trek freehub removal

• This topic has 23 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 13 years ago by eddyesi .
• Bontrager Race Rear Wheel – Freehub and bearing removal help with pics

I need to replace the bearings on a Bontrager Race Disc rear wheel.

I’ve got the non drive side caps off the axle and exposed the bearing – pic here ….

[img]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_wcNhrsmnVQc/TbXc8UvaeOI/AAAAAAAABB8/PKdd4j7Tr1w/s720/P1020040.JPG[/img]

… but the drive side bolt is still on – pic here…

[img]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_wcNhrsmnVQc/TbXc9q0BR5I/AAAAAAAABCE/h8PccTcEKb8/s720/P1020042.JPG[/img]

…and I can’t get it off as I can’t grip the axle without damaging the thread. How do I get the axle out (I’ve tried whacking it from the non drive side) and the freehub body off so I can access the drive side bearing?

2 nuts locked together on non drive side, to crank off?

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Ah good idea will try that. What happens to the axle and freehub body then?

get the drive side nut off, and it all just slides apart.

Great. Will try this eve. Thanks.

The freehub is bolted to the hub using an 11mm allen key. Freehub is non-serviceable. A Trek dealer will have a spare. There are only 2 bearings in the hub – both 60002RS. The axle has got a flange on each end. Just keep whacking the disc-side and the bearing and seal will eventually drift out without the need to undo the nuts on the cassette side.

Now I’m confused! If I whack the disc side, how can the axle and bearing come out if the freehub is still on? How can I undo the freehub without taking the drive side nuts off and the axle out so I can get the allen in?

Because the bearing is located at the outboard end of the freehub. It’s right behind that plastic seal in the 2nd photo. And note the axle is asymetric. Remember which end is which once you have taken the bearing off. Although it’s impossible to assemble it the wrong way round.

It’s very similar to the hub on p17 of this manual.

http://dl.owneriq.net/1/1f33a5db-593d-4c9e-b6bb-c76a67d0afee.pdf

Ah I see, so in the event that I needed to change the freehub, I’d still have to whack out the axle and drive side bearing.

Very useful info BigJohn, esp. the bearing details.

Right, I’m gonna bash the non drive side hard tonight so you have 7 hours left to stop me if I’ve completely misunderstood all the above!

Yup, you got it.

Unlike the 11mm allen key which I’d like to bet you haven’t got.

And make sure you put a nut on the end of the axle to protect the threads when you it it ard.

And if you need a replacement freehub, http://www.pedalon.co.uk have them for £16, and comes with an 11mm adaptor to fit your 8 mm Allen key.

Man, they don’t make this easy do they :evil:

BigJohn, you were right on 2 counts – 1. Whacking it worked, and 2. Biggest allen key I have is 10mm :lol:

I’m picking up some new bearings at lunchtime tomorrow (freehub is ok for now but cheers for the link MicArms, having said that it will probably fail next week when it’s all back together) then will put them in tomorrow eve. So what’s the key to getting the new bearings in? Is it;

a) tightening the bolts presses the new bearings home, or b) hammer and a socket to seat them, or c) something else?

This is turning into an idiot’s guide to Bonty hub overhauls! Useful for anyone searching on Google for the answer though.

Very useful for me as I really need to service my Bonty hubs and the last time I looked I couldn’t figure out how to do it! So thanks for asking the question and thanks to those who’ve replied. :lol:

Root about in your socket set and get one just the right size. I’m not an engineer but it feels righter to tap the outside bearing shell than put all that sideways load through the bearing.

You can do the nuts and locknuts up quite hard on these hubs – as long as you don’t stop the bearings going round.

Oh, and wipe all those pubic hairs off the freehub before putting it back.

Useful info, any idea if the 2008-2010 Rhythm rear hubs use the same arrangement/bearings (2x60002RS) ?

Ah, just followed the link, freehub body says compatible with 2009 rhythm comp (which i have), but also have 2010 rhythm elite, any idea if its the same?

http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/race_freehub.html#aTC4015

Also anyone know how to get the 15/20mm front hubs apart, and what size bearings they use. The 9mm one i have is a threaded axle/cap, but the 15mm one the cap seems to be press fit, but cant grip it to remove

Eddy the 15mm caps should pull off quite easily, maybe a screwdriver to help it. I have just serviced my rhythm rear hub, and is different to the above arrangement. The freewheel just slid off, and it runs on an outer sealed bearing,and inner needle roller, with 2 pawls.

Lol, I have a very hairy hub :-D

which rhythm’s have you got mine are 2010 elite with 15mm front (though my old bike has 08/09 spec 9mm QR Comps)

If its the same any chance you can confirm how the rear axle is removed, and what the replacement bearing specs were

Bearings replaced and hub rebuilt now.

Can’t say I fully enjoyed that tbh but it’s cheaper than a new hub. Odd thing was getting the right tightness at the end. Too tight and the axle became more difficult to turn so I’ve tightened it to the point where the nut on the drive side is just about touching the bearing.

Hopefully that’s it done for a couple of years now…

Now onto why I still have play in the rear end, even after replacing the shock bushings recently :( It’s just one thing after another!

Thanks for all the help.

A bi of rear wheel steer sharpens up the handling I think.

I once had play inthe back wheel with one of those hubs. I thought it was the bearing but the freehub had come loose by about half a turn.

Just in case it helps

2010 Bontrager rhythm elite 15/20mm fronts 6805 2RS remove disc, caps just pull off, then knock out one side with the through axle, remove bearing then use axle to knock out other side

9mm QR rears 6000 2RS non drive side 16100 2RS in shimano freehub body 6900 2RS drive side (under/behind freehub)

remove cassette and drive side lock nut 17mm and spacer cap, hit axle to knock out non drive side bearing. freehub just pulls off (gently, watch you dont take freehub support needle roller bearings with it), and can tap out its bearing from the inside once circlip is removed. Drive side bearing i tapped out with the axle through the hub.

Bugger wish I had seen this thread when I got my bearings replaced a few months back.

I rang the local Trek dealer asking if they knew if they were a cup & cone or sealed bearings system. They said they couldnt be too sure, but just bring it in and they would have a quick look.

Took the wheel in, 5 mins later the hub had new bearings in it and my wallet was £30 lighter! The mechanic said he was only charging me for the bearings… I thought £30 was steep, I certainly do now seeing as though you can get them for next to nothing online.

Oh well Chevin Cycles back on the list of not to use LBS’s again.

If they bought the bearings from trek, then thats probably about right, but its not hard to do yourself

The topic ‘Bontrager Race Rear Wheel – Freehub and bearing removal help with pics’ is closed to new replies.

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Bontrager mustang elite freehub removal

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I just recently purchased a Trek procaliber 9.6. I am wanting to swap the freehub on the wheelset to a Sram XD freehub. The wheels are bontrager mustang elite and are boost. I have been able to remove the rear axle from the hub but cant remove the freehub. Is there a guide out there on how to do this with these wheels or does anyone here know how to disassemble the rear hub. Also wondering if anyone here knows what brand is the rear hub on this wheelset Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk  

Having serviced many Bontrager hubs, but not that one in particular, I'll try to help since no one else has yet. The freehub will most likely simply pull out from the hub shell if pulled, it is simply held in place by the compression of the axle when on the bike. There is typically an end cap the axle fits into on the outboard side of the freehub body, remove this first. Next you will simply rotate the freehub body (click, click, click) as you pull it away from the hub shell. Everything should stay in place, but just in case do this over a surface that would make finding a spring or pawl easy. Again, I haven't done this to a Mustang in particular but Bontrager rebrands those lower end hubs so it should be the same... Either way, pulling on it a bit shouldn't hurt anything if I'm wrong. If I'm right it won't take much force, so stop before you think about putting it in a vice. Hope this helps, if not contact a Trek dealer and they can look up the tech sheet.  

I just checked the tech site and TheDwayyo is correct. The freehub just presses into the hub body. Give it a pull and it should pop off.  

I have tried pulling it with a lot of force but it just won't budge. I haven't put it in a vice yet. I contacted Trek and they sent me instructions for the wrong hub. I also have contacted formula and the shop I purchased the bike from but heard nothing. It would make sense that it should just pull out as I can't see anything else that would be holding it in place, it just refuses to. Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk  

The aftermarket wheels are not always the same as the OEM wheels on the Trek bikes. for the 2017 OEM wheels, here is the Trek part number for the freehub body W547627. I,m pretty sure there is not an XD driver for that hub. This is the UPC for reference as well. 601479636921 Good luck  

You gotta pull the boost cap first. Wiggle it off first.  

202cycle said: This is not the same freehub as the aftermarket hub. Click to expand...

Thanks for the info will try a 14mm to remove. When I purchased the bike the bike shop sold me an XD freehub that apparently works with the wheels, so I guess I'll see if it does or not Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk  

I read elsewhere on this site that a XD driver is available for the 12X142 Duster, part number 509966.  

I just threw together a video on a complete tear down and service from a 2017 Trek Procaliber 9.6 Mustang Elite Boost 148 Rear Hub. This includes the freehub body. But on my wheel it was a different type with the loose ball bearings and not the cartridge bearings. Anyway, video shows how to take it all apart:  

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**maintenance, freehub replacement.

There’s nothing like a constant cycle of getting your bike filthy and then cleaning it in a hurried fashion to show up any component deficiencies. And during the winter months several bits of bike are likely to give up the ghost. One of the most common fatalities is the humble freehub body. And without that working, you’re going nowhere.

There are two main failure modes. Either the freehub will stick so that it doesn’t freewheel, leading to the chain tangling up every time you stop pedalling, or it’ll stick so that it freewheels both ways with the obvious detriment to power transmission. What you do about it varies according to your hub. Hope and some other high-end hubs have freehubs that can be dismantled, cleaned out, relubed and rebuilt. Regular Shimano freehubs can, in theory, be stripped down like this but in practice it’s a lot easier just to replace them. You only have to replace the actual freehub mechanism, not the whole hub, and it’s a pretty straightforward job.

This is one of those jobs for which cleaning your bike is a must. This is a uniquely grimy bit of the bike…

1. This job’s spannertastic. You’ll need a big adjustable spanner to drive the cassette lockring tool, a chainwhip, a 10mm Allen key and a selection of cone spanners (15 and 17mm for Shimano hubs), plus some grease.

2. First job is to remove the back wheel and take the cassette off . Refer to our previous articles on those topics if you don’t know how. And marvel at all the gunk that accumulates behind the cassette sprockets. Mmmmm.

3. Next you need to take the axle out of the hub. You’ll need to gain access to the cones, which (depending on your hub) may mean removing a rubber seal. Carefully lift an edge with a small screwdriver and lift the seal off, pausing only briefly to admire the corrosion on your disc rotors.

4. This is where the fun starts. Choose a pair of suitable cone spanners and place on on the cone (the inner flats) and one on the locknut (the obvious hexagonal thing on the end of the axle) on the non-drive side. Arrange the two spanners so that you can pull them together with one hand to crack off the locknut. It may be a bit reluctant – you can try putting another spanner on the opposite locknut and undoing them that way.

5. With the locknut loosened, unscrew it completely from the axle, lift off any washers you may find beneath and then unscrew the hub cone itself. Lay all the bits out in the order they came off so you know which order to put them back in.

6. Now pull the axle out from the other end of the hub. Remove it slowly in case all the bearings fall out. With any luck things’ll be in good enough shape that the grease will keep them in place. Chances are, though, that your axle will look no more pleasant than this one in which case the hub bearings will make a bid for freedom. Like Pokemon, you’ve gotta catch ’em all or it’s a trip to the bike shop. Although if once you’ve cleaned them they’re anything other than smooth and shiny you might as well replace them anyway.

7. The freehub body itself is held on to the end of the hub shell with a hollow Allen bolt that the axle passes through. To undo it, get a 10mm Allen key, put it into the end of the freehub and turn anticlockwise. If your hub’s never been apart this may take a bit of heft.

8. With the bolt out, the freehub body should just slide off the splines that transmit the torque from the sprockets to the hub shell. At this point it may be possible to rescue a fading freehub with copious injections of 3-in-1 between the inner and outer parts at the back, but it’s at best a temporary fix – your best bet is to chuck it and get a new one, which has the added bonus of replacing the drive-side bearing surfaces.

9. Your new freehub body just slides on to the splines. You might as well put a dab of grease on the splines to ward off any possible creaking problems. Apply a bit of grease to the threads of the hollow bolt and do it up tight. There’s a recommended torque setting for it, but we haven’t got a torque wrench so we’ve never got around to finding out what it is. Then squirt new grease into the bearing surfaces (you’ll need to clean out the non-drive side ones first) and pop the bearings back in. A Shimano rear hub should have nine each side.

10. Clean up the axle, squirt some grease onto the cones and reassemble, making sure all the bits go on in the right order. Finally there’s the tricky bit – adjusting the bearings correctly. You need to fractionally overtighten the cone (so the axle rotates a tiny bit roughly) so that you can wind the locknut on and then back the cone off against it to lock everything in place. Once backed off the axle should rotate smoothly without rattling. If it’s still rough, it’s too tight. If the axle moves in any direction other than around more than a tiny tiny bit, it’s too loose. It’ll probably take a few tries to get it right. Once you have, put any rubber seals back on, replace the cassette, put the wheel back in the bike and go have a cup of tea…

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Replacing a 2014 Boardman CX Comp freehub

• Thread starter MatB
• Start date 22 Jul 2020
• 22 Jul 2020
• Freehub (Jan 2020)
• 2014 Boardman CX Team Freewheel Pawl Issue? (Aug 2017)
• Boardman CX 2014: Replacing Freehub Body (Jun 2016)
• Boardman Hybrid Pro - freehub removal (Jun 2012)

• Formula Freehub
• Botrager Race/Rhythm Comp 9 Speed Freehub
• Xlc Evo Freehub Body Set WS X14
• Shimano WH-R501-R Freehub Body
• Joytech (based on What tool do I need to remove this Joytech freehub? )

Legendary Member

• 23 Jul 2020

I like steel bikes and I cannot lie..

Really surprised when I called up Boardman. After a bit of umming and arring, find the right bit of paper for 2014 that although they couldn't find a part number they had some other reference number I could give to Halfords to order one. I can't remember the exact description he reeled off, but it sounded like it was pretty generic with a bunch of bike manufacturer names slotted in that it was presumably used on/would fit. Local Halfords meanwhile promptly gave me the runaround "can't find it on the system", "it's not on the website" (no, I know that), "bike expert who'd know is not in until tomorrow", and even "I can order you one, but not until I take payment which I can't do over the phone." What!? Who can't take a customer not present transaction for something I've got to later pick up. Persistence eventually paid off after battling through a traffic jam to actually go and order in the store this evening. I've got one coming Wednesday. At least I hope it's the right part. Boardman's reference on Halfords' system: 341740 ​ Receipt description: " FHB CB/Car/VD Splin F th " Cost: £19.99 ​ Interesting points wafter. I too wonder how long this one will last if it's a straight replacement, but to be fair it's taken about six years to get to this state. Right now I'm more inclined to get something up and running rather than continuing to get fatter (I'm only a piss poor runner which is the alternative right now) than perfecting a solution. I'll have a known good bearing and the old knackered one to compare so hopefully be able to catch it a bit sooner than chain falling off next time and have time do consider my wider options. If it fits of course.  

MatB said: Really surprised when I called up Boardman. After a bit of umming and arring, find the right bit of paper for 2014 that although they couldn't find a part number they had some other reference number I could give to Halfords to order one. I can't remember the exact description he reeled off, but it sounded like it was pretty generic with a bunch of bike manufacturer names slotted in that it was presumably used on/would fit. Local Halfords meanwhile promptly gave me the runaround "can't find it on the system", "it's not on the website" (no, I know that), "bike expert who'd know is not in until tomorrow", and even "I can order you one, but not until I take payment which I can't do over the phone." What!? Who can't take a customer not present transaction for something I've got to later pick up. Persistence eventually paid off after battling through a traffic jam to actually go and order in the store this evening. I've got one coming Wednesday. At least I hope it's the right part. Boardman's reference on Halfords' system: 341740 ​ Receipt description: " FHB CB/Car/VD Splin F th "​ Cost: £19.99 ​ Interesting points wafter. I too wonder how long this one will last if it's a straight replacement, but to be fair it's taken about six years to get to this state. Right now I'm more inclined to get something up and running rather than continuing to get fatter (I'm only a piss poor runner which is the alternative right now) than perfecting a solution. I'll have a known good bearing and the old knackered one to compare so hopefully be able to catch it a bit sooner than chain falling off next time and have time do consider my wider options. If it fits of course. Click to expand...

You could almost buy a new Tiagra hub for that (assuming you don't mind rebuilding the wheel).  

Ride It Like You Stole It!

My FS Pro has formula hubs. The hub and freehub is easy to repair and strip down - but at least you've got the part.  

• 30 Jul 2020

• Chase Boardman for an answer on Monday. Offer to them that it might be Halfords code 124100 based on some Internet threads but equally that might be the previous model year.
• It seems the sizes match the SRAM 506 based on that listings Q&A, but of course no one's got any in stock.
• Trek/Bontrager Freehub Body 561948 (repl W268886) seems plausible although no sizes to compare, so it's difficult to be sure without ordering one. There are a few alternatives but most can be discounted: the 561949 is 11-speed (although worryingly listed a 130mm OLD, whereas my bike is 135mm OLD - but not sizes on the 561948); W268886 has been superseded by the 561948; W211339 is sealed cartridge bearings.
• Bontrager Race/Rhythm Comp 9 speed also appears similar, and seems to be available fairly widely (probably all ordering from the same place rather than holding stock) but no specs so a pure guess.
• Physically visit a proper LBS when I can, probably Tuesday, but realistically I don't think anyone wants to deal with these no-name parts.
• Order a new wheel (but of course, that opens up needing to understand what might be suitable - seems 622x19c; 135mm OLD and to fit my disc brakes is all I need to know? Maybe skewer size). Continue down path of figuring out what part might fit as it would be damned annoying for this to become another thread with no answer.

MatB said: [new wheel] 622x19c; 135mm OLD and to fit my disc brakes is all I need to know? Maybe skewer size) Click to expand...

• 29 Aug 2020

Thanks for writing such a detailed fix for your CX Comp Mat, it made my life a lot easier as I had the same issue! Brilliant.  

• 13 Mar 2021

Same here, thanks very much, Mat! I have a Boardman Team Carbon 2014 that had a noisy freehub (probably as a result of there being little to no grease left in it). The original freehub didn't appear to have anything on it to indicate what it was but it looked the same as the one on your bike. I didn't find anything specific for my bike model online but the photos in this post really helped. I was going to buy the Bontrager Select Freehub but I wasn't sure if it would be quite the right size as I don't have disc brakes. In the end I found an SRAM Freehub on Amazon where somebody said it fitted their Team Carbon (no year mentioned). I've fitted it today and it's a direct replacement. I expect the Bontrager Select Freehub is probably the same size but I wasn't 100% sure. The SRAM Freehub I purchased is this one for anyone who's interested:- SRAM Freehub Body for X7/X9/Rise 40 Hub, 11.2015.028.100: Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Outdoors Cheers!  

• 18 Apr 2021

Just wanted to post my absolute thanks for this. Got the 561949 11 speed based on your excellent research and write-up. Just needed to add a 1mm spacer and all good. Amazing.  

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guides or videos for freehub maintenance or removal - shimano 11 speed

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https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/58578/remove-bearing-cartridge-on-a-formula-rx-142-hub  

thank you for that in previous searches i actually stumbled on that thread but forgot about it. will brush up on my knowledge  

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• Repair Help

Determining Cassette / Freewheel Type

This article will help determine whether your bike has a cassette or freewheel system, and what tool is needed to remove and install the rear cogs.

Cassette Vs. Freewheel

• Wheel Removal and Installation - View Article

The rear cogs are attached to the hub in one of two ways. Newer bikes tend to use type hub called a “cassette hub.” The cassette hub uses a “freehub” sytem, which is a type of clutch mounted to the body of the hub. This cylindrical mechanism ratchets counter-clockwise for coasting, and locks clockwise for driving the bike when pedaled. The freehub body has a series of splines on the outer shell. “Cassette” sprockets slide over these splines. A lockring threads into the freehub and holds the sprockets, or cogs, in place. When the cogs are removed, the ratcheting freehub remains on the hub body. Most modern bicycles use the freehub system. See a typical cassette hub below.

Older bikes may have a large external thread machined into the hub. The cogs and ratcheting body assembly, called a “freewheel,” threads onto the hub. The ratcheting mechanism comes off with the cogs when the freewheel unthreads for removal.

To determine if a sprocket is a freewheel or cassette system, remove the rear wheel from the bike. Find the tool fitting on the sprocket set. Spin the sprockets backwards. If the fittings spin with the cogs, it is a cassette system with a freehub. If the tool fittings do not spin with the cogs, it is a threaded freewheel system.

Cassette system - the tool fitting spins with the cogs

Freewheel system - the tool fitting does not spin

Before beginning the removal and installation process, you will need to determine the style or brand of cassette or freewheel you have. The removal tool must fit the part correctly, or both may become damaged. The following tables show every style that has a compatible installation & removal tool made by Park Tool.

Tool Compatibility – Cassette

Choosing between fr-5.2 tools.

Park Tool makes 4 different tools for the most common cassette lockring tool fitting. For an outline of the differences between the features of these tools, see the following video:

Tool Compatibility – Freewheel

See Cassette Removal and Installation and Freewheel Removal and Installation for the process of using these tools.

*NOTE: Shimano-style and Falcon freewheels have similar but distinct tool fittings. DO NOT use the FR-1.3 on Falcon freewheels, or the FR-7 on Shimano-style freewheels.

There are older model freewheels where the tool is no longer available. An old Shimano standard has 12 splines of approximately 20mm. There is an older French Maillard freewheel with 24 splines with an approximate diameter of 31mm. Park Tool does not make tools for these freewheel systems.

It may still be possible reuse the wheel but it will require destroying the freewheel. There are also current models of freewheels that do not have an adequate design for removal. In the image below, the freewheel has two very narrow and shallow notches that do not allow enough purchase for a tool. Removal of this type of freewheel would likely result in ruining any both the freewheel and the tool. For either situation, see Freewheel — Destructive Removal .

Very narrow and shallow removal notches in a single speed

This model of freewheel has no removal tool fittings of any type

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Freehubs explained: standards, compatibility and how a freehub works

What is a freehub, how does it work and what are the different types?

Steve Sayers / Our Media

Paul Norman

It’s a small component we tend to take for granted, but the freehub is an essential part of most bikes and does a vital job. The freehub transmits your pedal power to the road or trail and gives your legs a rest while you're still moving.

For many riders, it’s a case of fit and forget, but there’s a lot going on with your freehub. It’s got some tricky mechanical parts that are hidden away inside it, which will sometimes need a little tender loving care to keep them working well.

If you always swap like for like when replacing your bike's cassette , you may not need to worry much about freehub compatibility, but that too is trickier than it seems.

We’ll start off by explaining the different types of freehub and how their internals work, then later look at freehub standards and cassette compatibility.

What is a freehub?

Most bikes allow you to stop pedalling but keep moving, or “coast”. For bikes equipped with derailleur gears , that’s usually thanks to a freehub.

The freehub is an extension of the right-hand side of the rear wheel’s hub.

It contains a system that engages with the wheel when you’re pedalling, to propel you forward, and which disengages when you stop pedalling so that the wheel continues to turn without the gears and pedals turning. There’s a mechanism within the freehub body that engages and disengages the wheel from the gear sprockets.

On its outer surface, a freehub has a set of splines, onto which the cassette (i.e. the gear sprockets) is slid when a bike is assembled. In general, the cassette comprises a set of individual sprockets or clusters of sprockets.

The number of sprockets on the cassette is often referred to as its speeds; for example, 11-speed and 12-speed for the latest road bike groupsets and mountain bike groupsets have 11 or 12 cogs on the back.

These sprockets are often held firmly in place by a lockring that threads into the end of the freehub (although we’ll explain some exceptions below).

Points of engagement and angle of engagement

You’ll see some brands quoting points of engagement and others referring to the angle of engagement for their hubs. The number of points of engagement is the number of discrete positions in which the freehub can lock to the wheel in each complete turn of the wheel, once you stop freewheeling and start to pedal.

A complete turn of the wheel is 360 degrees, so the angle of engagement is 360 divided by the number of points of engagement.

So a freehub with 36 points of engagement, for example, will have a 360/36 = 10-degree angle of engagement. If there are 72 points of engagement, the angle of engagement drops to 5 degrees.

How a freehub works

The vast majority of freehubs use one of two different systems – pawl or ratchet – to engage the freehub with the wheel when you’re pedalling, and disengage it when you’re freewheeling.

Within each, there are lots of variations in how they’re engineered and there are some well-known specialist designs such as Chris King hubs.

We’ll explain both systems here, then weigh up the pros and cons of each.

Freehub types

Pawl freehubs.

In a pawl freehub, the engagement/disengagement mechanism consists of several sprung levers, called pawls, which are angled outward in one part of the bike’s hub and mesh with a toothed drive ring in the other part of the hub to transmit power to the wheel.

The springs push the pawls outward from their housings when you’re pedalling. Once you freewheel, the angle of the pawls means that they are pushed back against the springs and slide over the teeth, giving the characteristic clicking sound.

The number of pawls varies between freehub designs and can be anything from two to six.

They’re usually in the freehub and pushed outward into teeth in the hub, but there are also designs where the pawls are on the inside edge of the hub flange and face inwards towards teeth on the freehub (like some older Reynolds designs), and ones where the pawls are on the centre of the hub body and mesh with teeth on the outside edge of the freehub (such as some Mavic wheels).

For some riding, a high number of points of engagement (and hence a small angle of engagement) is considered desirable. The simplest way for a manufacturer to achieve this is to increase the number of teeth on the drive ring.

However, the teeth will need to be smaller, as will the pawls, so some brands use pawls with multiple teeth to spread the loads, or they offset the pawls in a multi-phase configuration so that not all pawls engage simultaneously, thereby reducing the angle of engagement.

Halo freehubs take the multiple-teeth approach to give you 120 points of engagement. Rather than the more usual flat profile, its pawls are wedge-shaped, so that pedalling force pushes them harder against the teeth in the hub.

It’s worth noting that all your pedalling torque is transmitted through the pawls, so they’re under quite a lot of force and need to be maintained regularly to continue to work effectively, particularly if you’re riding in wet or dirty conditions or haven’t used your wheels for some time.

Ratchet freehubs

A ratchet freehub has a pair of rings with teeth on their inner faces that are concentric around the axle and are pushed together to transmit the pedalling force to the rear wheel. The two ratchet rings are usually pressed together by large springs that encircle the freehub and sit behind one or both of the rings.

One or both of the ratchet rings can slip in and out on the freehub on splines machined into their outer edges, which mesh with teeth in the freehub and/or hub body.

The ratchet’s teeth are angled, so when you’re freewheeling the angled faces of each ring slip over each other, sliding against the force from the springs. When you pedal, the flat faces mesh with one another to transmit your driving force to the wheel.

DT Swiss freehubs are all now built on the ratchet system and come with between 18 and 54 points of engagement. For some freehubs, you can buy replacement ratchets that let you alter the number of points of engagement.

In the standard DT Swiss Ratchet system and the entry-level Ratchet LN, both ratchets can move in the hub and are pushed together by springs.

In the newer Ratchet EXP , one ratchet ring threads into the wheel hub, while the second slides in and out on splines inside the freehub to engage or disengage the freewheel, pushed by a single spring. This system is lighter and is used on DT Swiss’s high-end wheels.

Chris King hubs have a ratchet system that works in a similar way, but with either 45 or 72 points of engagement, for ultra-fast take-up, once you start to pedal. With this design, it’s the inboard ratchet that slides on the hub to engage the freewheel, giving Chris King hubs their characteristic bulge on the right side.

Chris King’s ratchet slides on angled splines in the hub rather than the straight in and out ones of DT Swiss’s hubs.

That means that the harder you pedal, the harder the two ratchets are forced together, so there’s even less chance of them slipping. Chris King claims its system can handle up to three times the torque load of some competitors it’s tested.

Zipp, too, uses a ratchet system, with 36 teeth, in its top-end Cognition hubs fitted to its NSW wheels. Rather than a spring, it uses six magnets to push the inboard ratchet ring outwards in the hub to engage with the ratchet in the freehub.

Pawl vs ratchet

Whereas pawl freehubs have a few discrete points of contact between the ends of the pawls and the teeth with which they mesh, in a ratchet-based system there are a wider number of contact points spread in a ring around the inside of the freehub.

In theory, the larger number of ring-based contacts in a ratchet should be more reliable and transmit force better, although in practice pawl-based systems are well enough engineered that this is unlikely to be an issue if they’re maintained regularly.

There’s more potential for wear with a pawl system, as there are a small number of mating surfaces rather than the multiple intermeshing teeth of the ratchet. If one of the pawls fails or doesn’t engage effectively, there’s a greater risk of damage to the freehub’s internals and the freehub failing.

In some situations, a smaller angle of engagement is beneficial for faster take-up once you start to pedal. It’s particularly useful for climbing off-road. On the other hand, on full-suspension mountain bikes , it can accentuate kickback, where the compression of the suspension pulls the chain and cranks backwards, also putting extra stress on the freehub’s internals, which could fail.

Ratchets might seem the obvious choice for high-stress applications, but if the angle of engagement is the priority, an offset pawl system may be better. Industry Nine uses six offset pawls in its Hydra freehubs which, combined with a 115-tooth drive ring, produce a huge 690 points of engagement, giving an angle of engagement of just over half a degree.

Freehub bearings

A freehub will typically turn on its own sealed bearings, and often has inboard and outboard bearings to support the load. That’s in addition to the bearings in the wheel axle, although DT Swiss, for example, moves the right-hand wheel bearing to sit inside the inboard ratchet in its Ratchet EXP hubs, to help shoulder the load.

Most freehubs use replaceable cartridge bearings but some, such as Shimano and Campagnolo, use loose ball bearings sealed within the freehub body.

Shimano freehubs can be serviced to an extent, but when they’re worn out, you’ll officially need a whole new freehub as they're not designed to be disassembled, even if it is technically possible. Freehubs from Campagnolo and other brands are easier to service.

Many wheels will use steel bearings, but more expensive wheels will sometimes use ceramic bearings for their claimed performance benefits.

Freehub vs freewheel

You’ll often see freewheels mentioned. A freewheel has its ratchet mechanism built into the set of sprockets, rather than it being part of the wheel’s hub.

The freewheel is screwed onto threads that form a rigid part of the hub using a special tool that meshes with slots in the freewheel’s body.

Freewheels pre-date freehubs. They’re still found on older bikes and the majority of modern singlespeed bikes . They've been superseded by the freehub on multi-speed bikes though, because it’s lighter and more compact, so it can handle smaller sprockets and wider gear ranges.

Freehubs move the bearings further outboard, which reduces the chance of you bending an axle.

You’re also throwing the ratchet away every time you change a freewheel, but keeping it when you change the cassette on a freehub system.

Freehub standards

Now we’ve had a look at the internals of the freehub, let’s turn to the outside of the freehub – the part on which your cassette mounts.

There are many different standards used by the different drivetrain makers – that's mainly Shimano , SRAM and Campagnolo – as well as different ones for mountain bike and road bike freehubs.

Some are inter-compatible but many aren’t, even if they are designed for the same number of sprockets, so understanding what type of freehub you have or need is key when changing a cassette, changing the freehub or buying a new wheelset.

Shimano Hyperglide

The most common freehub design is Shimano Hyperglide. It has 9raised splines on the outside of the freehub body that match slots on the cassette sprockets.

Two of these splines use a different width and spacing from the others, which means that you can’t mount your sprockets the wrong way around or in an incorrect position.

Modern Hyperglide freehub bodies will fit an 11-speed Shimano/SRAM-compatible cassette for road bike wheels .

You can also use Shimano-standard cassettes with 8, 9 or 10 speeds, but will need to fit a 1.85mm spacer on the inboard side of the cassette to fit, plus an additional 1mm spacer for 10-speed cassettes.

You’ll also need to use a spacer if you want to run an MTB cassette on an 11-speed road freehub, as Shimano/SRAM MTB freehubs are slightly narrower.

Before 11-speed came along, Hyperglide freehubs were shorter and usually accepted 8, 9 or 10-speed cassettes (though 10-speed cassettes require a spacer). However, certain Shimano wheels and hubs came with 10-speed-only freehubs, which were not backwards-compatible.

With Shimano’s move to 12-speed in its newest Dura-Ace Di2 R9200 groupsets, the components company has updated its Hyperglide freehub design.

Shimano has reduced the width of the splines but increased the number of them to increase surface area and therefore reduce the chances of sprockets ‘biting’ into the freehub body.

Ultegra R8100 cassettes use the same 11-speed HG freehub as previous generations.

Shimano Micro Spline

Designed for use with the Japanese brand's 12-speed MTB cassettes, the Shimano Micro Spline hub has 23 splines which are broadly similar to those on the new 12-speed road freehub.

However, the Micro Spline design means that cassettes can have a small sprocket of 10 teeth, rather than the 11 teeth smallest sprocket that Hyperglide can accommodate.

Though they may look similar, Shimano's new 12-speed Dura-Ace freehubs and Micro Spline are different, and cassettes are not interchangeable across either system.

The SRAM XD system was originally designed to accommodate mountain bike cassettes with a 10-tooth smallest sprocket. It has a shorter body than a normal 11-speed Shimano/SRAM freehub.

The cassette connects to the freehub with a combination of short splines and a threaded area on the freehub body.

When fitting a new cassette, you need to ensure that the splines in the cassette mesh with the freehub, then tighten the cassette onto the threads using a standard cassette tool. The design means that there’s no separate lock ring.

You’ll often hear an XD freehub called an XD driver – it means the same thing.

SRAM’s XDR (XD Road) standard is essentially the same as XD and operates in the same way, but is 1.85mm wider, to accommodate the 12-speed road cassettes in its eTap AXS wireless electronic groupsets .

Its extra width means that you can fit a SRAM XD MTB cassette to an XDR freehub if you fit a 1.85mm spacer inboard of the cassette. But it means that you can’t fit an XDR cassette to a mountain bike wheelset with an XD freehub body.

Campagnolo FW

A standard Campagnolo freehub is compatible only with Campagnolo cassettes, as it has deeper splines than a Shimano/SRAM freehub body.

Like Shimano/SRAM, there’s differential spline spacing to ensure that you can only mount the individual cassette sprockets in one position and one orientation. There’s also a different lock ring, incompatible with Shimano’s, used to secure the cassette on the freehub.

Campagnolo uses a single freehub design for 9-, 10-, 11- and 12-speed cassettes, while the newest N3W freehub also accepts 13-speed cassettes.

Campagnolo N3W

Campagnolo’s latest N3W freehub body standard has been designed for compatibility with the Campagnolo Ekar gravel bike groupset. It’s 4.4mm shorter than an FW freehub body, so it’s a bit lighter, but has the same pattern of splines.

The shorter body lets Campagnolo offer 13-speed Ekar cassettes with sprockets down to nine teeth, giving you a really wide range with its 9-36, 9-42 or 10-44 tooth cassette options.

The good news is that the N3W freehub is backwards-compatible with Campagnolo’s standard road-going cassettes, via an adapter that slots onto the end of the N3W freehub body. Campagnolo says that its wheelsets will in future come with an N3W freehub body as standard.

Freehub compatibility

You’ll see from the above that there are some opportunities to use some freehubs with cassettes for which they weren’t designed, usually using spacers to add the extra width required to fit a narrower cassette to a wider freehub.

Opportunities to extend a freehub to fit a wider cassette are more limited though, with only the Campagnolo N3W system providing an adaptor to allow this.

Many wheelset makers sell wheels with the option to choose different freehub standards though, so if you know what type of cassette you plan to use, you can buy a compatible wheelset.

Although some wheelsets only have a single freehub option available, it’s increasingly common to be able to buy a separate freehub to match your wheels and allow you to switch standards.

How to service a freehub

We have a dedicated, and detailed, article on how to service a freehub . Although it’s one of the more fiddly bike maintenance tasks, it’s not beyond the capabilities of a home mechanic.

Some freehubs are designed for tool-free removal from the wheel, while others require specialist tools. DT Swiss’s freehubs need a complete set of different tools to disassemble them, whereas you can get at some others with just a standard set of Allen keys.

When servicing your freehub, there are usually lots of small parts to keep tabs on, particularly in pawl-based systems, so working systematically and carefully is key.

You also need to use the right lubrication when you reassemble your freehub. Heavy grease is likely to gum up the internals and could cause your freehub to fail; most hub makers specify their own lightweight lubricants.

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How to Replace a Freewheel

Demonstrates how to remove and install a traditional thread-on freewheel cluster.

Video updates

• 01:21 - Apply a thin layer of grease to the hub threads before installing the freewheel.

In this tutorial we’ll learn how to remove and install a freewheel on your bike. You may remember a while back when we covered cassette removal and installation . For this job you’ll need a notched freewheel remover and a large wrench or vise clamp.

Here’s how the two systems differ: a cassette is a series of gears that slides onto a freewheel unit. This is a better system because it allows you to replace worn sprockets without having to replace the freewheeling component ( freehub body ). A freewheel on the other hand, contains both the sprockets and freehub in a single unit that threads onto the outer flange of your hub. We’ll be covering removal and installation of this style today.

Freewheel Removal

First you’ll have to remove the rear wheel from your bike. Then in some rare cases the axle nuts will be too big to allow the freewheel tool to slide into the freewheel, so you’ll have to overhaul the hub to remove them first. Now slide the freewheel remover into the freewheel and loosen it with your large wrench by holding the wheel on the firmly on the ground and turning your wrench counter clockwise.

If your freewheel is really tight, you may need to mount the tool in a vise clamp so that you can use the wheel as leverage. I don’t have a clamp to demonstrate this, but once mounted in the vise, you can easily turn the wheel counter-clockwise to loosen the freewheel.

Freewheel Installation

Before installing the new freewheel, inspect the threads on the hub to make sure they aren’t damaged. Be careful threading the new freewheel on, as you don’t want to cross-thread it. If it feels unusually tight right away, back the freewheel off and try again until it threads on smoothly.

To tighten a freewheel, all you have to do is get it finger tight and then re-install your wheel and go for a ride. The freewheel will tighten itself while you’re pedaling!

A bicycle geek since early childhood, spent his twenties as a mechanic in bike shops. His passions include flatland BMX, unicycles, cycle touring, mountain biking and road riding.

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Trek Bike Park of Santa Clarita

Home » Recreation » Trek Bike Park of Santa Clarita

The Trek Bike Park of Santa Clarita is free to visit seven days a week and is open from dawn till dusk. The Bike Park offers riders seven acres to ride, practice jumps and develop skills for both BMX and mountain biking. The park was designed with riders of all ages and skill levels in mind and consists of several single-track mountain bike trails that range from easy to moderate difficulty. There are also over 800 yards of pump and BMX track featuring combination jumps, including step-ups, step-downs, rollers and tabletops.

Click here to view the current conditions of the Bike Park

Youth Mountain Bike Demo Days

Join us at the Trek Bike Park of Santa Clarita and check out a 20″ or 24″ bike to ride and explore the four mountain bike trails, three pump tracks and BMX track. Bikes are geared for riders 5-10 years of age and 45″-59″ tall; helmets are included. This is a drop-in program, no preregistration required.

Friday Night Lights & Sunset Sessions

Friday Night Lights and Sunset Sessions are free events that take place in the evening on select Friday nights throughout the year. These events provide the public with an opportunity to ride at the Bike Park at night with music, food trucks, games and giveaways.

Volunteer Workdays

Sign-Up for upcoming workdays to help maintain pump and BMX tracks and assist with general clean-up.

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20870 Centre Point Parkway

Santa Clarita, CA 91350

Phone: (661) 250-3754

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Star Trek's Biggest Moral Dilemma Is One Big Plot Hole

Posted: August 14, 2024 | Last updated: August 14, 2024

Star Trek’s Biggest Moral Dilemma Is One Big Plot Hole

Ask any given Star Trek fan, director, or actor what their favorite TNG episode is and they are likely to say “Measure of a Man,” the episode where Data must legally prove that he is alive and not simply Starfleet property. The story makes for an excellent moral dilemma, and it’s genuinely difficult to hear Captain Picard’s passionate defense of his android colleague without getting the shivers. Unfortunately, this moral dilemma is basically a plot hole, because in an earlier episode, Dr. Pulaski bluntly states that Data’s service record declares that he is “alive.”

Measure Of A Man

We’re going to have to recap some Star Trek stories and characters for this big Data plot hole to make much sense, starting with everyone’s favorite episode. “Measure of a Man” is about an ambitious Starfleet cyberneticist who wants to try to create more androids like Data in a process that may be harmful or even fatal to this artificial officer.

Data quits the service altogether when he is ordered to comply, leading to a messy trial (albeit one with a happy ending for our hero) about whether Data is a sentient being or just an exotic piece of Starfleet property. 

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A Major Retcon?

To most Star Trek fans, this Data plot made perfect sense: after all, the character is a machine who aspires to be a man, and this was a trial that was all about whether he was more man than machine…whether he was alive in any meaningful way. However, to fans with a good memory, this entire trial was either completely meaningless or the result of a pretty big retcon. That’s because in the earlier season 2 episode “Where Silence Has Lease,” Dr. Pulaski mentions to Data that “Your service record says that you are alive…I must accept that.”

In case you don’t remember, Pulaski was only on the show during the second season of The Next Generation, and her cranky character was very much in the spirit of the curmudgeonly Dr. McCoy from The Original Series. In fact, many assume that her verbal sparring with Data was an attempt to recreate the Spock/McCoy dynamic of the original show.

However, the Star Trek fandom mostly hated how she treated Data like just another machine, and the line above is her grudgingly admitting that she has to consider Data “alive” because Starfleet does.

You can see the problem, of course: if he was considered “alive” in the second episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s second season, it doesn’t make any sense that seven episodes later, we have to have a big trial to determine if Data was alive or not.

It’s possible that the later episode was intended to retcon the earlier one, but it’s far more likely that the producers simply overlooked the discrepancy.

Season 2 was greatly affected by the 1988 writer’s strike, forcing producers to use scripts they already had. “Measure of a Man” was originally a spec script submitted by Melinda Snodgrass, someone who wrote this before Pulaski’s comment ever aired onscreen.

She later ended up becoming a writer for the show but left after season 3 due to butting heads with showrunner Michael Piller.

You Can Still Enjoy It

None of this Star Trek trivia should necessarily keep you from enjoying “Measure of a Man”…it’s a great Data episode, and the extended version on the Blu-Rays is even better. However, this story might be a reminder that for as much as we love this franchise, it’s fine not to treat everything the characters like Pulaski say as deep, sacrosanct canon. Sometimes, it’s enough as a fan to just turn your brain off (no assistance from Riker required) and just enjoy a brilliant hour of television.

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JackRabbit OG2 launch: The internet’s favorite ‘silly little e-bike’ gets big updates

The JackRabbit OG was the first electric micro-bike to gain a mass following in the US, racking up a community of over 30,000 riders – or “Jackos” as they call themselves. Now the bike is getting a series of upgrades in the launch of its second-generation model: the JackRabbit OG2.

Yes, the JackRabbit isn’t technically an electric bicycle in the traditional sense, mostly because it eschews bicycle pedals in favor of foot pegs.

Strictly speaking, that puts it into the seated scooter category. But it’s often referred to in the industry as an electric micro-bike due to the use of key bicycle components such as the wheels, seat, and handlebar, all of which help give it a mostly bicycle-like riding sensation.

JackRabbit is not the only micro e-bike out there, but it’s the only one to develop significant brand loyalty, largely thanks to its hyper-dedicated community of Jackos that have sprung up around the quirky ride.

Likely second only to the e-bike brand SUPER73 when it comes to a zealous and exceedingly fervent fanbase, JackRabbit has been embraced by riders who land at the intersection of the Venn diagram between riders seeking the lightest, most convenient bike-like micromobility ride and folks who simply don’t care too much what others think of how they look.

That’s because the JackRabbit admittedly looks a bit funny to ride due in no small part to its stubby wheelbase and diminutive stature. But whereas the JackRabbit OG was just about as small and minimalist as could be, the OG2 adds a bit more in the feature department without sacrificing much additional poundage.

The major design tenants stayed the same between the OG and the new OG2: a set of 20″ bicycle wheels paired with a bicycle saddle, quick-release handlebars, fold-down foot pegs, a single rear disc brake, and an airline-friendly quick-release battery that is UL-compliant. There’s even an airline travel bag—one which I previously used to take a JackRabbit OG through around a half dozen airports and fly around the world .

The little runabout still reaches 20 mph (32 km/h) and achieves 10 miles (16 km) of range per battery just like the original, with battery swaps allowing for extra range stored in the rider’s pocket. But that’s where the similarities end.

The newly launched OG2 now comes with an upgraded frame featuring a higher 275-lb weight capacity, new reinforced foot pegs, a quick-release thumb screw for battery swaps/removal, an innovative new handlebar that turns 90 degrees for flat storage against a wall or under a bed, and more attachment points for accessory mounting.

On the electronics side, there are new hardwired LED light ports, a new digital display that includes a more precise battery meter, and internally-routed wires/cables.

One of the bike’s most innovative features are the UL-compliant swappable battery packs, roughly the size of power tool batteries. Those are still forward and backward-compatible across all of JackRabbit’s models, including its  even bigger JackRabbit XG .

Despite the new features, the JackRabbit OG2 still keeps things trim. The entire ride weighs just 25 lb (11.3 kg), coming in at less than the weight of many electric kickscooters, yet with a significantly more stable ride than a typically small-wheeled kickscooter.

Priced at US $1,249 , the JackRabbit OG2 is already in stock and shipping now.

Electrek’s Take

I’ll just come out and say it: I’m a JackRabbit fan. Yes, it’s weird and quirky and silly and all the other adjectives. But it also works . There just aren’t many 20 mph electric bikes (or bike-like rides) that weigh a mere 25 lb and can slip under a dorm room bed or behind a couch in a tiny apartment, or that have UL-compliant batteries that are small enough for airlines to let you fly with them. There are a lot of advantages here.

And if I’m being frank, the somewhat comical look is a feature to me, not a bug. Life is short. Be weird, stand out.

But it’s also fair to say that watt for watt, this isn’t the punchiest way to spend $1,250. You’re forking over a bit of a premium to get those features you don’t find elsewhere. But in the broader market of e-bikes that often cost several thousand dollars , it’s still fairly reasonable for the specific niche it’s focused on. This isn’t the bike for speed demons and adrenaline junkies – it’s the one for college students and anyone who prioritizes performance over bulk.

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Micah Toll is a personal electric vehicle enthusiast, battery nerd, and author of the Amazon #1 bestselling books DIY Lithium Batteries , DIY Solar Power,   The Ultimate DIY Ebike Guide  and The Electric Bike Manifesto .

The e-bikes that make up Micah’s current daily drivers are the $999 Lectric XP 2.0 , the $1,095 Ride1Up Roadster V2 , the $1,199 Rad Power Bikes RadMission , and the $3,299 Priority Current . But it’s a pretty evolving list these days.

You can send Micah tips at [email protected], or find him on Twitter , Instagram , or TikTok .

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