It seems that my freewheel is not so "free" anymore. Riding home the other day I noticed that after coasting for any distance and then trying to pedal again the cranks spun freely, surprising the hell out of me. Since I am not using my toe clips and am running just platforms for the winter my feet nearly came right off the pedals. Luckily I avoided what likely would have been a painful spill (I am seriously considering a pair of
Power Grips to keep my feet on my platforms). I suffered with the problem today and when I got home I gave my freewheel the acid test - I pushed the bike forward and sure enough the freewheel, and in turn the chain and crank, turned in time with the rear wheel. From what I understand this indicates a seized, or sticky freewheel.
I do most of the maintenance on my own bike but I've never serviced a freewheel. Some searches here turned up some tutorials on how to service one but I would like to avoid that if possible; does anyone have any suggestions on how to "free up" my freewheel without having to remove it and repack all those bearings? BTW it's an 8-speed Shimano cassette on a generic hub.
Thanks for the input.