cerewa

Not too long ago, I wanted a rear rack for my bike. I had been quoted $15 for one at the local bike shop, and was about to pay the $15. A guy who cleans out abandoned houses comes along one day and he's willing to part with a bike which looks to be in almost-running condition, for $13.50. It has a rack on it, so I buy it.

I took the rack and put it on my everyday bike, and there I still had this bike. I eventually replaced the two (only) things that were needed with stuff that had been sitting around: front tire (not tube) and seat. But the freewheel was completely jammed. I had little faith that anything could be done short of replacement, but I decided to pour a bit of my ProGold chain lube in, and lo and behold, a couple minutes later the freewheel works fine. The shifter cables got the same treatment, and responded the same way.

My backup bike is ready to be ridden! Note to self: ProGold is waaay better than WD-40 on a sticking freewheel.

grolby

Hrm. I've used Tri Flow to lubricate a Sturmey-Archer trigger shifter. And then I put some into the hub. I'm not so sure that that was a great idea. Tri Flow on the chain, of course, meant that it never rusted.

Lubes and bikes are just a good match for each other.

MichaelW

WD40 is a solvent and will dissolve any hardened crud inside the freewheel. You need to flush it out and drizzel in some chainlube to keep it working.
I have restored rusted junk bikes with oil into the wheel bearings and BB.

huhenio

X2 .... dissasemble and reasemble bearings. Those are the first ones to go ... dont ask me how I know it .... ouch baby!!!

slagjumper

I'd take the fw off, invert it, (smallest gear down), stick it in a tin can and spray solvent, wd4 then spray lube around the crack. Then let it drip for a while.