rumatt

I bought a wheel with a powertap SL+ hub. Training with power is fantastic.

One weird thing is that the powertap is not only relatively loud while coasting, but it has an very subtly inconsistent pitch/volume as it rotates. Thus at high speeds it produces an interesting "wah wah wah wah wah" sound. It's not a huge deal, but is a bit annoying. To me it sounds like the grease is inconsistently spread around.

I asked the builder (wheelbuilder.com) and he offered to regrease it, but said the harmonic sounds may or may not stop.

Is this abnormal and it's worth the hassle of sending it back? (I'm not doing it myself). Or is this common and I should just STFU?

Thanks.

ericm979

Most wheels do that.

If the grease in the freewheel was "inconsistently spread around" wouldn't it be consistently spread around after a couple freewheel rotations?

cyclefreaksix

I think it just laughing at you...

kayakdiver

Don't coast............... problem solved

Flatballer

My PT has that uneven sound too. A lot of other wheels I've had do too.

I think it's more the wheel not being perfectly weighted, rather than something in the hub. But I dunno.

And yes, the PT is loud when coasting. That's a good thing, it means you've got a lot of pawls in the hub.

ridethecliche

Less is more atmo.

m4ximusprim3

Yep. Why have a powertap if the needle is pegged at 0?

UGASkiDawg

Yep I never noticed how much I coasted till got my powertap and WKO. I noticed right away my avg power was much lower than I expected and the 0 bin on the power distribution was taking up 20% of my ride time. Now I just keep pedaling

DaveSSS 

Greasing the pawl area is no more than a 10 minute job. It's very easy to take the axle out, the cassette body off and put more grease in. I've recently started using Mystik No. 2 all-purpose grease that I got at WalMart. Seems like a good prduct for just about any bike application.

ericm979

Powertap recommends special grease. https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-mechanics/104201-special-grease-required-powertap-conversion.html


BTW, if you're on a group ride, coasting is good. Staying out of the wind is a good skill to have.

DaveSSS 

The grease for pawls is not that critical. It just can't be too thick or the pawls won't move freely. There are some greases sold that are too thick. Mavic's design has such weak spring and shallow teeth to mate with the pawls that only oil is recommended.

loreley

not pedaling is not neccessarily bad...

kleinboogie

My SL+ does the same thing. I wouldn't worry about it.

nitropowered

When racing, you want to pedal the least as possible. If you are training, you want to be sure you are pedaling through the entire interval, but rest periods it doesnt matter

Jynx

normal.