mkeller234

The bike stays in my garage where it is cold. The past two days I noticed my chain sagging while I coasted while I was riding to work. I also noticed that the pedals "walk" with me while I push the bike forward. At work my bike is indoors and warm and I have no issues with the chain sagging on the way home.

I decided it must be the freewheel not moving freely enough, probably because of the cold. I was thinking I should take the freewheel off and run some fresh oil into the body. My second thought was I should just toss it in the garbage and buy a new Shimano 6 speed freewheel for 20 dollars.

FWIW, the chain is 3 days old and the chain rings and derailleur are really clean. Can anyone offer up ny advice or tips?? Saving the 20 dollars would be great.

oldroads

Don't replace any parts.
Just re-lube with a lighter oil for the winter.
Don't miss lubing the joints on the derailleur. That's why the chain looks slack.

HillRider

You can use "light oil" like Tri-Flow year round. Remove the rear wheel and lay it on it's side, freewheel up. Dribble oil into the seam between the stationary core and rotaring shell while spinning the cogs by hand. You should hear and feel the freewheel loosen up and feel smoother. With reasonable lubrication intervals the freewheel mechanism will far outlive the cogs.

mkeller234

Thanks guys. I already used tri-flow in the derailleur pivots but I never would have thought to use it in the freewheel. In the past I have used 10w-30 motor oil... maybe that is too heavy.

I'll try it out at some point today. Thanks!