thanks again for the advice. this weekend I soaked the freewheel in degreaser and worked out all the gunk. my gears are a nice, shiny silverish color now. and the freewheel spins so much smoother, though I'm thinking the futura was not the highest quality piece of equipment in the first place. even in its new cleaned out state it doesn't spin as smoothly as other freewheels. I'd love to get another suntour corncob set like the one I wore out.