Half way round the Builth Marathon today, found myself powering up a really steep bit in the wrong gear having misjudged it – well, apparently Shimano freewheels can't take the awesome power of my legs, and I mashed the insides, which locked it up.

If I'd been riding a hardtail I'd have removed the rear mech and turned it into a fixie.. but no such luck. Bugger.

Don't buy Shimano hubs kids. Btw this is XTR from 2 years ago.

quick edit that to freehub before someone pulls you up on it 😉

Oh dear. Someone behind on their servicing and not even noticed?

I'm resigned to my fate. Also resigned to the fact that a replacement costs £100…

You what? You have to service freehubs since when?

And the insides are mashed – since when does servicing make the insides stronger?

£99.99 or £124.99 too!! 😯

Servicing = replacing parts that wear out.

I take it you're the bloke that was shouting "Shimano hubs are rubbish" at everyone who rode past you today? I must confess I thought it was slightly strange behaviour! 😉

Yeah. I've had a Hope axle snap and have exactly the same effect

Shimano freehubs aren't brilliant, but they are no worse than Pro 2 hub bearings……

Cynic-al – the hub didn't wear out, it failed suddenly.

It'd done all of 1000 miles.

Yes, that was me telling passers by not to buy Shimano hubs – for a few minutes, as a way of venting my spleen 🙂

And PP – when hope bearings fail (after about 2 years for me) they go gradually and don't stop you riding another yard. The axle snapping woudl do that hto 🙂

Out of 5 Pro 2 hubs that have passed through my garage (3 front, 2 rear) only one had had bearings that lasted over a year. I've just today replaced 2 of the 5 in one rear for the 2nd time…..

When I've had Shimano freehubs give up (several times over the last, ohh, 19 years) they've always given me a few weeks notice by slipping and making odd noises. But then I've never had any better than XT, usually Deore, it has to be said. 🙂

Sounds like a result of aggressive cleaning to me

Sudden failure is "wearing out" for freehubs. 1000 miles sounds por tho. Unless you are a friend of muc off

It didn't start slipping, like they do when full of crud which stops the pawls returning. It suddenly seized i.e. locked in both directions, immediately after I put a lot of torque through it. It was butter smooth and absolutely up until the exact moment it locked.

Failure, not wearing out.

how do you service a Shimano freehub ? There must be a special tool ?

I need to hang up my butch credentials. I've never had a shimano hub long enough for it to die on me. I can only think of one or two hubs that I've actually felt the need to service, and they were hope.

http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Overhaul-a-Shimano-Hub-and-Free-hub-66770627

fair enough. I've heard the newer ones (biger axles?) are gash.

I've never had a shimano hub long enough for it to die on me

Let me re-iterate. It did not wear out, it failed. As in snap bang boom, unrelated to how old it was or how many miles.

I never seemed to have much trouble trials-riding on shimano freehubs, but some do.

As in snap bang boom, unrelated to how old it was or how many miles.

Can't really say that without forensic analysis of the internals, are you sure it wasn't fatigue of the end of the pawls, or a bearing collapsing causing the whole lot to jam?

To go from perfect operation to complete seizure in one ten second bout of more torque than is ever normally required indicates sudden failure not wearing out – especially as it's not done many miles.

Some wear may have contributed to failure but that's not the same as wearing out.

Apparently.. spares are unavailable 🙁