Freehub louder
 

I have a Ritchey WCS rear wheel with the offset rim. Came with my Motobecane IS. I have 6400 miles on it with zero trouble in 2 years. It does seem like my freehub is a little louder but everything else is perfect. The chain freewheels backwards easy no shifting issues. I would like to regrease the freehub if that would quiet it down.

Is this advisable or easy to do? I build my own wheels have never serviced a freehub. I read the park site and seems like I could have a number of freehub options. So from the pros here would you do this or leave alone it is not broke. I do like quiet freehubs. Will servicing this be good in any case. I do not ride in rain and not too hard on drive trains

Most freehubs want a light to medium weight oil, not grease. Grease can cause the pawls to hang up and not fully engage. Dripping oil through a freehub body is simple but can be time consuming depending on the tightness of any seals. A few brands want you to use only their specific lube. One proble in taking a freehub apart is the lack of internal parts being available. Most shops will replace one long before trying to take one apart.

I would first try to drip oil into and through yours. Place the wheel on it's left side, drip oil in the right hand end of the FH body (between the axle and outer splined casing), work the body around and back and forth (and if there's a lot of back and forth slop the body is well worn), place a rag/paper towel between the spokes and the hub end of the FH. Add more oil as it seeps down inside the FH. When the rag gets wet by the oil you know that it's gotten all the way through the body. Now spin the FH/wheel and see how things sound/feel.

If this doesn't make a change and things feel rough or sloppy then consider a replacement. Andy.

I have used that method to unstick stuck pawls that were in an old wheel that had sat outside for WAY too long. Cogs were still rusty, but got the old beast working again without taking it apart (I lack the tools and guts to do that!)

Update, I decided to clean the rear wheel and take the cassette off. Well it is a Dura Ace and the cassette was easy to remove almost like it was not really tighten down. Then I noticed the freehub had a little movement within the axle and the inside nut the holds it just dropped out. It was not really screwed in and since the movment is against the rotation of the wheels it did not matter to much of a degree. I don't know what kind of freehub body Ritchey uses but it did not require a 1mm spaced on the cassette could be because it is a 7800 cassette not sure. Well the freehub came right off and i lube with some light oil it is in great shape. I then manage to get the freehub body back on and tighten everything down correct. The hub is not quite a loud but this is a louder by nature, but now is solid. The freehub body seems well made but looks different compared to most I have seen. It is a shimano type but does anyone know what freehubs RItchey uses they do not answer e mail?

There are a few Asian makers of hubs/freehubs that produce most of the house brands that you see. Just enough differences to work around patents (or not some times). Varying quality of design, manufacturing tolerances and material grade. These companies will pretty much make the freehub to your cost spec. Ritchey most likely has gone to one of these companies, which one and how good along the spectrum of quality that's offered is Ritchey's to know. Why would they tell you this? Is it in their best interest? Andy.

About 6 years ago they used American Classic hubs on their WCS wheels. I don't know what they're using now, but their faq list some information that might help you.

Further update, called Ritchey these hubs are fine the fellow Ryan was great we talked a bit too. Well I rode a short 17 miles yesterday and hubs are almost silent it was weird, rode fine shifted great.

Silent freehubs are no fun! :)