Commuting - too cold for the cogs?

Anyone experience their freewheel/cassette not engaging after coasting? It may be that at some temperature point the lubrication in the mechanism is so stiff it won't allow the cogs to return properly and engage.

I've heard advice about replacing the freewheel grease with a lighter lubricant in very cold weather, but how the heck you go about that I don't know.

I've been riding in temps down to -6 without any kind of problem though.

This happened to me a few times recently as the temps dropped below 0*F. I keep a small bottle of lube with me and have been able to keep things running by putting a few drops of it on the freewheel while spinning the wheel with my hand. The lube gets sucked in pretty well and keeps things running.

Does anyone know if the more expensive freewheels fair better in sub-zero temps?

Happened to me yesterday morning in 5 degree weather. No problem today in 20 degree weather. The grease gets more solidified, springs don't spring, and the pawls do not engage properly. Icebike.com has an old article -- actually everything on icebike is old -- on winterizing rear hubs. I'm thinking of trying to disassemble mine and put in some lighter lube, but I'll probably just squirt some lube in there.

This happened to me below about -10 F. I had the LBS change the innards to use a lighter grease and it now has worked down to -18. I've not been out in anything colder than that.

I use a Shimano 105 rear hub, and have not had issues at temps down to -10F.

My hands and feet sometimes fail to engage at those temps however.

I had this problem "back in tha day" [mid-90s] with Shimano hubs. However, my current wheelsets use Woodman, Hope and Formula hubs with no issues down to -35C/-31F ambient temperature. It could be that newer hubs use synthetic grease which doesn't jam up at low temps... ???

wow! so i'm not the only one to have this issue! Happened when it was about 10F.