Bicycle Mechanics - blown shimano freewheel (brand new!)

My bike's only about 2 weeks old, with less than 300 miles; I was riding today and noticed a loud rattle from my rear drivetrain when I was on rough roads. I rode home with no real issues and began to investigate. I found that my freewheel was loose, and took it to the only shop in town still open @ 6pm on a Sunday. They tightened it down but told me my freehub is blown. Anyone have experience with this problem on a 105 10sp cassette? Should this be under warranty?

take it back to the shop you got it from. I hope you got documentation from the shop that tightened the freehub body back down as backup. That'll make getting them to replace it much easier.

g'luck

It should absolutely be under warranty.

Just goes to show, even the best of them have a part or two slip through QC. Take it back to the shop and let us know how it goes. :)

I hope you got documentation from the shop that tightened the freehub body back down as backup. That'll make getting them to replace it much easier.

this i did not do...should I go back in??

The reason I suggest this is you've now had work done on that part that is "broken". It is common enough in the industry that people come in to shops and say "I've got a broken X" and want a shop to replace it because it happened while "I was just riding along and...". I know this sounds cynical of me. But, just to make your case legit, it would be a good idea to go back to the shop that tightened down your freehub body and ask them to write out some kind of report detailing what they found and what they did.

That way, when you go back to the shop you bought the bike from you can tell them, with evidence, what happened. If they're a reputable shop they probably wouldn't have argued about a replacement anyway. If they're disreputable at least now you've got some way of bulling past their BS and hopefully getting good service.

At my shop I'm kind of a stickler for proper documentation. It takes a few extra minutes to do, BUT I've found that the quality of my customer relations rises to the quality of the work we do. That way we don't get customers who scam us. AND the customers who already like us love us more because we're on top of things and don't lose important information.

The reason I suggest this is you've now had work done on that part that is "broken". It is common enough in the industry that people come in to shops and say "I've got a broken X" and want a shop to replace it because it happened while "I was just riding along and...". I know this sounds cynical of me. But, just to make your case legit, it would be a good idea to go back to the shop that tightened down your freehub body and ask them to write out some kind of report detailing what they found and what they did.

That way, when you go back to the shop you bought the bike from you can tell them, with evidence, what happened. If they're a reputable shop they probably wouldn't have argued about a replacement anyway. If they're disreputable at least now you've got some way of bulling past their BS and hopefully getting good service.

At my shop I'm kind of a stickler for proper documentation. It takes a few extra minutes to do, BUT I've found that the quality of my customer relations rises to the quality of the work we do. That way we don't get customers who scam us. AND the customers who already like us love us more because we're on top of things and don't lose important information.

Wtf. If your LBS demands "documentation" like you do. Go ahead and find a new one.

Most shops will take care of it. We never ask for documentation if someone took their bike in for an emergency repair. Most of the companies in the industry are fairly good about granting warranty's so i wouldn't worry about it too much

As far as "documentation", your selling LBS should be willing to make a phone call to the other LBS.

took it in to the shop where I bought the bike. fixed under warranty, no questions asked; i'll be riding by wednesday....yet another reason to pay the extra to buy local...

Wtf. If your LBS demands "documentation" like you do. Go ahead and find a new one.


No we don't demand "documentation" on the part of our customers. We demand it on the part of our mechanics. And being a mechanic at a shop where we really want good documentation on our repairs makes my life SO much easier.

It means I don't have to tell a pissed off customer who has been waiting for a repair to come in or call tomorrow, or a few days from now, when the mechanic they've been working with is working. It means that they get an answer NOW and not later. Usually this makes them much happier.

And, I will make no assumptions here, if customers were more hip to how the bike industry works they'd realize that some companies are pretty cool about covering warrantee and some companies won't do crap for you unless you've got ammo to come at them with their own problem... Hence, documentation.

took it in to the shop where I bought the bike. fixed under warranty, no questions asked; i'll be riding by wednesday....yet another reason to pay the extra to buy local...

Good on you!

Update: (pissed...) so I pick up my wheel today; they tell me they re-packed my hub and found no real problems with the freewheel...weird. I am skeptical. I get home, put on wheel, turn pedals: no "click-click-click" from freewheel, just a rough and obvious grind in two spots in the rotation, so bad that it catches the chain and spins the pedals! It is absolutely beyond me how they could have "found no problem" and given me my wheel back, knowing that I'd (obviously) be right back in. It's going to take every ounce of decency in me to go back in there tomorrow with my wheel and ask them nicely to actually do their job and take care of obvious warranty matters properly. I am more than justified to ask them to pull a freewheel off of another felt in the store so I can get back on the road right?? (They've already cost me 3 days to do absolutely nothing...)

Update: (pissed...) so I pick up my wheel today; they tell me they re-packed my hub and found no real problems with the freewheel...weird. I am skeptical. I get home, put on wheel, turn pedals: no "click-click-click" from freewheel, just a rough and obvious grind in two spots in the rotation, so bad that it catches the chain and spins the pedals! It is absolutely beyond me how they could have "found no problem" and given me my wheel back, knowing that I'd (obviously) be right back in. It's going to take every ounce of decency in me to go back in there tomorrow with my wheel and ask them nicely to actually do their job and take care of obvious warranty matters properly. I am more than justified to ask them to pull a freewheel off of another felt in the store so I can get back on the road right?? (They've already cost me 3 days to do absolutely nothing...)

The problem is not the freewheel. It is the freehub body that the freewheel (cassette) goes onto. They can't just "pull another freewheel off of another felt". They will need to repair the freehub by most likely replacing the hub or at the very least the freehub body. The best "instant" fix is if they pull the whole rear wheel from an identical bike and send your wheel back to Felt for warranty replacement.

The problem is not the freewheel. It is the freehub body that the freewheel (cassette) goes onto. They can't just "pull another freewheel off of another felt". They will need to repair the freehub by most likely replacing the hub or at the very least the freehub body. The best "instant" fix is if they pull the whole rear wheel from an identical bike and send your wheel back to Felt for warranty replacement.

If it's a Shimano part ... yes they could. And then they could just order a replacement freehub body.

Problem solved...again.:rolleyes:
Yes, it was the freehub body, which is what I meant. They did as I had hoped (firmly and strongly urged them to do...) and pulled the rear wheel off an identical bike and put my cassette and tire on it to use while they take care of my warranty. I have to "baby" their brand new loaner wheel for the weekend, but I am grateful to be able to ride nonetheless; though I'm still a little hot about how they handled the problem to begin with...

Had the exact same thing with my new Cannondale 07 CAAD8 rear freehub body. Had the bike for about 4 days (about 70 miles) when I had the sudden noise. Took to the chop I bough the bike and they took apart and didn't see anything obvious. Repacked everything, put back on bike and same noise. They then replaced the whole wheel from another new bike. Been about 130 miles on the new wheel and AOK. This too was a Shimano wheel/hub.