Originally Posted by
borobike
Well, it's time for the first negative report I have on the Denali for a very long time. Something that could cause a problem to someone planning on buying one further on down the road, unless they plan on upgrading anyway.
The tool I received from the bike shop didn't work to remove the freewheel, like the one before it. It won't catch on the splines. I returned to the shop and worked with the store owner for a while.
We concluded a few things: It's a "Sunway Group Co LTD" freewheel, relatively unheard of brand name. Googling brings up little to no information about it. The freewheel has a lockring that we were unable to figure out how to remove besides chiseling it off. Likely this freewheel requires special tools that we couldn't locate. The shop owner said he'd look more into it, and to bring it back in tomorrow when we'll get the thing off one way or another. Likely I'll be swapping out freewheels for something more conventional and using standard tools.
The freewheel itself I have no complaints about, it hasn't worn, it shifts well, and otherwise functionally it has been fine. But because it requires special (and as far as we know, impossible to find) tools to remove, a Denali buyer will face problems when it comes time to service the rear hub. Of course if the hubs are never serviced, then they eventually will be trashed. Couple that with a difficult to remove freewheel and you're looking at a new wheel.
The reason why I'm going to such lengths to remove the freewheel is because the bike is now up to over 510 miles without a glance at the rear hub. It's probably okay (still feels very smooth) but given the cost of a new wheel(set) I want to get in there to check it out, repack with fresh grease, and forget about it until about 1000 miles from now at which point I will disassemble both for a full cleaning and re-greasing. Also about that time I'll see about servicing the headset, not sure if I'm going to tackle that myself or let my favorite shop do it. Not out of difficulty but I hear the tools needed for it are expensive.
But we're not throwing in the towel yet, we'll see about getting the thing off tomorrow but it may be destroyed in the process. If I didn't like the wheelset so much I wouldn't bother, but after 500 miles it's still perfectly in true and the braking surface of the rim is machined and slightly rough giving extra braking traction. That's probably common in more expensive wheelsets but I haven't seen it often in inexpensive ones. They are decent wheels and worth saving.
If anyone knows the tool meant for these Sunway freewheels, that would be great. Otherwise tomorrow I'll likely have a new Shimano freewheel. I'll take the opportunity to do a little upgrading, I'd like to go from the 14-28t Sunway to an 11 or 12-28t Shimano, for a little extra top speed.
But the bike itself is still performing great. I love the new dual pivot brakes, coupled with the Kool-Stop pads I have a great deal of stopping power. They grab quickly and hard. It feels as though it takes half the effort for the same amount of braking. And as I can mentioned earlier, I can lock up the rear wheel now whereas I couldn't before.
I've just now gotten used to friction shifting with the new derailleur, I don't find it hunting much anymore. Which is somewhat unfortunate because a new freewheel will likely mean I'll have to get used to it all over again due to the slightly different tooth geometry.
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Freewheels aren't that expensive. I'd get another regardless of whether he can get it off without destroying it. A hyperglide shimano freewheel will likely shift better anyway. Even better, check out craigslist for a used rear wheel with a freehub. My guess is that it won't be long until you're replacing the wheel anyway. Might as well save the intermediate cost of a new freewheel. Actually last winter I picked up a new rear wheel on Amazon for $50. I got it as a spare and it was nothing special but I guarantee it's better than what's on the Denali.