Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
> > Ok, so I guess that they're not designed to last all that long. I'm
> > using standard Shimano cassettes, nothing special about them. What
> > sort of life are you seeing out of the ones you're selling, and how
> > much dig-in?
>
> Infinite? By that I mean that I have yet to see one that's become so damaged
> that it had to be replaced.
Ok. My concern isn't so much that the freehub needs replacing- it
still *works* but that it's underengineered such that cassette removal
& replacement is non-trivial, and as other posters have suggested, that
the freehub requires filing to remove the excess material pushed around
by the dig (and that's an acceptable solution?!). I like my Bonty
wheels a lot, but I have trouble believing that this behaviour is
acceptable.
> >> The only warning I'd offer
> >> would be to not use cassettes that have all of their individual gears
> >> directly connected to the freehub, instead of mounting first to an
> >> aluminum
> >> carrier which then mounts onto the freehub.
> >
> > The Shimano cassettes (as you know) are about 50/50 on a block and
> > individual. Any other recomendations, apart from suggesting to Trek
> > that they supply a freehub that doesn't **** out after 5,000km? 
>
> OK, I don't like to do it, but have to this time. Pull out the "Lance" card.
Heh.
> You're not riding on a similar freehub to what the team uses... you're
> riding on the EXACT same one. No differences. So I dare say it. It's good
> enough for Lance, it's good enough for big guys like George. They're not
> replacing them after every race, despite being able to put absurd wattage
> into the system. Ask around; you'll find there are plenty of strong riders
> here on this newsgroup who have found the cassettes to "dig in" to the
> freehub, but not destroy it, after many thousands of miles.
Understood, and yes, I'm no George or Lance, that's for sure!
Here's one of the training things I do on the bike though - in 53:12 or
53:13 on a ~7% hill, from almost a standstill, accelerate up the hill
at full power (hillsprints, strength training). Now, that's going to
be putting a fair bit of stress on the pressure points where the 12
meets the freehub, as the 12 is a distinct gear, rather than being on a
caddy. The frame certainly protests a bit about it, so I'd imagine the
gear doesn't like it much either. Would that be classed as unusual
stress? I wouldn't have thought so, an elite road sprinter will put
out lots more power than I am through the 12. I'm just a B grade hack
sprinter.
> We do live in that "real world" place, and it's possible you've got one
> that's softer than the norm. Possible, not likely, but could be. But the
> design has worked very well for a lot of people.
My concern is, and despite Sheldon's protestations about my
misunderstanding of what he's written in my misposted other thread, he
does infer that 9sp alloy freehubs are too soft, which is why they
(Shimano) changed the setup for 10sp (....To avoid this problem,
Shimano has made the first change in their spline pattern since the
introduction of Hyperglide in the late '80s. Dura-Ace 10 freehubs have
taller splines than other Shimano models....).
So if Shimano are admitting that Aluminium alloy freehubs are too soft
by changing the 10sp spline design to cope with the softer material,
quoting Sheldon again :
The Dura-Ace 7800 rear hub has an aluminum Freehub body to save weight.
Other manufacturers have used aluminum Freehub bodies, and it has been
a problem because the steel sprockets can cut notches into the splines
of such a soft material.
What's Trek/Bontrager (or anyone else using rebadged DT hubs with alloy
freehubs) doing not addressing the problem too? Clearly it is a
problem - my experience is such that removing a cassette required a lot
more effort than a chainwhip and a bit of rag and seating a new
cassette was difficult due to the damage done to the splines. Now
maybe mine's a one-off softer alloy, but I doubt it. We had to whack a
modified chainwhip with a large hammer to unwind the dug-in sprockets,
and then pry them out with a large screwdriver as they were dug in so
tight. I should have taken photos but we were in a hurry to swap the
cassette as I was en-route to Mt Baw Baw and *needed* that 27!
If there is no updated freehub in the pipeline somewhere that is
designed to cope without deformation, what's a good practice to reduce
its impact? Pull the cassette every 1,000km and file the freehub flat
again? I want to keep my Bonty wheels, but not if every time I swap
cassettes I have to just about destroy the cassette to get it off!
Can one get a steel freehub and retrofit it to a Bontrager hub? I
don't care about 10 grams more weight in the hub
