Really noisy freewheels

What’s the deal? It seems to be common on high end bikes to have a freewheel that sounds like an old football rattle.

I don’t imagine it would be for attention, like with noisy car exhausts – presumably there’s a benefit to it. Less likely to slip under power or something?

It’s to show that you’ve bought an artisan wheel!

No reason at all… it’s a look at me type thing.

The volume of the noise has little bearing on anything. More clicks = more points of/faster engagement, unless there’s no clicks, then it’s instant.

Some debate as to whether more clicks=more better based on if you think pedal kickback is a thing or not, and if your bike is affected by it.

Great for letting crazy wildlife like pheasants know you are present!

Scatters pedestrians an absolute beauty 

Hateful things. Listening to my Dura Ace 10 speed reminds me that Shimano started with fishing reels. Lovely sound. My DT is awful. Fixed is of course silent. 😎

Noisiest I have is the freehub on my 1995 Hope TI XC hub with extra strength springs, a CK free hub hub just goes bzzzzzzzzzzz, the hope freehub goes CLACKA-CLACKA-CLACKA-CLACKA-CLACKA-CLACKA-CLACKA-CLACKA. Used to be very handy to alert pedestrians when cycling around town. 

You can just about see the hub on my mongrel ss road bike, thankfully never suffered from the spoke flanges cracking as these hubs were prone to as I always built my own wheels. 

I like that my Hope/DT freewheels are usually enough to alert people of my approach. Much more civilised than bells or shouting. If it wasn’t for that I’d buy silent hubs. Oh, and I’m one of those people who dislikes high POE hubs because they make suspension performance worse…

Forgot to include pic,

Because it’s cheaper and simpler?

Having recently moved to a silent hub (Tairin Silent Shogun), one benefit of a loud hub (Hope Pro 4) I miss is that the constant noise helps other trail users triangulate where the noise is coming from and is it getting closer or going further. That doesn’t work with a bell pinging.

I’ve also been on a Tairin silent hub for a few months, I love it! Hearing only the sound of tyres on the dirt is such good bike asmr.

At the risk of thread hijacking, have you experienced much of the popping sounds from the hub @bikesandboots? It’s meant to settle down but hasn’t yet and I always find it so unnerving!

My new Giant Trance X29 is virtually silent too, Shimano hubs. Felt a bit strange at first but love them now.

Riding home from work last night I almost ran over a graffiti artist in a culvert.

If he hadn’t heard my Pro4 I reckon we’d have had a nasty collision. As it was I just ran over his sandals 🤣

Here he is, back at work within seconds.

Love my noisy 240!

I have an old Claude Butler with Shimano 400EX groupset. The freewheel is absolutely silent. I have no idea why.

I just like the sound of them. 

At the risk of thread hijacking, have you experienced much of the popping sounds from the hub @bikesandboots? It’s meant to settle down but hasn’t yet and I always find it so unnerving!

@appltn Only on the first 2 or 3 rides. I’ve been meaning to start a thread about the hub in general, will get round to it soon.

I blame Industry Annoying and Hope for these big bore freewheel yobo’s.

At the risk of thread hijacking, have you experienced much of the popping sounds from the hub @bikesandboots? It’s meant to settle down but hasn’t yet and I always find it so unnerving!

@appltn Only on the first 2 or 3 rides. I’ve been meaning to start a thread about the hub in general, will get round to it soon.

Funnily enough, I woke up to an email from Tairin saying that they have a revised faceplate to deal with a fatigue issue and I think will also solve this issue for me. They’re sending them out to all customers with the original part. Gotta love that customer service.

I love a Chris King buzz – not really loud, but notably different and the sound of something working as designed.  You can also tell when it’s time for a service as it starts to become a little buzzier as the lube breaks down.  Excellent.

BITD on BMXs a any freewheel that clicked was cheap (the good Shimano was virtually silent)  so I’ve always equated noisy with low end tat.  I’d love to buy Hope but the noise really puts me off.  I guess it’s just something to do with the pawl/ring geometry that does it as some similarly constructed hubs don’t seem to duffer.  I’ve now got Onyx and the silence is wonderful.

arogers
Oh, and I’m one of those people who dislikes high POE hubs because they make suspension performance worse…

Is that the pedal kickback thing? If it were in any way true, my zero lag, infinite POE hubs would be virtually unreadable.  It’s a scam.