Just removed my old Nukeproof Aluminium freehub, replaced with a shiny new steel one. Now I get Aluminium is slightly lighter but it seems to "chew up" the splines on the freehub a lot easier, it's nowhere near as resistant as steel. Why are so many freehub still Aluminium ? Assume it's all down to being lighter? my old hub was a total pig to get the cassette off due to the cassette cutting slightly into the Aluminium splines.
Why have Shimano on,y made their linkglide cassettes for HG, so you add more weight with a steel free hub, rather than microspine which I’m assuming is light and doesn’t get eaten by cassettes. .
Yesterday I replaced the free hub on my DT Swiss wheels with a steel version because of the cassette chewing up the splines. I have two sets of wheels for this bike and swapping them over was becoming a real chore as getting the cassette off the DT hub was increasingly difficult. The other wheelset is a cheapish Shimano that has never given any trouble getting the cassette off.
It's all about weight, Shimano invented it and iirc they only make steel freehubs.
Quite a bit lighter, and as mattoab said, cheaper/easier to make.
I like Bitex/similar hubs with the metal leading edge, really nice way to do it. But tbh I never really had an issue with DT alu hubs, I'd clean them up with a file every couple of cassette changes probably but they still worked just fine. I had a Hope one that dug up much worse and was more problematic but who knows, maybe it'd had a loose cassette or something.
Swapped to a steel freehub on my Pro2 Evo, after the last two cassettes were a PITA to get off (despite having filed off the burrs). It wasn't going to get any better.
To hell with the weight gain. TBH, there are more personal areas I could lose weight
More expensive cassettes do far less damage (almost no damage) as there are fewer individual sprockets. The load is spread out. I've been using King hubs (Aluminium FH) for 2 decades and can't remember a time when the freehub has been damaged enough to even slow cassette removal.
I'd also try using a gripping compound between the sprockets and make sure you're installing to the correct torque so the load is again spread a bit more.
A cassette thats made out of one piece or at least the largest cogs on a spider will be fine on an alloy freehub. Cassettes like Sram NX with lots of individual cogs just cut through alloy freehubs quickly.
I still have a pair of Hope BULB hubs with a ti freehub body. Light weight and it does get chewed up. Sometimes, it feels like modern tech is going backwards.
Onzadog
Free MemberSometimes, it feels like modern tech is going backwards.
Sram's XD is pretty much immune from all of this, and lighter than the lightest HG hub. But at the downside of being complicated to make therefore expensive, and needing a more complicated and therefore expensive to make cassette. Oh and if you screw it up and don't grease it you end up with a cassette basically welded onto the hub.
But equally, alu HG hubs are just the same as they always have been, no better or worse.
It’s all about weight, Shimano invented it and iirc they only make steel freehubs.
Also about space for decent bearings and smallest required sprocket.
13t sprockets and 9 x 1/4" loose bearings when they started. Restricted you to a steel freehub body at the time.
Who cares if it gets chewed up a bit? It's invisible and I've never seen one go through so it's just a consumable - over about 10-15 years.
The anti bite bit of steel on one of the splines on alloy hg freehubs is a clever bit of engineering and should be adopted on all alloy hg freehubs, it's a mystery to me why the smaller cogs stay separate while the larger ones are together on an alloy carrier/spider. I know some people replace the smaller cogs individually but sticking them together in a small cluster makes more sense.
A lot less torque through the smaller cogs so they bite a lot less.
noeffsgiven
Free MemberThe anti bite bit of steel on one of the splines on alloy hg freehubs is a clever bit of engineering and should be adopted on all alloy hg freehubs
I think possibly there's IP issues here? Bitex at least claim to have a relevant patent.
Who cares if it gets chewed up a bit?
It means the cassette is a PITA to get off, it does not slide off and need plenty of whacks with a wooden mallet. I'm hoping the new steel one will not allow the cassette to chew into the splines, being stronger overall.
Who cares if it gets chewed up a bit? It’s invisible and I’ve never seen one go through so it’s just a consumable – over about 10-15 years.
Go work in a shop. Used to see a couple a week that needed unwinding to get the sprocket out of the groove that it had cut into the freehub. And maybe once a quarter a sprocket that would rotate freely.
Hours of fun trying to source a free hub for another rebranded novatec/formula/noname hub that had only been in production for 8 tuesday afternoons 6 years ago, in a factory that now makes washing machines and the hub wasn't compatible with anything else, ever.
Or telling the customer that they needed a new Chris King freehub.
Would think it's probably more common with the event of e-bikes.
(And it's not necessarily under tightened lockrings either, sometimes they bottomed out, sometimes there was too much oil and grease between the sprockets, sometimes the freehub tolerances were terrible, sometimes the manufacturer cheaped out on the cassette...)