily it’s a nice simple design that pops open easily to keep it greased if needed.

Use a semi fluid grease, works a treat. Been using it for 3+ years on my Pro 2’s.

I think it is about time I service the free hub on mine, what semi fluid grease did you use?

cheers – will have a look for some. is it much thicker than normal bike bearing grease?

are the hubs sealed in this area as it sounds like it would seap out leaving it a bit unprotected

http://www.royal-purple-industrial.com/prodsi/tsfg.html

although I am sure a top up would be indicated by it going back to the loud damn clicky coasting.

there was four of us riding pro 2s today and it sounded like a swarm of angry wasps when freewheeling

Embrace it.

I love the sound of a Pro 2 in the morning..

I do normally like it but came across a dear in my local woods one evening and trying to walk quietly up the path wheeling my bike was impossbile if slightly comical 🙂

was it an old dear?

)

lol yes, an astonishing amount of facial hair!!

catsplums, sorry for the late reply re: which grease. The stuff I use is Mobilith SHC 007 Grease.

jameso…its thinner and runnier than normal grease, so it runs back into the freewheel ratchet and helps keep it quiet as well as lubed. Thick grease can get spread out leaving the freewheel nearly dry and NOISY 8)

be careful over greasing the hope freehubs – It can prevent the pawls from engaging properly.

If you want a quiet hub you need to go elsewhere

I like the sound of my hope hub, walkers hear it so I don’t need a bell and the pitch changes when you go really fast.

It is amazing how a freehub can totally change a ride, especially around animals or pedestrians/walkers.

With my Shimano hub I like to stealthily whizz past people. When silently approaching from behind, people are less inclined to get paranoid about you and your bicycle or get in your way. Also, you can creep up on wildlife like deer and rabbits, which is nice. No chance of this with a Hope or similar, but I do love my Hopes.