riva

So I just found out Shimano silent rear hubs exist. Not talking about the new Scylence ones.. talking the 2000's era Nexave clutch rear hubs. Or the Onyx ones.. anybody used these things? Looking for anybody who has used any of them.. What do you think of them? I think it'd be strange to ride a multispeed with no bzzzzzzz thru the frame. But maybe not?

SoreFeet

Never, but I bet anything is more quiet than these modern freehubs. They sound so terrible.

ThermionicScott 

People love to talk about them on BikeForums. Buy one and build up a wheel, and I'll follow your thread.

RobbieTunes 

Hubs make noise?

Darth Lefty 

Only when you stop pedaling

thumpism 

I had one of the silent roller clutch hubs and it was indeed silent. Sold the bike it was on so I do not have long-term reliability info to contribute.

HTupolev

Why would you want the rear hub to be quiet?

Next someone will say that a slick shouldn't hum on smooth roads.

riva

I don't know why you would. I just want to try it.

Will do. Just ordered a nexave to screw around with. Couldn't resist, sucker for weird dead end tech. I did search it up but didn't find much here.

I think a bell would solve the running into chatty peds problem. At least as well as the bzzzzzzzt anyway.

bwilli88 

I rode the "Towards Cycling City Penang" 100km and some of the modern hubs buzz like an angry cloud of bees, locust, and chainsaws!

79pmooney

The old SunTour FWs were near silent after you took them apart and greased them. I loved that for racing. Saw absolutely no advantage to telling everyone you were coasting.

Ben

rseeker

I might be wrong, but @hokiefyd might have one in his blue 750. I think I read that once.

verktyg 

Shimano introduced their original LX Silent Clutch rear hubs in the early 2000's. They were supposedly made for use on police bikes.

This short poor quality video shows the guts of a Shimano Silent Clutch freehub:


The LX Silent Clutch freehub bodies themselves were 8-speed and only fit on the special "Silent Clutch" hubs. They incorporated a "Sprag Clutch" instead of pawls with internal detentes.

The spag clutch design has been around for decades and is in common use in many types of machinery, also some internal gear bicycle hubs, coaster brake hubs and small secondary component manufacture's rear hubs.

This short video show how sprag clutches work.


The major complaints against the Shimano LX Silent Clutch hubs came from hard core off road racers who tore them up in short order. If you read the negative reviews those riders destroyed everything they straddled.

Also, weight weenie roadies complained they were too heavy! Poor babies!

The Shimano Silent Clutch hubs were a good idea but came at a premium cost and were a little heavier than standard free hubs.

There are currently a number of Shimano Silent Clutch rear hubs on eBay.

verktyg

randyjawa 

Knowing me and my well used memory, I believe that my hubs, front and back, run pretty darn quietly. I cannot hear them while riding. As for the freewheel making noise...

All of my Campy ones make clicking noise when coasting but some of my Shimano freewheels do not make much of a sound at all. Perhaps my hearing is worse than I thought.

Anyway, are some freewheels quieter than others and, are some quieter to the point of being silent?

cudak888 

Sounds like the perfect hub to purpose for commuting. Nice and quiet, doesn't have to hold up to extreme duty, and doesn't have to be as light as the next guy's wonderbike.

I'd lace one up into my Birdy BD-1 if it didn't have enough issues to fix already

-Kurt

verktyg 

I've been working on Mafac brakes for 45 years and I've been able to make almost all of them stop quietly... except on my almost all original 1971 Gitane Tour de France.



I haven't ridden it for a while but I've relished the times when I couldn't get a pedestrian's attention, especially when they're wearing ear buds.

When I "lock em up" the banshees from hell get released and suddenly I get their undivided attention - I think maybe a few inattentive folks have even fudged their undies!

It works for surly curs too!

The other day I saw some $50 bike bells an my LBS... I don't need no stinkin bells!

verktyg

Spaghetti Legs 

I’ve had a few sets of Velomax (now Easton) wheel sets over the years that are almost completely silent.

verktyg 

I HATE noisy freewheels and cassette hubs. The Sachs ARIS freewheels came out in the late 80's early 90's. They're some of the smoothest, quietest ones I've used.



I recently picked up an almost NOS set of Campy Athena wheels with an 8 speed rear hub. I haven't ridden them yet but the freehub is so loud I fear I'll be able to feel the vibrations in the bars!

verktyg

Reynolds 531 

I just built a set of the new "lightweight" Onyx hubs.

I now unintentionally scare the crap out of everyone I come up on. It is actually more of a problem than I expected.

SJX426 

The 8V rear DA 740x hub is near quiet as is the IRD when used. I like quiet too.

canklecat

Sounds -- or rather, *doesn't* sound -- good to me. I'm not a fan of noisy freehubs. Sounds worse than summertime cicadas. It's worse with carbon aero rims. Although I suppose the noise is sorta helpful on the MUP for warning pedestrians. Not that they'd hear anything through their earbuds. But muppet warriors get antsy if they have to slow down for anyone, so the loud ratcheting noise probably reflects their personalities.

Most SunRace freewheels I've ridden are pretty quiet, just a subdued buzz while coasting. Ditto a DT Swiss freehub -- pretty quiet although the ticking is amplified a bit by the wheel's bladed aero spokes and semi-aero aluminum rims. But nowhere near as loud as the bikes most of my friends ride.

mpetry912 

I had a convo with Mark DiNucci about roller clutch hubs. He brought up an interesting point - that is, the forces imposed by the rollers in the "sprag" unit are far greater than those in a conventional ratchet hub design. So a very substantial annular ring is required to achieve the same robustness / durability as a conventional hub.

I don't find the buzz of conventional high quality hubs to be objectionable, but I make sure they are well lubricated. The rear hub on my DiNucci for example (Campagnolo Record, OS) has a very quiet whirr that can barely be heard.

Mark Petry
Bainbridge Island, WA USA

pastorbobnlnh 

They were quiet because Sachs pumped them full of grease, which eventually turns into a peanut butter consistency. This is why so many NOS Sachs Aris seem so stiff and even frozen. However, I haven't met one which cannot be brought back to a stellar life!

I do agree that the Sachs Aris is about the best 7 speed freewheel out there. When I clean them I keep the new grease in the races and lightly oil the pawls and ratchets. This probably does not keep them as quiet as you'd like but I believe improves their performance.

unworthy1

The bicycle-mounted cops here in SF use them (on black Trek ATBs) so they can be "stealthy" I guess.
I had one from a similar model Trek that got flipped with a 'commuter build' I sold to an acquaintance, and then the bike was stolen. Where's a cop when you need one?

SurferRosa

My IRD freewheels are silent, too.

My Sunrace freewheels click when coasting, but it's rather unnoticeable.

SamSpade1941 

The Ultegra hubs that my SOMA rolls on are so quiet that you’d almost swear that they had no pawls .. I really have to listen for the clicks when I’m coasting .. having said that I also have a Neuvation wheelset I pulled off my Ridley that has very audible (loud) clicks .