seypat

I don't care for loud freehubs myself. More annoying however, is the owner usually wants to tell me why he likes the noise.............even though I didn't ask about it. Same for the whoosh whoosh of carbon rims. When I hear that sound, I look to the sky searching for a Pterodactyl or some other flying creature that will swoop down and carry me off for dinner. Luckily, they haven't got me yet.

Polaris OBark

When I got my Chris King wheel-set (with my custom bike), I asked my builder about it. It was purely based on curiosity. It didn't bother me. I was slightly worried something was wrong, but it wasn't a complaint.

Don't get me wrong. I greatly enjoy complaining about almost everything, including people who get all uptight and self-righteous on the internet. I try to elevate it to an art form. But it takes a peculiar mentality to interpret anyone asking a question as complaining. (It is right up there with complaining about people who ask questions on the internet and dismiss them for not already having found answers on the internet.)

Koyote

As a wheelsucker, I loved my old Shimano hubs for road racing -- they were virtually silent.

genejockey 

My 2006 Bianchi came with Fulcrum 5 wheels with the loudest freehub I'd ever heard. 14 years later, the rear rim had developed cracks around all the spoke holes, so I bought a new set Fulcrum 5s which were damn near silent. It was quite a switch.

Chuck M 

I’m so hard of hearing I’m lucky if I can hear any noise my bike makes.

And when I think about it, I kinda do like a noisy free hub or freewheel. I don’t know. Maybe it makes me feel more connected with the ride that what wind noise gives me.

Kapusta

Some are noisy as a byproduct of the design. And most of these were higher end hubs in the past.

I think that has resulted in some perception that loud hubs are high end.

As a result I think some companies are now making hubs intentionally loud.

The cheap formula hubs that came on my Surly Wednesday are insanely loud. Loudest I’ve heard. Louder than CK. My Hopes and i9s are just a whisper in comparison.

livedarklions

I am not normally over-sensitive to sounds, but there is something about the sound of the Chris King hubs that really bothers me--it's like fingernails on a chalkboard bad. I can't stand riding near someone with those damn things on their bike.

I know that's a weird reaction on my part so I don't get mad at the person. This isn't like putting on the bright strobe on a bike path.

I just can't relate to wanting something like that on my bike, it would drive me nuts.

m.c. 

Are the "normal" modern hubs going this way too? If I order new Shimano hubs do I have to worry they are going to do this? I saw the GCN tech video today of the new Trek Madone and it does this. I guess its popular, right before he spun the wheel to make the noise he said, "I know this is what you come here for".

Litespud

I don't think there's any rhyme or reason to it, except maybe the freehub design and/or the amount of grease in there. I don't believe that there's any correlation between loudness and performance/quality/anything else - some are simply louder than others. IME, in general Shimano are quieter than Campagnolo. Kings are reputed to be pretty loud. My first Campags (Athena and Chorus) were reasonably loud, I then got a DT Hugi (a very high quality hub) which was very loud. In contrast, my next Campag (on a Zonda wheel set) was the quietest yet, while my son's bike (low-end Shimano) is ghost-like. One of my buddies has a Specialized with some sort of Di2, and his freehub is "angry swarm of hornets dusted with Meth"-loud. You can hear that damn thing hundreds of yards away.
Some are loud, some are not - I wouldn't read anything into it.

Ironfish653

It's a matter of perception, and how it changes over time

in the 6/7/8 'transition' era, freewheels were still common on mid-range bikes. Freewheels click. Shimano, notably with the 6400-series '600' designed their freehubs to be near-silent, so by the noise (or lack thereof) you'd know it was a higher-end cassette wheel. That's the signature of 'good' Shimano road wheels, my 90's RSX, and 5600 105s are nearly silent, and my ~2015 WH-R500 have a wristwatch-like 'tick' on the stand, that's almost imperceptible when underway.

'3rd-party' hubs like King need to stand out from 'factory' wheels, so they've taken the pawl click and doubled down on the noise, the loud clack promising stiff springs and deep pawl engagement; like the loud exhaust note of a 'tuned' car, so you can tell it's the sporty version, and not the base model.

FWIW, all of my MTB hubs (mostly Shimano XT /Deore XT) click, although not 'clack-y' like a King, or 'ping-y' like a freewheel.

Fredo76

Yes, they are a thing now. Somebody wanted to be different, and now so do half of everybody else.

frogman

Me too Eric F

Rolling along hearing the rear hubs just sounds right......................
I prefer the sound :-)

njkayaker

You are begging the question.

Where they ever not a thing?

Anyway, some manufacturers hubs make noise and others don't. There's no evidence that there is a trend toward noisy hubs being more common.

55murray

It is to punish you for coasting. This is proper.

seypat

Around 4-5 years ago, there was a lady on my marathon training team that was using a metronome app on her phone to run/learn a particular cadence. She'd have it cranked up about as loud as her phone would go. There was around 200 others on that sub team and about 600 other runners on other teams going out along the same route and time. I've never seen a group of runners string out so fast. After 2 or 3 miles, she and her companion would be running by themselves.

CrimsonEclipse

Crap, now I want a pair for the trail...

phughes

Some people start threads for no apparent reason.

phughes

If you want a quiet hub... Onyx. Well, the hub is quiet, unfortunately people will still hear the sound of your crying over the cost.

koala logs

My 1 year old hub was initially average noise. Now it has become significantly louder from all the long descents just coasting and makes me wonder if it's starting to go bad.

Some people intentionally mod their hubs to make it louder and sound more expensive and then lock it up outside where bike thefts are common. Seriously, why make your bike look and sound expensive only to lock it up outside in a high bike theft area. Not making sense.

79pmooney

Have you lubricated it? Dry pawls will certainly be louder than lubricated ones unless they are not pivoting properly because they are dry. And yes, if you run the pawls dry long enough, they will go bad.

koala logs

It had grease by default but never bothered to open it (I only knew from people opening the same hub in youtube). I'm thinking the grease had thinned on the pawl .

I'm thinking of using wet lube on it but worried the lube would just run out the the seal and mess up the wheel.

downtube42

Chris King had a novel idea for a strong hub design. He built it. It was noisy, but he figured he'd straighten that out later. Sales took off. Before he got around to design improvements to make it quiet, customers said they loved the sound.

Hilarity ensued.

rsbob 

My 80s Campy Chorus can wake the dead. If I need to announce myself to another cyclist or ped, I just coast.

What was old is new again.

t2p

.

Badger6

Sarcasm and snark seem to miss with you.