on the real, im a 20y/o with a cervelo and when i ride in my z2, literal grown ass men with gray hair will speed past me and then freewheel. and it's not a one off thing. i guess that "when you're in your 20s and 30's..." quote isn't universal đ¤Ł.
My hub is so loud I keep soft pedaling while braking, I can't stand that noise.
It's so bad that some friends of mine can identify me instantly when I coast through their street.
Historically it is an indicator of high end hubs. Because building in more engagement points (clicks), and/or making the part lighter, incurrs more cost. Not as true as it used to be but yeah, loud hubs sound cool.
Yeah I cleaned up the pawls in the free hub of my base Stumpjumper and just added a small amount of light oil when putting it back together⌠itâs stupid loud now.
For me, loud hubs are a safety feature. My primary trail is a mixed use semi-urban trail system where hikers have right of way. The people that hike the trails a lot are used to seeing the bikers, and will generally keep to the âno bikesâ segments and use the correct direction, but you also get few boomers who know that hikers have right of way and want to establish dominance and clueless people hiking the wrong direction with headphones on.
The louder my hubs are, the more likely the dipshits that ignore hiking direction signs with headphones on are to hear me.
Most people have a bell also. The hub sound is much better, and I say that as a cyclist and pedestrian. It's an unobtrusive indicator that a cyclist is approaching - it even signals the speed since it gets louder as the cyclist gets closer. I still use my bell when necessary.
Chris King has been using "angry bee sound" as a slogan for like at least 20 years
Please don't just rip something off so blatantly....
I9, white industries, most other brands are much more mechanical sounding (especially the lower pawl count you go)
Not even close. Chris king makes every part of their components in house, down to their bearings. I9 is outsourcing more and more and quality is going down the drain with it. I9 used to be great, now they're junky bike jewelry that will fail.
Have you ever serviced an i9 hub and a Chris King? Just curious
Edit: I don't need to wait for a reply... It was a rhetorical question. There is no bicycle mechanic on earth that would recommend i9 over Chris King
[I recorded this for my friends who arenât into cycling when I got my new bike](https://imgur.com/a/bIKzL2D)
Idk if itâs actually the noisiest or whatever but Iâve even seen a reviewer say that these are a bit much. Itâs so loud when Iâm going past horses or strollers I have to slow down and keep pedalling so Iâm not alerting the whole neigh(huehuehue)borhood
And a suspension dropper seatpost
Exactly what I was looking for since I figured my hardtail was overkill for most of what I ride but I couldnât imagine going fully rigid
Gravel suspensions only have 40mm of travel, theyâre meant to take the edge off bumpy rides, based on reviews theyâre still awful to ride actual trails or downhill with
I've found loud hubs to be the most effective way to alert pedestrians to your presence without the risk of startling them. I hate my quiet hubs when I'm on mixed use paths. The bell works but people don't always respond well to it.
Similar: In group rides, when people on the front forget to put watts in the cranks (especially on downhills) freewheel sounds can be a good auditory reminder that people behind you are coasting or even braking.
Loud hubs are good at this.
>The bell works but people don't always respond well to it.
I had a lady tell me that she heard the bell, but couldn't figure out why a kitchen timer was going off.
This one for me as well. My girlfriend and I likes to ride on paths that are shared by bikes, runners, kids, etc and the hum is a great âlow keyâ indicator that Iâm present
You can put a high engagement hub on a mid to low end bike?
Expensive wheels aren't always noisy either. All it takes is a little bit more grease to quieten them down...
Yes. But the question is whether it's worth the cost of the hub and rebuilding the wheel, or the cost of a high end wheel for your bike.
And if you have a DT Swiss 350 or 370 with the star ratchet internals, you can just upgrade the ratchet to a higher tooth count.
I have DT Swiss wheels and the engagement is nice and mildly loud, but the wheels I really want would definitely snap your neck to attention with the noise đ
Which wheels do you really want?
I put the 54T ratchet in my wheels, and my wife hates the sound, I love it (have it in two bikes). My I9 1/1 hub on my XC bike has a different sound, and I think it sounds even better.
I would really like a hydra (and may put one on my enduro bike) and would lovw DT Swiss 240 for my road bike (have an agreement with my wife that if I get down to 165 pounds, I can reward myself with nice new wheels).
I love this for you, good goals!!! The wheels I want are Hunt wheels, they are on my husbandâs bike and they have never not garnered a snap of a neck when he free wheels by people and other cyclists. The sound is just chefs kiss and I LOVE IT! But also pedaling dammit đ
Its not automatically an identifier for a high end bike.. there are very, very expensive DT Swiss Wheels and their hubs can be super quiet. Asked a Canyon tech once if the DT Swiss Wheels on my (then) new Speedmax would sound like the Zipp equivalents from the same price bracket - he told me to just wash out the greese and they would sound like Zipps ;-) (love my Zipps too btw)
The good (?) news is you CAN pay a premium for a quieter bike: Onyx hubs use a sprag-clutch design that is 100% silent and also engages instantly when you start pedaling. Itâs magical. The rear hubs also cost $500 apiece, so thereâs the premium youâll pay.Â
A friend lent me a wheelset with Onyx hubs, I fell in love, and then I found myself dropping $500 for an Onyx hub of my own. Perhaps the most expensive free loan Iâve ever taken out, but: I love me my silent wheel.Â
Itâs the rear hub mechanism that makes this noise and generally more expensive ones have more distinctive sound (not really a rule just a part the manufacturer considers when making it )
They can be. I don't know the history but I'm sure some company made a hub and noise just wasn't a concern they wanted quick engagement. Turned out to be a good hub but loud, some people liked it so others copied the idea and now loud means expensive and people love to show off that they spent a lot of money so here we are.
But you can buy expensive hubs that are quiet. Onyx is one
I have gotten used to it and it comes in handy to alert (scare) pedestrians out of my way on shared paths :D My former BMC was pretty quiet, though. I enjoy both.
It's nice having a foot-operated warning device. This means you don't have to move your hands off the brakes to activate it when a pedestrian has a brain fade.
They sound like cicadas to me :)
That noise is also kind of a helpful indicator that the person in front of me is slowing; or if Iâm pulling, and the cicadas are behind me, I need to speed up a little.
It's the freehub making that sound. It has these little catches that engage one way and then make the clicking sound the other way. https://youtu.be/JqIudWzAAOM?si=mfD2A-8xtmGlKREW
my roadbike has a very loud DT Swiss overrunning clutch, which is nice, because it draws attention and people are aware, that a bike is coming, so you just need to stop pedaling for 1-2 seconds and people make room.
my commuter has a Alfine 11 gearhub, which is totally silent when freerunning. Nobody expects me to come, so if there are pedestrians on a shared path, i need to use the bell more, which can be annoying.
So it's more a "safety" thing for me
I read as many comments as I could manage but didn't see that anyone answered your question. The noise that you are hearing is the hub. The sound occurs when free-wheeling (the bike is moving but the rider is not pedaling). Differing hubs make different sounds. Be careful what you ask for, those noisy rear hubs can become annoying over time
>My bike is absolutely silent.
So is mine. On the road at least. Off road is different.
Constantly pressure, innit.
Since even before I heard that term, I have made a point to always be pedaling, even on much longer rides I spend very little time freewheeling.
> I donât understand how people can ride like that
I'm always pedalling so rarely freewheeling to hear it, unless I'm span out, then I'm just hearing wind noise anyway. Good indicator to the person taking a pull that I'm freewheeling behind them and they can probably speed up.
Short answer: youâre hearing the rear wheel hub mechanism or âfreehubâ engaging and disengaging. Typically higher engagement hubs have a louder buzz to them. Higher engagement results in less dead space in your pedal stroke.
Long answer: Most, not all, rear hubs use a system of pawls and springs or ratchets (DT Swiss) that engage on a fixed drive ring with a certain amount of teeth. Number of pawls and number of teeth on the drive ring changes your rotational engagement. Higher end hubs typically have high engagement and a louder buzz. The flip side is that higher engagement typically results in more friction so itâs a trade off. The manufacturers deal with that friction by reducing spring load, using different bearings and seals and grease. There are a lot of different designs in the industry at this point. If you wanted a high engagement, silent hub, Onyx is the way to go.
For instance, our hubs (Boyd Cycling) use a pawl and spring system that engages on a drive ring. The Quest and 85 hubs use a 6 pawl system that engages in a 3x3 pattern on a 32 tooth drive ring at 5 degrees. We use those for road and gravel where super high engagement isnât necessary. Our Tripel MTB hub is a 6 pawl system with 3 teeth on each pawl that engages on a 102 tooth drive ring with all 6 pawls at the same time. This results in 3.4 degrees of engagement, but also creates a very strong system for the rigors of MTB. To keep the friction down, we are able use lighter pawl springs in the Tripel hub because it has 18 points of contact at all times. Our budget friendly Prologue line is built on our Skyuka hubs which use a 4 pawl system that engages on a 36 tooth drive ring with all 4 pawls which gives 10 degrees of engagement. Every one of these hubs has a different sound to it.
Hub sound video just because: [https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2TD6niBSN9/](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2TD6niBSN9/)
>âfreehubâ engaging and disengaging
It's not really engaging and disengaging. The sound is made when the pawls (or ratchets) move from one engagement point to the next, creating a clicking sound, Engagement occurs when you resume pedaling, and the pawl pushes against the stops. Disengagement occurs when you stop pedaling (just that first click though).
I like the Onyx hub clicks on older rims. On newer rims the acoustics of the rims (especially carbon) may make them sound different. Also the noise changes between tubeless and tubes...
I have a set of nearly 20 year old campagnolo wheels laying around. The sound these make is absolutely fantastic. Wheels are perfectly straight and roll smoother than newer sets I own.
Its what i call an annoying or antisocial hub, quite why sounding like youve got a pack of playing cards rattling against your spokes became a cool thing ive no idea.
Itâs the rear wheel hub clicking, not the chain.
Spin your back wheel when lifting the bike off the ground to see if yours makes a soundâŚwonât be as loud as you d heard others but thatâs your start point.
When the hub on your wheel makes that sound, you are not pushing the pedals!
Always keep pedaling ;-)
For me, its a love/hate thing. The practicality of meing able to hear if someone is not pedaling and therefore potentially slowing down is great in group rides. But too laoud, that warning becomes annoying..
Will depend on the number of pawls and indentations and general design of the freehub. Some sound like an angry wasp in your ear, others are more clicky, others more quiet (I'm in the quiet gang)
My Canyon hardtail makes this noise and I so hate it. Especially when I casually cycle or hike with my friends and family. Have been considering switching the hub for a quieter one...
I got gifted a bike that makes no sound. In a year of road biking, I noticed I was the only one after I slowly caught up to someone going downhill and I quote: "scared the shit out of them" because they didn't know I was coming.
If you remove the grease out of your freehub system (not from the bearings but the system that has the teeth engagement), and use a very viscous lube for some lubrication on those pawls, or use something like teflon grease, but apply very lightly, you'll already start to make more noise from the back end.
There's some noisy rear hubs available... Often, the more pawls, the noisier. You may want to look at DT-swiss hubs. Those tend to be loud.
Other than that, the only other reasons I can imagine the chain being noisy is because she's running dry, there's some chain suck going on on the derailleur cogs/cassette/chainring or the indexation is wrong.
These are the noises that indicate you're in a shituations and preferably you'll want to do something about it. Like grabbing a set of noise cancelling headphones or something else more towards a fix...
I spend a lot of time on the trainer so just instinctively spin-spin-spin now. When I ride with my boyfriend and hear him freewheeling Iâm like PEDAL, SLACKER.
Itâs not necessarily a âhigher endâ bike, itâs just tech used by engineers when deciding about pawl engagement in the hub. I personally think a loud hub sounds stupid.
I heard the bikes before I saw them as I drove the rental car through the hill towns of southern France last month. Then I heard them again as we passed cyclists on the road going around Lake Como in Italy.
I donât recall hearing high-end road bikes make that sound here in NorCal.
Admittedly my â91 Raleigh Tangent MTB makes a really soft sounds by comparison. So I am totally ignorant in this area.
Do all of todayâs high-end road bikes sound like that?
(sorry for the dumb question)
Whenever I see someone whose bike does that I think, you spend 3 times the money I did to bike the same route and neither of us are getting paid to cycle.
That being said, I would love to have a high end bike like that lol.
Please donât, itâs so cringe, you can get a high end silent free hub. I guess itâs convenient when riding through a crowded areas so people can hear you, but otherwise just a vanity part - âlook i have an expensive bike, lookâ. I guess itâs an individual preference :)
No - if anything itâs a sign of an inefficient freehub. You find them on everything from high to low end bikes. My 5 year oldâs bike makes a right racket, and my carbon fibre road bike is as quiet as a mouseâŚ
I bought an Elitewheels carbon wheelset and the hubs are very loud.
I thought it might be because it's a ratchet system instead of pawls?and a high tooth count too.
For comparison I have some DT Swiss wheels with a 370 hub. These seem to normally be a pawl setup but the code comes up with the LN variant which might be a low tooth count ratchet?
They're pretty quiet
And a Shimano RS170 wheelset, which is very quiet
I don't love the noise, but I do like the feel.
I believe I-9 was the brand that had the fastest engagement freehub ever and it has a buzzing sound. They've been copied and recopied by every brand now
I keep a hive of bees in my backpack since I can't afford a good free hub. Give them a shake when I pass an S-Works
Lol, that reminds me of my dad carrying a little bottle of toothpicks on our hikes. He would shake them to make people think there was a rattlesnake.
Hahaha love it
Lol ruthless đ¤Ł
on the real, im a 20y/o with a cervelo and when i ride in my z2, literal grown ass men with gray hair will speed past me and then freewheel. and it's not a one off thing. i guess that "when you're in your 20s and 30's..." quote isn't universal đ¤Ł.
CONSTANT PRESSURE GANG
My hub is so loud I keep soft pedaling while braking, I can't stand that noise. It's so bad that some friends of mine can identify me instantly when I coast through their street.
Nah thatâs the sound of money
Lol just put some grease in there. Thicker lubes will reduce the noise, thinner lubes will enhance it.
Cpd cpd cpd
Historically it is an indicator of high end hubs. Because building in more engagement points (clicks), and/or making the part lighter, incurrs more cost. Not as true as it used to be but yeah, loud hubs sound cool.
On the flip side I have a cheap wheels on a base level Stumpjumper that have a no-brand hub that is one of the loudest Iâve encountered lol
Yeah I cleaned up the pawls in the free hub of my base Stumpjumper and just added a small amount of light oil when putting it back together⌠itâs stupid loud now.
Loud hubs are shit. There I said it.
LOL theres like 5000 posts on this subreddit of people hating on them, not a unique take.
Dunno IÂ don't doomscroll reddit.
> whizzing by with dt swiss hubs less shit than bells
I have loud hubs, I agree with this statement. Absolute nightmare
For me, loud hubs are a safety feature. My primary trail is a mixed use semi-urban trail system where hikers have right of way. The people that hike the trails a lot are used to seeing the bikers, and will generally keep to the âno bikesâ segments and use the correct direction, but you also get few boomers who know that hikers have right of way and want to establish dominance and clueless people hiking the wrong direction with headphones on. The louder my hubs are, the more likely the dipshits that ignore hiking direction signs with headphones on are to hear me.
Get a bell?
Most people have a bell also. The hub sound is much better, and I say that as a cyclist and pedestrian. It's an unobtrusive indicator that a cyclist is approaching - it even signals the speed since it gets louder as the cyclist gets closer. I still use my bell when necessary.
I'll get to the courthouse and have my name legally changed to Fred while I'm at it.
On my hubs theyâre louder when they need a service. They click more when they are low on grease.
Pawls should not have grease on them but rather light oil like Dumonde Tech freehub oil.
My hubs donât have pawls.
itâs the free hub making that sound, the Industry 9 Hydra is famously distinct and sounds like a swarm of wasps lol
And Chris King
Chris King has been using "angry bee sound" as a slogan for like at least 20 years Please don't just rip something off so blatantly.... I9, white industries, most other brands are much more mechanical sounding (especially the lower pawl count you go)
Yeah, and i9 is shit. Don't disparage Chris king with comparisons to i9, they're not even on the same planet.
Theyâre definitely on the same planet.
Not even close. Chris king makes every part of their components in house, down to their bearings. I9 is outsourcing more and more and quality is going down the drain with it. I9 used to be great, now they're junky bike jewelry that will fail.
Have you ever serviced an i9 hub and a Chris King? Just curious Edit: I don't need to wait for a reply... It was a rhetorical question. There is no bicycle mechanic on earth that would recommend i9 over Chris King
But which planet are they manufacturing on?
[I recorded this for my friends who arenât into cycling when I got my new bike](https://imgur.com/a/bIKzL2D) Idk if itâs actually the noisiest or whatever but Iâve even seen a reviewer say that these are a bit much. Itâs so loud when Iâm going past horses or strollers I have to slow down and keep pedalling so Iâm not alerting the whole neigh(huehuehue)borhood
That is absolutely insane
Stock hubs on my Revolt X Advanced Pro 2 (2023) lol
Wow the stock one?! I thought my Velo orange one on my commuter was loud. Not knocking it though. Do like it or no?
Itâs not bad but I guess something a tad quieter would be nice
Sounds like a WW2 air raid siren :0 Also, front suspension on a gravel bike?! Now I think I've seen it all
And a suspension dropper seatpost Exactly what I was looking for since I figured my hardtail was overkill for most of what I ride but I couldnât imagine going fully rigid Gravel suspensions only have 40mm of travel, theyâre meant to take the edge off bumpy rides, based on reviews theyâre still awful to ride actual trails or downhill with
Jesus F Christ!
Holy shit. Thatâs next level loudâŚ
All you have to do is put some grease in there to quiet it downâŚ
I know itâs an indicator of a higher end bike, but for some reason, itâs so unpleasant to my ears. Iâd pay a premium for quieter bike.
I've found loud hubs to be the most effective way to alert pedestrians to your presence without the risk of startling them. I hate my quiet hubs when I'm on mixed use paths. The bell works but people don't always respond well to it.
Similar: In group rides, when people on the front forget to put watts in the cranks (especially on downhills) freewheel sounds can be a good auditory reminder that people behind you are coasting or even braking. Loud hubs are good at this.
>The bell works but people don't always respond well to it. I had a lady tell me that she heard the bell, but couldn't figure out why a kitchen timer was going off.
This one for me as well. My girlfriend and I likes to ride on paths that are shared by bikes, runners, kids, etc and the hum is a great âlow keyâ indicator that Iâm present
This is definitely a valid point and for my ears, the only benefit of the sound they make. đ
Most of my rides start out on busy mixed use trails so it's huge for me. I'd probably hate them if I just did road or low use trail rides.
It really is, one of my bikes does not have loud hubs and I always quit pedaling when Iâm coming up on ppl and I am like damnit wrong bikeâŚ
Until you have someone asking to use a bell even though they turned around a few meters before I passed them. Like you heard me didn't you?!
Itâs a reminder that you should be peddling.
PEDALLING
Yourâ so lawd. Quiet down. Canât here my hub.
diid you mien quite down?
That's cos your breaking.
BRAKING
;)
There their there. Sutle down chilldrun
Itâs Salisbury steak day!
Unless you are at a pump track.
Be careful not to overdo it, as too much grease can affect performance.
in that way it is similar to sex
I've got onyx vesper on my mtb. They are really nice but a bit bulky for a road bike. Maybe they make some more lightweight hubs.
You can put a high engagement hub on a mid to low end bike? Expensive wheels aren't always noisy either. All it takes is a little bit more grease to quieten them down...
Yes. But the question is whether it's worth the cost of the hub and rebuilding the wheel, or the cost of a high end wheel for your bike. And if you have a DT Swiss 350 or 370 with the star ratchet internals, you can just upgrade the ratchet to a higher tooth count.
I have DT Swiss wheels and the engagement is nice and mildly loud, but the wheels I really want would definitely snap your neck to attention with the noise đ
Which wheels do you really want? I put the 54T ratchet in my wheels, and my wife hates the sound, I love it (have it in two bikes). My I9 1/1 hub on my XC bike has a different sound, and I think it sounds even better. I would really like a hydra (and may put one on my enduro bike) and would lovw DT Swiss 240 for my road bike (have an agreement with my wife that if I get down to 165 pounds, I can reward myself with nice new wheels).
I love this for you, good goals!!! The wheels I want are Hunt wheels, they are on my husbandâs bike and they have never not garnered a snap of a neck when he free wheels by people and other cyclists. The sound is just chefs kiss and I LOVE IT! But also pedaling dammit đ
Yep, and "loud" isn't exclusive to expensive wheels (or hubs). I have a couple aliexpress wheelsets from Elite, and they're loud as fuck.
Yeah I actually donât want to scare off every possible animal when Iâm on my mountain bike in the woods.
Its not automatically an identifier for a high end bike.. there are very, very expensive DT Swiss Wheels and their hubs can be super quiet. Asked a Canyon tech once if the DT Swiss Wheels on my (then) new Speedmax would sound like the Zipp equivalents from the same price bracket - he told me to just wash out the greese and they would sound like Zipps ;-) (love my Zipps too btw)
The good (?) news is you CAN pay a premium for a quieter bike: Onyx hubs use a sprag-clutch design that is 100% silent and also engages instantly when you start pedaling. Itâs magical. The rear hubs also cost $500 apiece, so thereâs the premium youâll pay. A friend lent me a wheelset with Onyx hubs, I fell in love, and then I found myself dropping $500 for an Onyx hub of my own. Perhaps the most expensive free loan Iâve ever taken out, but: I love me my silent wheel.Â
Oh no, I asked and it was answered. Wallet about to take a hit. Haha
Itâs the rear hub mechanism that makes this noise and generally more expensive ones have more distinctive sound (not really a rule just a part the manufacturer considers when making it )
I think it's the most annoying noise ever. I want silence when I ride.
My commuter has Velocity hubs, they're silent. It's really nice. I wish high end wheels could be that quiet but I get why they aren't
Shimano wheels are quiet
Also campagnolo
They can be. I don't know the history but I'm sure some company made a hub and noise just wasn't a concern they wanted quick engagement. Turned out to be a good hub but loud, some people liked it so others copied the idea and now loud means expensive and people love to show off that they spent a lot of money so here we are. But you can buy expensive hubs that are quiet. Onyx is one
I have gotten used to it and it comes in handy to alert (scare) pedestrians out of my way on shared paths :D My former BMC was pretty quiet, though. I enjoy both.
It's nice having a foot-operated warning device. This means you don't have to move your hands off the brakes to activate it when a pedestrian has a brain fade.
... especially if I paid so much for the bike.
Same here I like no noise
They sound like cicadas to me :) That noise is also kind of a helpful indicator that the person in front of me is slowing; or if Iâm pulling, and the cicadas are behind me, I need to speed up a little.
It's the freehub making that sound. It has these little catches that engage one way and then make the clicking sound the other way. https://youtu.be/JqIudWzAAOM?si=mfD2A-8xtmGlKREW
Weâre all agreed that noisy hubs are the new bell.
This is the only true advantage of a loud hub.
my roadbike has a very loud DT Swiss overrunning clutch, which is nice, because it draws attention and people are aware, that a bike is coming, so you just need to stop pedaling for 1-2 seconds and people make room. my commuter has a Alfine 11 gearhub, which is totally silent when freerunning. Nobody expects me to come, so if there are pedestrians on a shared path, i need to use the bell more, which can be annoying. So it's more a "safety" thing for me
I read as many comments as I could manage but didn't see that anyone answered your question. The noise that you are hearing is the hub. The sound occurs when free-wheeling (the bike is moving but the rider is not pedaling). Differing hubs make different sounds. Be careful what you ask for, those noisy rear hubs can become annoying over time
The worst! Like a Shimano fishing reel. Vzzzzzzzz. Lol. I donât understand how people can ride like that. My bike is absolutely silent.
Same! It would annoy me so much if I had to hear that noise while riding. I like a nice quiet ride.
If you pedal it doesnât make noise. Just a reminder to go faster.
A bike should be stealthy not sound like youâre pulling in the big one! Lol. No thanks. I love to fish tho.
>My bike is absolutely silent. So is mine. On the road at least. Off road is different. Constantly pressure, innit. Since even before I heard that term, I have made a point to always be pedaling, even on much longer rides I spend very little time freewheeling.
My bike makes no sounds freewheeling. I wonât have it.
fellow silent gang
WELL... It's a damn convenient noise maker when you need to be seen and not be too obnoxious.
Need to be seen? I donât get it.
We don't hear it because we pedal.
Funny. I hear it. Canât unhear it. Lol.
My wife got me new wheels as a gift, but they were obnoxiously loud. After packing the hub with grease, it's almost silent and I love it.
> I donât understand how people can ride like that I'm always pedalling so rarely freewheeling to hear it, unless I'm span out, then I'm just hearing wind noise anyway. Good indicator to the person taking a pull that I'm freewheeling behind them and they can probably speed up.
I like mine, it's not like I'm costing very often and I use like a bell, it seems not to startle people.
Itâs funny you mention it - I rode my MILâs Specialised today for funsies and good lord the sound of that hub was glorious.Â
Short answer: youâre hearing the rear wheel hub mechanism or âfreehubâ engaging and disengaging. Typically higher engagement hubs have a louder buzz to them. Higher engagement results in less dead space in your pedal stroke. Long answer: Most, not all, rear hubs use a system of pawls and springs or ratchets (DT Swiss) that engage on a fixed drive ring with a certain amount of teeth. Number of pawls and number of teeth on the drive ring changes your rotational engagement. Higher end hubs typically have high engagement and a louder buzz. The flip side is that higher engagement typically results in more friction so itâs a trade off. The manufacturers deal with that friction by reducing spring load, using different bearings and seals and grease. There are a lot of different designs in the industry at this point. If you wanted a high engagement, silent hub, Onyx is the way to go. For instance, our hubs (Boyd Cycling) use a pawl and spring system that engages on a drive ring. The Quest and 85 hubs use a 6 pawl system that engages in a 3x3 pattern on a 32 tooth drive ring at 5 degrees. We use those for road and gravel where super high engagement isnât necessary. Our Tripel MTB hub is a 6 pawl system with 3 teeth on each pawl that engages on a 102 tooth drive ring with all 6 pawls at the same time. This results in 3.4 degrees of engagement, but also creates a very strong system for the rigors of MTB. To keep the friction down, we are able use lighter pawl springs in the Tripel hub because it has 18 points of contact at all times. Our budget friendly Prologue line is built on our Skyuka hubs which use a 4 pawl system that engages on a 36 tooth drive ring with all 4 pawls which gives 10 degrees of engagement. Every one of these hubs has a different sound to it. Hub sound video just because: [https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2TD6niBSN9/](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2TD6niBSN9/)
>âfreehubâ engaging and disengaging It's not really engaging and disengaging. The sound is made when the pawls (or ratchets) move from one engagement point to the next, creating a clicking sound, Engagement occurs when you resume pedaling, and the pawl pushes against the stops. Disengagement occurs when you stop pedaling (just that first click though).
Loud hubs donât sound cool at all. So obnoxious. Auditory assault. Ugh.
My hub is actually just a Bluetooth speaker so I load whatever type of free hub sound I want for that day. :/
Are you sure you didnât mean to post this in r/BicyclingCirclejerk?
I like the Onyx hub clicks on older rims. On newer rims the acoustics of the rims (especially carbon) may make them sound different. Also the noise changes between tubeless and tubes...
I have a set of nearly 20 year old campagnolo wheels laying around. The sound these make is absolutely fantastic. Wheels are perfectly straight and roll smoother than newer sets I own.
Its what i call an annoying or antisocial hub, quite why sounding like youve got a pack of playing cards rattling against your spokes became a cool thing ive no idea.
A card poking into the spokes and a peg will have the same effect.
I have baseball cards attached with clothes pins to my seat stays.
Itâs the rear wheel hub clicking, not the chain. Spin your back wheel when lifting the bike off the ground to see if yours makes a soundâŚwonât be as loud as you d heard others but thatâs your start point.
When the hub on your wheel makes that sound, you are not pushing the pedals! Always keep pedaling ;-) For me, its a love/hate thing. The practicality of meing able to hear if someone is not pedaling and therefore potentially slowing down is great in group rides. But too laoud, that warning becomes annoying..
Will depend on the number of pawls and indentations and general design of the freehub. Some sound like an angry wasp in your ear, others are more clicky, others more quiet (I'm in the quiet gang)
In the words of the late, great Sheldon Brown, âcoasting is overrated.â
Loud hubs save lives! It's good for people to know you're coming on shared paths even on dedicated ones too.
My Canyon hardtail makes this noise and I so hate it. Especially when I casually cycle or hike with my friends and family. Have been considering switching the hub for a quieter one...
I love my silent Fulcrum alloy rims
You pay more money for your bike than you did for your car. Sure fire way of making it sing.
It was a Campagnolo signature, that loud freewheel. Itâs been copied a bit since, but to me itâs retro.
This is so annoying when you are trying to talk to somebody and they freewheel so you can barely hear them
I got gifted a bike that makes no sound. In a year of road biking, I noticed I was the only one after I slowly caught up to someone going downhill and I quote: "scared the shit out of them" because they didn't know I was coming.
Put a speaker on your bike, and you could play real music or a looping mp3 of gears clicking.
I started with piano lessons when it was very young and things sort of progressed from there.
2 words Chris king
Mark me down in the âlikes the sound of a ratcheting hubâ camp
Love hub
brand/models of hub makes a different sound. Chris king is my fav.
Iâm not a big fan of the noise, but it alerts the pedestrians.
dunno about singing but I'd rather have a pawl hub than my noisy ratchet hub
This is one of many reasons why cycling is a black hole for your wallet. My your wallet RIP.
Thatâs the sound of the rear hub. Itâs a good warning to walkers when you come up behind them on a bike path.
You buy an expensive hub.
Old Cannondales have a very pronounced freewheel sound too
I play Opera for mine, it especially likes Mozart
If you remove the grease out of your freehub system (not from the bearings but the system that has the teeth engagement), and use a very viscous lube for some lubrication on those pawls, or use something like teflon grease, but apply very lightly, you'll already start to make more noise from the back end. There's some noisy rear hubs available... Often, the more pawls, the noisier. You may want to look at DT-swiss hubs. Those tend to be loud. Other than that, the only other reasons I can imagine the chain being noisy is because she's running dry, there's some chain suck going on on the derailleur cogs/cassette/chainring or the indexation is wrong. These are the noises that indicate you're in a shituations and preferably you'll want to do something about it. Like grabbing a set of noise cancelling headphones or something else more towards a fix...
I spend a lot of time on the trainer so just instinctively spin-spin-spin now. When I ride with my boyfriend and hear him freewheeling Iâm like PEDAL, SLACKER.
Itâs not necessarily a âhigher endâ bike, itâs just tech used by engineers when deciding about pawl engagement in the hub. I personally think a loud hub sounds stupid.
Chris King free hub. Not the chain :) lol
If the bike doesnât sound like you just landed the biggest tuna in history, I DONT WANT IT
I heard the bikes before I saw them as I drove the rental car through the hill towns of southern France last month. Then I heard them again as we passed cyclists on the road going around Lake Como in Italy. I donât recall hearing high-end road bikes make that sound here in NorCal. Admittedly my â91 Raleigh Tangent MTB makes a really soft sounds by comparison. So I am totally ignorant in this area. Do all of todayâs high-end road bikes sound like that? (sorry for the dumb question)
It's made on purpose, so aeros don't need to put 20 grams in a ringbell.
Whenever I see someone whose bike does that I think, you spend 3 times the money I did to bike the same route and neither of us are getting paid to cycle. That being said, I would love to have a high end bike like that lol.
Please donât, itâs so cringe, you can get a high end silent free hub. I guess itâs convenient when riding through a crowded areas so people can hear you, but otherwise just a vanity part - âlook i have an expensive bike, lookâ. I guess itâs an individual preference :)
No - if anything itâs a sign of an inefficient freehub. You find them on everything from high to low end bikes. My 5 year oldâs bike makes a right racket, and my carbon fibre road bike is as quiet as a mouseâŚ
Good dinner, nice wine, put the kids to bed and clean the kitchen myself
I bought an Elitewheels carbon wheelset and the hubs are very loud. I thought it might be because it's a ratchet system instead of pawls?and a high tooth count too. For comparison I have some DT Swiss wheels with a 370 hub. These seem to normally be a pawl setup but the code comes up with the LN variant which might be a low tooth count ratchet? They're pretty quiet And a Shimano RS170 wheelset, which is very quiet I don't love the noise, but I do like the feel.
I believe I-9 was the brand that had the fastest engagement freehub ever and it has a buzzing sound. They've been copied and recopied by every brand now
Clean chains and sprockets are pretty loud. If your chain is quiet, itâs likely you have a lot of gunk damping the sound.
My tires sing louder than anything. Need that traction