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Archives for July 2013

Why Does a Bicycle Hub/Freewheel Make Noise?

07.30.2013 by Ray Niekamp // 15 Comments

Just as they promised, the bike shop called today to say my new cassette had come in. I took the bike over, and they mounted it right away. And they mounted it for free, “Because we like you,” said one of the clerks (They have no idea I write a blog — I’m just another customer to them). Well, I like them, too, and I think I’ll try to throw more of my business their way.

I couldn’t wait to try out the bike with its new cassette and new wheel — even though the temp outside in mid-afternoon was in the high 90s (37C), and the humidity has been higher lately than is typical around here. I told my wife I wouldn’t be gone long, and took off.

Glorious! Not that I had a new wheel and cassette on the bike, but something else entirely. It was my first ride in several months without noise coming from my rear hub. And that got me to thinking about a common noise I hear when riding with a group.

Our club peloton rolls up a short hill in unison from our starting point, but we then hit a longish, gentle downhill on the other side. As soon as we start rolling down, the group puts up a racket. As they coast downhill, about half the bikes emit a buzzing/clicking noise from their rear hubs. The others are quiet.

rearhub

The noise comes from the freewheel’s spring-loaded pawls moving over the ratchet teeth, which are moving in relation to the fixed position pawls, according to one forum I checked. I thought the higher-end hubs were the source of the noise, although it appears that any price level hub can buzz. It all depends on the design. The more pawls a hub has, the louder its sound.

One Bike Noob reader, Bill in Colorado, hates that noise. He describes it as “cheap” and “tinny.” Other cyclists like it.

Depending upon your tastes, you can look to the make of wheel — and especially the hubs — the next time you’re thinking of replacing them. Some brands, like Shimano or American Classic, are known for spinning quietly. Others — notably Chris King, DT Swiss, and others — are reputed to have a louder buzz than most.

What’s the advantage of the noisy hubs? The ones with more pawls are usually designed to give more engagement points.  With more engagement points, the pedals need to be rotated a shorter distance before they initially engage the drive and start to propel the wheel forward. There is some debate over energy loss. Since there is friction between the pawls and ratchets, some riders contend that the noisy hubs are energy wasters. Others say the energy loss is negligible, if any.

So, what’s your preference? Do you like the buzz from your hub, or would you prefer to ride in silence?

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Categories // Equipment Tags // hubs, wheels

It Shouldn’t Be This Hard

07.28.2013 by Ray Niekamp // 8 Comments

As promised, I went over to the Performance store Saturday to see what could be done about my backordered wheel. I had already decided to cancel the order and substitute a different one. But when I told a sales person what I had in mind, he was doubtful.

“It was a ‘red phone’ order,” he said. “But you paid for it in the store. Usually, you don’t pay until the order ships.”

I patiently repeated to him what I wanted to do. He decided to get on the red phone himself and work it out. And he did. In minutes, I had a canceled order, a new wheel (Mavic Open Sport — I’ll write about it sometime in the future), and some money back on the gift card that I had used to purchase the wheel in the first place.

“Thanks,” I told him. “This worked out better than I expected.”

He asked me if the service people could pull the cassette off the old wheel and put it on the new one. I got the bike out of the car, and wheeled it back to the service department.

The mechanic was a cheerful, talkative fellow. I expected a lot of work backed up on a Saturday, but he took care of me immediately. He got the bike on a stand, took off the wheel, and took the cassette off in a jiffy.

“Oh, oh,” he said.

There went a perfectly good morning.

A slender pin that holds the cogs of the cassette together had worn through its hole, right at the edge of the cassette. It wouldn’t hold the cogs together anymore, and the cog it went through was ruined, anyway.

“This cassette is ruined,” he said.

“Well, okay, I’ll buy a replacement,” I said. “Nine speed, 11-28.”

He nodded, and went into the back room. I knew they wouldn’t have one in stock. If they did, that would be too simple. Some minutes later, he came out, walked past me, and went to the display case for bike components.

“I already checked,” I said. “The closest thing is a 10-speed.”

He called the other Performance store in town. Nada.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I can order one for you.”

“You know, I’d rather try my luck at other shops,” I said. “Thanks anyway.”

I put the bike back in the car and headed for Bicycle Sport Shop. In my experience, they carry a pretty extensive inventory, and I figured they would be my best bet. But the girl at the service desk came back empty-handed.

“I’ve got an 11-25,” she said.

“I need the 28, or I can’t get up hills,” I replied.

Jack and Adams’ is right across the street. A mechanic there thought they did have what I needed. But he was wrong.

Down the street a couple of blocks is Austin Tri-Cyclist. Looking at the high-end time trial bikes there, and all the highly sculpted physical specimens that made up their clientele, I knew this would be hopeless.

“A 28?” asked the clerk.

“That’s not the kind of thing you guys would carry, is it?” I asked.

“Uh, not hardly,” he said.

Okay, oh-for-four. I headed back to my neighborhood, to ATX Bikes. To their credit, they came closer than the other shops to having what I needed, with a much larger selection of cassettes. But still not the one I needed.

“We’ll order it for you,” said a mechanic. “You’ll have it Tuesday.”

“You’re on,” I said.

It appears the 9-speed cassette is headed the way of the dinosaur. I was surprised by the number of 11-speed cassettes all the shops had. Really, do that many bikers ride 11s now? When they came out, I thought they were gimmicky. Still do. But then again, I will never own a high-end bike that needs an 11-speed cassette, so what do I know?

I do know that a lot of folks run the kind of components I do. Nothing fancy, but they get the job done for us. However, it seems that when we need to get our humble gear serviced or replaced, we take a back seat to the current bling items.

In the future, I’ll try to anticipate my needs in time to get a local shop to order the necessary parts. But in the event of a catastrophic failure like the one I had Saturday, I know I’ll be cooling my heels for awhile.

In the meantime, I broke out the mountain bike for the first time in a year or so, and spent a shorter-than-usual Sunday morning ride bashing it around the neighborhood streets.

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Categories // Equipment Tags // bike shop, wheels

Backorder Blues

07.25.2013 by Ray Niekamp // 7 Comments

Back around Father’s Day, my wife asked me what I wanted. I didn’t have to stop and think.

“I need a new rear wheel,” I declared.

My bike mechanic had been after me to get a replacement rear wheel for awhile. Lately, his warnings have become more urgent.

“This wheel is shot,” he said.

He suggested I pop for a wheelset that was not all that pricey, but was a lot more than I wanted to spend. We kicked around some ideas for a wheel that would be more in line with my needs and my budget. When I mentioned the Mavic Aksium, he agreed it would be a good choice, and would still be an upgrade over the wheel it would replace.

It just so happened that Performance had Aksiums at a good price. My wonderful wife gave me a Performance gift card for Father’s Day loaded with enough money to cover the cost of the wheel. I headed down to our local Performance store that weekend.

Darn! They’d just sold their last one. The sales guy pointed me to their “red” phone, where I could phone in an order and bypass the oversized shipping charges. In addition, I had been emailed a coupon for 20 percent off. So I would be getting a new wheel for $151.

Except for one thing. It was backordered.

“When will it be in?” I asked the salesman on the phone.

“Don’t know yet,” he said. “We’ll email you when we get it.”

A couple of weeks later, I called again. The local Performance guys told me I’d get more up-to-date information on the order if I called their 800 number. They were right. That is, it didn’t take as long for the guy on the phone to tell me it would be in around mid-July.

In the meantime, my bike rides have been punctuated by a clicking sound from the rear hub. The wheel seems to be holding its trueness, but when I had the bike in to my mechanic on another matter, he  warned that the wheel was in dire need of replacement.

On the 17th of July, I called the 800 number again.

“Well, that’s supposed to be here in mid-July,” the lady said.

“And here we are,” I replied.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” she answered.

I’ve continued to ride on the clickety wheel. My recent rides have been shorter — nothing over 25 miles — but I’m getting antsy.

I called the 800 number again Thursday.

“Yeah, that won’t be in now until mid-August,” the guy said.

I could understand if it was a rare wheel in low demand. But an Aksium strikes me as something pretty common.

I think Performance gets another in-person visit from me this weekend. And if I can’t resolve the situation to my satisfaction, other bike shops will see me in their places, too.

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Categories // Equipment Tags // bike shop, wheels

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