Freehub advice

rowdyflat

rowdyflat

chez le médecin
So I had an American Classic wheel freehub go .
The alloy rachet teeth are chipped , the pawls seem OK .
Anyone know how freehubs usually fail?
Is it the softest material goes first or the springs ?
 
moorey

moorey

call me Mia
bear the bear said:
Agree with @moorey, AC are POS and should be put straight in the bin.
My hate for the company and their rubbish products is deep.
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But they suit your American Apparel underwear so nicely!
I'm only basing this on 3 blokes, but they've all had nothing but repeated problems, so that's enough to steer me away from bothering to ever try them.
 
rowdyflat

rowdyflat

chez le médecin
Moorey please keep on topic .
Disagree I have had these wheels about 5 years and they were 2nd hand .
Light , strong and not that expensive.
Best of all awesome to set up tubeless.
 
rowdyflat

rowdyflat

chez le médecin
The same thing happened with Stans .
Must say that though heavy Hope are really good .
Answer the question please ?
 
moorey

moorey

call me Mia
rowdyflat said:
So I had an American Classic wheel freehub go .
The alloy rachet teeth are chipped , the pawls seem OK .
Anyone know how freehubs usually fail?
Is it the softest material goes first or the springs ?
Click to expand...
rowdyflat said:
Must say that though heavy Hope are really good.
Answer the question please ?
Click to expand...
Didn’t you answer your own Q, seeing the alloy chipped but but steel didn’t?
I’ll take a few grams for hope hubs I’ve got that are over 20yo old, and even on original bearings. Hub strength is kinda a big thing to me.
Can’t offer more than that, as I don’t know what failed on my mates sets, exactly.
 
S

SummitFever

Eats Squid
If you like them and the pawls are still ok AND where the pawls pivot in the hub shell is still ok, then buy a new freehub and keep riding. They are designed so that replacing the freehub should restore the rest of the hub to full working condition. When you buy a freehub, make sure you get the drive plate as that is also part of the 'consumables'. Also, if the hub shell bearings or freehub bearings are flogged out then that will cause misalignment with the freehub and it will get chewed out.

I'm not fan of AC but there are far worse hubs out there.
 
The Duckmeister

The Duckmeister

Has a juicy midrange
AC have the dubious distinction of producing the only fundamentally self-destructive hub I have ever encountered. The floating drive plate which pulls the pawls in & out of engagement is driven by a spur on the base of the freewheel body that digs into little pits in the plate. When you freewheel, the spur efficiently gouges a groove in the plate, until it can't engage in the pits properly. Then it slips and because the main pawls only partially engage, they bash teeth on the freewheel body, and it goes to shit from there.
 
rowdyflat

rowdyflat

chez le médecin
The Duckmeister said:
AC have the dubious distinction of producing the only fundamentally self-destructive hub I have ever encountered. The floating drive plate which pulls the pawls in & out of engagement is driven by a spur on the base of the freewheel body that digs into little pits in the plate. When you freewheel, the spur efficiently gouges a groove in the plate, until it can't engage in the pits properly. Then it slips and because the main pawls only partially engage, they bash teeth on the freewheel body, and it goes to shit from there.
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Doesnt make me feel great but thanks for the explanation.
I have 2 pairs of AC wheels the main attraction was the excellent tubeless seal on the rims.
My other favourite is Mavic Crossmax it is so easy .
I reckon I spend as much time trying to seal a new tubeless wheel as every other repair added together , once it seals it is great but until then shits me to tears.
Recently have been putting silicon in the spoke holes prior to taping.
 
The Duckmeister

The Duckmeister

Has a juicy midrange
I ought to add that aside from the funky but fatally flawed design described above, AC did produce more conventional sprung pawl hubs as well. Probably worth clarifying which type of hub we're dealing with here.... :p
 
rowdyflat

rowdyflat

chez le médecin
link1896 said:
Show us some photos please rowdy, let’s see if we can breath new life into an obsolete hub.
Click to expand...
The Duckmeister said:
I ought to add that aside from the funky but fatally flawed design described above, AC did produce more conventional sprung pawl hubs as well. Probably worth clarifying which type of hub we're dealing with here.... :p
Click to expand...
Yeah thanks everyone they are 27.5 Wide lightning from about 6-8 years ago.
Have been brilliant wheels bought from a burner in Beechworth.
It does have these kind of folding pawls about 6 of them stuck in a channel in the female part of the freehub they dont seem damaged .
The teeth of the male part of the freehub are chewed on one side presumably as it started to be forced apart ?
Yack bike shop is open today I will take them to him for a prognosis .
Problem of freehub designs seems to be that you have to relace the wheel if the pawls and springs are damaged because manufacturers dont replace them and steel would be a better material to use in such a critical area.?:"
I understand its all about weight but things have gone too far IMO.
In LTlL or hate I told the story of a friend at Falls last week whose new Orbea had an alloy upper shock bolt break off in the carbon frame at the first thread .
Bike shop replaced it later with the same thing from another bike but he is an engineer and agrees he needs spares.
Lots of other things are bad in search of lightness eg Long derailleurs and 12 speed 50 T cassettes on ebikes and carbon cranks on enduro bikes .
 
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