Bicycle Mechanics - Back wheel noise??

After the quality advice I got from you all on my previous post, I am back with another problem.

When freewheeling a strange noise is coming from the back wheel but the noise is not prevalent when I am pedalling. I can only liken the sound to the clicking I used to get when attaching a cloth peg and playing cards to the frame when I was a kid, only not quite as persistent. It gives the impression something is catching something but I have checked what I can see and it all seems to be in full working order. I have noticed when upending the bike and moving the pedals backwards very gently they actually turn the wheel (I am unsure if this is normal?). But apart from this there are no obvious signs of anything amiss and the bike rides fine.
I would just like to add that the cassette was replaced recently but the bike was ridden for a number of weeks before the problem arose.

I would like to thank you all in advance for the advice I receive.
:)

Surely sounds like the pawls in the freewheel to me. Absolutely normal.

This is an easy one.

What you are experiencing is normal, but not necessarily good.

The whiring clicking sound you hear when you stop pedaling is the pawls running against the cog teeth inside your freewheel. These are the parts that make coasting possible. Without them, you would have a fixed drive.

Anyway, the freewheel probably needs some oil if they are noisy.

You can take your freewheel apart, but I don't recommend it. It is a complicated job - especially if you have to ask this question.

Try the quick fix. Take your wheel off of the frame. Lay the wheel down with the freewheel pointing up. Get some good bike oil or other lightweight oil. DO NOT USE WD-40 OR ANY OTHER SOLVENT BASED LUBRICANT.

Heat the oil to make it more viscous (thin). OK, let's keep this simple - pour the oil over any crack in the freewheel cover that you think would allow the oil to enter the internals of the freewheel.

IF you can remove the freewheel from the hub, then you can immerse the whole freewheel in the oil and let it find its way into the freewheel.

This should do the trick.

Note to my dear pro-wrench friends: please don't chop me up for giving this quickie advice. I am trying to give an effective solution to this needfull newbie who might not have the capacity to do it more formally.

I haven't rebuilt a freewheel in years. I lay the bike on its left side, spin the rear wheel, and dribble 5W30 motor oil into the circular crack between the outer bearing cone and the freewheel body itself. This is a bit messy and needs to repeated every few months or few hundred miles, but it is a timesaver.

Good advice. I got worried for the opposite reason, when my new freewheel suddenly went silent. Then I remembered I had flooded it with oil as part of a clean up! Doh!

Yeah, I've just spun the wheel whilst adding oil to cure this problem too. Worked brilliantly, which surprised me - normally my first attempt to cure something doesn't!

Ellie

Ok , what Mike says is very prevalent, but I must add that pouring lubricant in to the free hub's body is not entirely succesful, as it can "dilute" the grease in your hub bearings... and you don't want this !! If you have the capability ,remove the cassette, then take out the axle assembly, and whilst at it check the condition of your cones !,get a 12 mm hex wrench and undo the freehub from the LH side of the hub ..putting the hex wrench in a vice and then placing the wheel hub down onto it , and twisting anti-clockwise.. it might need two of you to do this if it is tight...then once undone and you have the freehub in your hand ..grab it by the threaded end and try to spin it..it should rotate like the sound of a smith and wesson being spun, playing a game of Russian roulette!! If it dose'nt and it seems cloggy or hesitant to spin...there is the problem.... you CAN take it apart.. and clean out the interior !!! which is kinda time consuming ..but what the hey .. It's the most thorough way of doing it, just count the BB's and divide by 2 when reinstalling , the pawls only go in one way!! or flush the freehub with degreaser (this is with the unit assembled but in whole) and dry out with compressed air , then put/ run some 15 w oil inside the body , waiting for it to come out of the back of it...check it's feel and sound once more .. you WILL know when It's good ! If this seems like a bit too much !!?? Then replace it completely with a new one for about ~25.00 bucks, But remember you have also overhauled your hub too.. !! Fresh grease, always new brearings, and perhaps new cones if needed ?? Now reinstall the cassette ..the wheel and go ride !!

Well said Buddy. I had re greased and adjusted the cones at the same time, to get rid of a back wheel "groan"

I should have clarified that I use my oil-can approach only with old-fashioned twist-on freewheels. Unless you want to relube for every ride, there is no substitute for grease in your load-bearing wheel bearings.

Now after I said all that ..lol.., have you got a plastic spoke protector inside of the cassette.??? is it rubbing against the cass ??

I have since my previous post removed the wheel and cleaned/oiled the cassette and surrounding area comprehensively, but it does not appear to have improved its rotation at all. I have not taken it completely apart as I am not at that level of maintenance yet and won't be for some time I am sure.
The cassette is clicking like a smith and wesson being spun (excellent analogy!) but there are also louder type clicks periodically, which in turn seem to cause the cassette to stick slightly when turning by hand.
In answer to the question about a spoke protector, no I do not have one.

Thanks again for all the advice!

Ok , you have two choices , a new freehub or overhaul the existing one .... it might be good to get a new freehub and then you can take apart the old one yourself to learn all about it and maybe you can fix it and then you'll have a spare !:)

This sound like a job for the shop! Tell them you need some grease in your freehub. There is a special tool called a "Freehub Buddy" it's a grease injector. Many shops have this tool, some don't and will just want to replace the freehub! I'd call first and ask before you go!

You have to remove your axle and press fit this tool onto your freehub, and grab the grease gun and inject away until grease comes out the other side. I usually keep pumping new grease in until the dirty grease is all out! It's pretty easy to do, but requires special tools. While they're at it have them overhaul your hub as well.

I went ahead a bought the "freehub buddy" I think it cost me like $40-50, plus a grease gun another $15-20 and some new grease $4. Sound pricey, but a new freehub cost $25 for cheap ones and up $75 for good ones. I've seen some titanium ones for $150. I've removed, cleaned and regreased mine so many times, the tools have paid for themselves over and over.

Good Luck
L8R

Of all the things I have lost, I miss my mind the most.

Having said that, I would really like to understand what this thread is about. My response at the beginning reflects my obvious misguided ideas. But it was based on the fact that about 99.78% of the bicycles I hear (an average of 100 give or take on an average day - all kinds of bikes) make that sound. And on the comments I have read in various places that reduce to the approximate common denominator paraphrase "... when the sound [of the pawls] is that loud, they know it is my Campa equipped bike and they are about to get dropped ..."

Are we talking about the same thing? The earlier descriptions sounded like it, but there is so much fear and dread about it in the maintenance advice that I think it must surely be something else.

Anyone?

Thanks...Gary (whose Campa rear wheel has sounded like that from day one)

I would first like to apologise for my rather inept description of the problem in my first post that threw some of you out.

I took the bike to the shop and they replaced the free hub and now the bike is purring like a kitten.
It only cost £24, "cheap rubbish" i hear you cry but i figured the last one did me for 4,500m (is this good, bad or indifferent??) so i may as well get the same only this time take a little more care of it.

And as adivised....I kept the old freehub to play with on a snowy day.

Thank you all!!

Originally posted by ear_irritant
It only cost £24, "cheap rubbish" i hear you cry but i figured the last one did me for 4,500m (is this good, bad or indifferent??) so i may as well get the same only this time take a little more care of it.



24 quid doesn't sound like cheap rubbish to me, but then I'm on threaded freewheels on both of my bikes.

The commuting one is due for a change of block and chain in time for spring after about 4500miles so I think you've given it a fair try!!