Cranks spin with rear wheel?
 

Ok. I've tried to search, and look at Sheldon Brown's site, and all sort of stuff, but I haven't found an answer yet.

Got a new bike (to me, new frameset, 1200 miles on the rest) on Tuesday, still waiting on my pedals to get here. Needless to say I'm doing a lot of maintenance and cleaning and stuff since I can't ride yet.

One thing I've noticed that kind of bothers me is that if I spin the rear wheel up to a high speed and let it go, it will spin the cranks. Not constantly, but some. Is this the freewheel not working 100%? How big of a deal is this?

It seems like it isn't a big deal since it only happens when I'm not pedaling, and I doubt it's gonna slow me down much on a coasting descent.

Opinions? Ideas?

Thanks.

The freewheel/freehub may need to be lubed or your rear wheel cone adjustment is really off.

My rear wheel did this. I put a couple of shots of WD-40 into it, and it works correctly now. I'm sure there is something else to use, this is all I had around, and it worked fine.

do you have a mavic rear wheel?

That's perfectly normal. It's from the viscous drag of the grease/oil plus the minor bearing drag from the freehub/freewheel.

Actually it says that you've got a really nice free rotating bottom bracket so be happy. Usually until they break in and the seals take a set the BB's are pretty draggy.

+1 :thumb:

Ok. I won't worry about it then. Thanks guys. I was worried my QR was too tight or something maybe.

Well that's possible and it's worth checking but it will show up when you spin the axle. The freehub body isn't subjected to loading from the QR skewer at all.

See Sheldon's site about wheel bearing preload and his comments on how the skewer must be in place and tensioned when checking the preload. It really does make a huge difference. No QR to properly tensioned is the difference between a slight slop and click to the proper "just feel it" bearing drag. It's a fussy thing to set up and I have yet to see a new bike or wheelset that comes with the preload set to my own specs. They are almost always a little or lot on the tight side.

Please tell us what hub you are running, as someone may have experience with it. But, as others have noted, it is likely not a problem. I have a very nice wheelset which did that for the first hundred or so miles, then it loosened up and is fine now.

It's a Forte hub. The wheel is Forte Titan Deep. I'll look up the preload thingy.

That's a Neuvation wheel badged by Performance Bike. I had the same wheels badged as Neuvations. Cheap and poorly built. My freehub was sticky, too, and stayed that way until the rear wheel fell apart (which was not very long). I think the replacement wheel had a better freehub, but it didn't matter as that wheel failed even sooner (about 1200 miles, if I recall correctly).

Good luck with that.

^Yeah, they come out of true a lot too. I'm considering buying a nice set of hubs and rebuilding them with the same spokes and hub. The spokes seem fine, but I have no idea about the hub.

Is this a terrible idea? I'd probably have to pay a shop to build them, since I have no building stand or proper tools.

Yes, it is a terrible idea. If you change the hubs or rims, you will need spokes of different lengths, too. And really, you will spend so much money on the new parts and the labor that it is worth spending a tad more money to have all new parts in the wheels.

If they really are going out-of-true and the freewheel has the problem, and you are the original buyer and have not had the wheels for more than a year or so, return them to Performance and get some of their Open Pro wheels with Ultegra hubs. They will weigh the same, cost a little more money, and give mucho solid service.

I'm not the original buyer. I just bought the bike off eBay last week. I can get in touch with the guy who is the original buyer but I dunno what good that'll do me. I'll probably just ride these until they fall apart or don't stay true at all and then buy some Easton EA90 or something later. Those would save me almost .5 lb rotational weight, as well as being nicer.

I'm going to the bike shop later today and I'll probably have them true them and see how long they last. I haven't ridden the bike yet, I just know that he said they were true when he shipped them, and when I got them they were a little out of true.

If you spin it fast and hold the crank still do you see the top side of the chain get any slack in it? if so you do need to fix the problem as this can cause your chain to wrap around your cassette clean and adjust it. If not don't worry its ok some will move the crank around but should not create slack in the chain.

Took it to the shop today (not for this reason). While I was there they looked at this for me and said it was just fine. Thanks for your help.

Yeah, definitely avoid the WD40 tip. Don't get that stuff anywhere near your freehub unless you want it to die quicker.

This is a feature of some sport-level bikes... the auto spinning crankset is meant as a reminder to keep pedalling. They were introduced as a low cost alternative to 'pwertap' style systems that measure your power output - it gives a gentle 'tug tug tug' on you feet if you stop petalling.

Your wit is about as keen as your spelling abilities.