MRT2

Other than price? I have nothing against older bikes with freewheels. And maybe I should be glad Trek, Raleigh and other quality brands still sell new bikes with freewheels, as that means that they will be supported for another 10 years or more should my old freewheels need replacement.

But is there reason Trek, for example, can't leave freewheels to vintage finds and department store bikes and focus on offering geared bikes with at least an 8 speed freehub?

Lately, there have been a lot of threads where people ask for guidance, as in should they get x brand or y brand? I usually tell them to go for the brand with the 8 or 9 speed freehub rather than the 7 speed freewheel, other things being equal.

RPK79

I guess if people stop buying them they'll stop making them. Is there a reason why them producing them irritates you?

MRT2

They could still make bikes with old school friction shifters, but they don't. The technology has changed.

Now, if Trek, or others made entire lines of bikes with freewheels, then it might make some sense. But they don't. usually, it is the cheapest model that has the 7 speed freewheel while the next model up has a freehub system.

It doesn't irritate me. I am just asking a question.

RPK79

So?

clydeosaur

It is good advice really. At least if you have 8 speed, wheels, running gear whether for replacement or upgrades will be readily available at your LBS. Not to mention, your frame spacing will accommodate a variety of options. Once you go to the older, it gets a bit tougher when time to buy parts that will work and are typically on hand.

MRT2

Exactly. Not many upgrades you can do to a new entry level bike without spending more than the bike is worth. Now, maybe the person buying the entry level bike doesn't care about upgrades, IDK.

dynaryder

Actually,yes they do. Many touring bikes still made with barcons. And in the past couple years,both Fuji and Kona have had bikes with downtube shifters.

MRT2

Good point, but there is a rationale for keeping barcons on touring bikes. Why keep freewheels on new bikes?

Retro Grouch 

Think about if you were selling bikes.

There will always be a class of customer looking for the cheapest bike. After showing them that one, you can talk for as long as they'll listen about how much better and less prone to breakage the cassette rear hub is. "Oh - and by the way, all of those cheap department store bikes have the breakage prone freewheel hubs." Cha-ching, you've earned your keep as a sales person.

Duane Behrens

We run both: 2 classic steel bikes with 7-speed freewheel/sprocket assemblies, and 2 carbon-fiber bikes with 10-speed cassettes. All four of them work equally well.

MRT2

so the entry level bike us there so the salesman can talk the customer out of buying it. Possible.

fietsbob

thing is the low end hubs for the freewheel could be better .. the freewheel itself is fine ..

I have been using a freewheel on my bikes for decades , when I went on a long Bike-tour, I built a wheel around a much better

Freewheel hub .. Phil Wood, improved the strength of the Axle assembly and uses premium sealed bearings , and works fine..




but the occasional Broken axle is not costly to replace . the break is usually just inside of the drive side cone.

as the bearings act like a fulcrum and that is were the axle flexes under the load , with the longer distance to the dropout ..
on the other side of that fulcrum.

what Freehubs did , is make the distance to the axle end from the bearings, shorter ..

Wilfred Laurier

the only reason is to keep production costs low
and they pass the unreliability on to the consumer

new bikes made with six speed freewheels
while rare
are not necessarily all that bad

but the companies are doing a major disservice to the consumer by adding seven
and especially eight
speed freewheels
the intention is obviously to claim the cheap bike has the same features as more expensive bikes
while ignoring the fact that doing so renders the bike too fragile for normal use

its the same as if hyundai were to offer their budget subcompact accent with a supercharged v8 engine
it might seem to some like an improvement
but the added stress it would put on the feeble drivetrain parts designed for an i4
would soon result in a heap of ruined drivetrain parts strewn across the road behind the car

xenologer

why do replacement cassettes cost more than replacement freewheels?
cassette consists of stamped steel cogs and plastic spacers
freewheel consists of stamped steel cogs and plastic spacers, plus a ratcheting body assembly

?the more complex item costs less?
why......? marketability ?
if this price discrepancy was fixed I wonder if freewheel bikes would exist?


although, thats for replacement parts.... as for initial costs of bike the cost of freehub wheel might outweigh a freewheel wheel.... unclear by how much tho?

lenA

Glad I read this thread since I didn't know what the difference was.....until now

MEversbergII

I still don't quite understand the difference. I mean, I get they're DIFFERENT. But wouldn't it be less advantageous to have the ratchet bit in the hub than the cog? I don't imagine replacing a faulty one would be easier, as you would surely have to remove the hub?

M.

J.C. Koto

1. In a cassette hub, the ratchet mechanism is in a separate replaceable assembly called a freehub body. It's the black cylindrical unit with the splines that the cassette attaches to in the picture posted above.

2. Freewheel hubs have an inherent design flaw in that the drive-side bearing mechanism is more towards the center of the axle. This means that rider weight is placed in a disadvantageous location on the axle which makes it more prone to breakage. This isn't usually a problem for most people but it is a problem in MTB and touring bikes where axle strength is more important.

fietsbob

But once you remove the weak axle part of the picture, example phil wood freewheel hubs : Freewheel Touring Hubs, Rear

then freewheels are perfectly functional ..



but the post started on the theme of Big importing bike company brands.

this is an aftermarket USA manufacturer so wont be coming on a $250 Asian sourced bike..