Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 46 total)
  • Why isn't a combined freehub/cassette unit available?
  • shermer75
    Free Member

    So my reasoning is this:
    1) Cassettes have become sooo expensive anyway
    2) It would save weight
    3) It would stop that annoying ‘cassette biting into alu freehub’ business

    Would only make sense for the absolute top end because of the price but it would save weight- and people loooove to save weight lol (prob because it gives you an easily measurable and therefore comparable number)

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    1) It would make it more expensive and you would be throwing one away before the other was finished.
    2) How much weight?
    3) XD driver has fixed that
    Also it would require a a standard freehub body for all hubs.

    simondbarnes
    Full Member

    They’ve been available for many, many years 🙂

    Rorschach
    Free Member

    Hope did it (prototype).Now they don’t.

    shermer75
    Free Member

    Also it would require a a standard freehub body for all hubs.

    You mean it would lock you into using one particular manufacturer? Oh yeah they hate doing that lol

    shermer75
    Free Member

    They’ve been available for many, many years

    Not sure I understand your meaning here- that’s a picture of a seperate cassette and freehub. Are you saying that they frequently seize up and can’t be seperated? 🙂

    simondbarnes
    Full Member

    Not sure I understand your meaning here- that’s a picture of a seperate cassette and freehub

    No, it’s not.

    tehtehtehteh
    Free Member

    they’re called “freewheels” look them up

    Rorschach
    Free Member

    that’s a picture of a seperate cassette and freehub

    Ahh….bless 😀

    tehtehtehteh
    Free Member

    I wonder if maybe he means with the wheel bearings included, unlike a traditional freewheel

    tthew
    Full Member

    they’re called “freewheels” look them up

    I’ve always referred to those as a ‘block’ as opposed to a cassette. A freewheel being a single speed block.

    Semantics, or stupidity on my behalf, you decide. 🙂

    mattsccm
    Free Member

    That’s block. Freewheel is either a verb or maybe a single sprocket.

    sillyoldman
    Full Member

    A freewheel can be single or multi speed.

    HoratioHufnagel
    Free Member
    shermer75
    Free Member

    Here’s the hope prototype mentioned above…

    Yep, that was the sort of thing I was thinking of! 🙂

    finephilly
    Free Member

    We defo need to petition hope for a production run on that.

    sillyoldman
    Full Member

    Freehub bodies and cassettes wear at different rates, so this would add further expense for no real gain, and tie you into specific freehub mechanisms.

    twisty
    Full Member

    What I would like to see is interlocking sprocket carrier spiders integrated into the freehub to which the sprockets attach to directly, then can just replace the individual sprockets as they wear out.

    sillyoldman
    Full Member

    Shops and distributors already have too many skus to ensure availability of. You’d also end up with a mix of fresh and worn cassette sprockets.

    newrobdob
    Free Member

    Not sure I understand your meaning here- that’s a picture of a seperate cassette and freehub. Are you saying that they frequently seize up and can’t be seperated?

    Youngsters these days eh? 🙄 😆

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    These guys amongst at least two other brands that I can think of do shimano splined one piece steel cassettes that prevent biting into crappy soft aluminium freehubs.

    In my opinion the SRAM XD freehub is great but I’m surprised that SRAM don’t do a range of XD road casettes yet.

    cookeaa
    Full Member

    TBF, the good old screw on, BSA threaded cassette/freehub that’s been about for donkeys years could do exactly what the OP it on about, and could be designed to allow sub 11t sprockets as XD does, you would simply have to look at coming up with a new tool interface…

    But then I don’t really see much wrong with the HG cassette/FH design, and being limited to an 11t sprocket TBH.

    mattsccm
    Free Member

    Of course “real” blocks only had 4 or 5 sprockets. A nice straight through 13-17 was a proper job.

    Rorschach
    Free Member

    Of course “real” blokes only have 1 sprocket. A nice straight 16-19 is a proper job.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    TBF, the good old screw on, BSA threaded cassette/freehub that’s been about for donkeys years could do exactly what the OP it on about, and could be designed to allow sub 11t sprockets as XD does, you would simply have to look at coming up with a new tool interface…

    I presume it’s because the smaller sprockets end up under a fair bit of twisting load, the XD driver is a bit more supporting.

    twisty
    Full Member

    The problem with the screw-on system is the drive side axle bearing is far away from the dropout, the shimano freehub allowed the bearing to be spaced much further apart so axles don’t bend.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    so axles don’t bend.

    you mean like XD? That must be why mine hasn’t bent…

    walleater
    Full Member

    ^ He means like a freewheel. Brings back memories of bending axles every other weeks on my Peugeot Ranger circa 1987…..

    orangeboy
    Free Member

    Well that’s a little different

    An xd hub body still has the bearing away from the hub flange

    But with modern hubs and axles you could go back to screw on freewheels without failures. And you could always get screw on hubs that did not bend/snap the axle under the largest cog just they were costly. Mavic pmp Royce hope etc all used to make good screw on hubs with sealed bearings

    cookeaa
    Full Member

    The problem with the screw-on system is the drive side axle bearing is far away from the dropout, the shimano freehub allowed the bearing to be spaced much further apart so axles don’t bend.

    Well that’s a fair point, but XD doesn’t generally offer axle support under the 10t sprocket, and most push-on cassette FH Bodies (like Hope) don’t actually offer any real wheel support with those FH mounted bearings, and everything seems to be going to 12mm diary axles too now.

    A “new” screw-on cassette form could be designed to provide bearing support at the end of the axle and work with larger axle diameters…

    PimpmasterJazz
    Free Member

    So my reasoning is this:
    1) Cassettes have become sooo expensive anyway
    2) It would save weight
    3) It would stop that annoying ‘cassette biting into alu freehub’ business

    Yeah, but no.

    I used to sell Sachs freewheels and build them for timetriallers. The screw-on attachment could be a PITA, and freehubs and cassettes were actually lighter. I’m sure you could do it differently now, bit the freehub / cassette is still a pretty good system, especially as there is bearing support at the outer cogs where the most torque is generated.

    Is that ‘cassette biting into alu’ really a big deal?

    molgrips
    Free Member

    then can just replace the individual sprockets as they wear out.

    I’d love this. I seem to remember someone trying it 20 odd years ago…?

    But yes. The cassette system was an innovation – that’s why it’s called a cassette as opposed to an all-in-one system.

    tehtehtehteh
    Free Member

    Is that ‘cassette biting into alu’ really a big deal?

    if they make them to be on a single carrier it wouldn’t be a problem at all

    stevextc
    Free Member

    I’d love this. I seem to remember someone trying it 20 odd years ago…?

    But yes. The cassette system was an innovation – that’s why it’s called a cassette as opposed to an all-in-one system.

    Back on Shimano 10 speed you almost could … if you used a 3rd party expander then of course that’s replaceable on the XT 780 stuff and then anything else not on a spider… (replacing spiders seems non economic as it seems 80-90% the price of a new cassette )

    https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/cassette-spares-shimano/?groupset=deore+xt

    paton
    Free Member

    “3) It would stop that annoying ‘cassette biting into alu freehub’ business”

    Softer aluminium, so the cassette sprockets could dig in to the freehub.
    This would be a combined freehubcassette. Then when the sprockets wear out take the combined freehubcassette off and put a new (soft) freehub on and a new cassette and the jobs a goodun.

    bencooper
    Free Member

    Screw-on freewheels have the problem that the right-hand bearings are very far in, so axles bend easily – but the Sachs Helicomatic system was very clever:

    http://www.borgercompagnie.com/helicomatic/history.html

    finephilly
    Free Member

    the ALU freehub damage comes from steel cassettes biting in. an aluminum cassette gets round this, but its more expensive. Iirc, the sprockets on that hope prototype were replaceable. It must be better than a screw-on freewheel ‘cos you keep the axle strength.

    stevextc
    Free Member

    the ALU freehub damage comes from steel cassettes biting in. an aluminum cassette gets round this, but its more expensive. Iirc, the sprockets on that hope prototype were replaceable. It must be better than a screw-on freewheel ‘cos you keep the axle strength.

    As do spiders by spreading the load … but then the cogs themselves can’t be replaced individually so a bit swings and roundabouts.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 46 total)

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