How Do You Silence Campag's Noisy Pawls ?

mercsport

As I've just replied to one I might as well hang on here and ask a question that's been bugging me since I got the new Shamal Ultra wheelset . How on earth do you silence Campagnolo's noisy , clicking, pawls when on the freewheel ?
I managed it on my old Nucleon's by squirting some grease into the grease hole in the middle of the hub O.K.. It was fine , years of perfect silence . On the set of old Record hubbed wheels that I'm using now in this crap weather , oozing the grease in through the nipple doesn't seem to work . And now that it's on my mind and I've brought the subject up : the Shamal Ultra's I have don't have a nipple/port at all . So , no go there then .
Any ideas ?
P.S., the clicking bugs me enough to ask the question .

mrushton

it's the sound of Campagnolo. As far as I'm aware all their hubs sound like that. Shimano are quieter as are others.

Smokin Joe

Beware of overpacking with grease to quieten it down, it can cause the pawls to jam.

Garybee

Pedal more.

Rob Sallnow

You can cut the noise down by 66% by taking two of the pawls out.....saves 3 grams as well!!

nick hanson

Garybee wrote:

Pedal more.

I'll second that!

Raph

That stringy blue grease does it - it's "thixotropic". Can't remember the brand name, but it's really gloopy, more like melted cheese than the usual butter-like consistency as in lithium or moly grease. It isn't thick enough to prevent the pawls engaging but it's gloopy enough to reduce the clicking a lot. I quietened down a hope ti glide a few years ago and it's still pretty quiet.

On the other hand - a loud freewheel is quite good when you get those ramblers in the road and need to alert the fact that you're steaming along - I used to click brake levers to get attention but ergo levers don't click, so freewheeling a bit with a campag freewheel is about as loud and is unmistakeably "bicycle" to the average civvy. Slightly less agressive than yelling AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH as you apporach. Slightly less effective too I admit.

redddraggon

It's a wonderful sound!

Ste_S

mercsport wrote:

As I've just replied to one I might as well hang on here and ask a question that's been bugging me since I got the new Shamal Ultra wheelset . How on earth do you silence Campagnolo's noisy , clicking, pawls when on the freewheel ?
I managed it on my old Nucleon's by squirting some grease into the grease hole in the middle of the hub O.K.. It was fine , years of perfect silence . On the set of old Record hubbed wheels that I'm using now in this crap weather , oozing the grease in through the nipple doesn't seem to work . And now that it's on my mind and I've brought the subject up : the Shamal Ultra's I have don't have a nipple/port at all . So , no go there then .
Any ideas ?
P.S., the clicking bugs me enough to ask the question .

Take the bits labeled "Campagnolo" off and replace with Shimano

stephec

You don't, it's there to remind you that you've made the right choice!

Down the Road

You don't take the engine out of a ferrari so why would you want to silence the best noise in the cycling world

Embrace it

il_principe

Why would you want to silence it? It's a glorious noise!

heavymental

It psses me off. I like hearing the whistle of the wind and the birds in the sky when I freewheel. Not a loud clicking sound. When my Eurus arrive I'll be sticking some gloop in there to shut it up!

nickwill

I'm not a mechanic, but if they are meant to sound like that, why worry. I can't think you are doing much good to your wheels if you are packing them full of grease when they are not originally specced that way. That's the way they are meant to sound!

mercsport

I take on board everybody's ideas re. the Campag. 'click' , particularly Garybee's '" pedal more " . Yes !
Rob's idea is a good one in taking a couple of the ruddy things out . Desperation might make me do that in the end . But , why don't Campag. do it themselves ? Or , why don't they make their pawls out of a quieter material ? How , in fact , do Shimano and the rest manage it ?
I accept that plenty of you enjoy the trill of Campag's lively little one note orchestra but it's a no-no for my , oh , so delicate , sensibilities . What's left of them that is .
Strangest thing is that I'm half deaf anyway ( official : I qualify for a hearing aid on the NHS ) . :roll:

heavymental

Surely taking pawls out isn't a good idea though? Are they not more liable to break if there's only half the orginal number in there?

By the way, if they were really cheap wheels would people be that chuffed about the fact that they're so noisy?! To say 'its the campag way' seems a bit daft to me. Have you been tricked into thinking every design flaw is actually a brand feature!? Its hardly a nice noise, like the roar of a sports car is. Surely a bike should be nice and smooth and stealthy. My dura ace hubs are quiet and spin for ever and although I'm confident my Eurus will also be great, I'm not looking forward to the back wheel alerting me to its presence every time I approach a junction, go through a tight corner, have a drink, look behind etc etc.

secretsqirrel

You think Campag is bad, you should hear Chris King hubs, not knick-named 'Angry Bee' for nothing.

pete.whelan

can't see what the fuss is all about. Just keep pedalling and the pawls stay quiet (plus you get to your destination quicker )

Rob Sallnow

mercsport wrote:

Rob's idea is a good one in taking a couple of the ruddy things out . Desperation might make me do that in the end . But , why don't Campag. do it themselves ?

I did hope you'd see I wasn't serious....all your power going through 1 pawl would probably have a significant effect on your groin after not very long!!

Perhaps the indents or pawls are not as deep on Shimano hubs so they make less noise.

mercsport

I did hope you'd see I wasn't serious....all your power going through 1 pawl would probably have a significant effect on your groin after not very long!!

Well , to be honest I wasn't at all sure . :? The prospect of tooling about in the hub didn't fill me with delight as I'm sure it would develop into a farce of 'find the springs' . Or somesuch . :shock:
All this has driven me to dig out ' the Manual ' and it looks tame enough in there , so I may have a prod about . See what's what .

jpembroke

It's a well known fact that the better the hub the louder they are. As mentioned above, if you think that Campag are bad you should hear Chris King.

Funnily enough, I serviced my Proton rear hub recently and when I put it all back together it was really quiet. I was gutted! I took it all apart again, took the bearings back out, and removed some of the grease but it's still too quiet. I hate it; it feels wrong, like my bike is sick or something.

mercsport

" It's a well known fact that the better the hub the louder they are. "

Is it ? :shock:

It's a fact that we can get used to most things eventually . But I have a long list of stuff I don't want to get used to . Campag's pawls for one . I certainly got used to the blessed peace that I was gifted after smudging the hubnipple with a healthy dose of grease on the Nucleons several years ago . I don't want to go back .
It maybe relevant to note that after pulling my lardy self up a hill around where I live the freewheel down the other side can be quite long . In the case of the run down to Holmefirth after topping out from my gaff here in Saddleworth is about 8 miles I think . When the breeze is behind you it's a joy to be scudding along in near perfect peace , without even windrush often enough . So , for me , it's a long way to be listening to that cursed clicking . :x
Anyway , you've certainly encouraged me to have a poke inside the hub and apply some soothing unguent to the pawls . Thanks . :P
It's a bit of a fag though that the remedy doesn't seem able to be applied externally and that the hub has to be disassembled .

jpembroke

8 miles? The descent from the Col de la Cayolle is 20 miles. The thought of doing that without my faithful Campag click to keep me company........no, it doesn't bear thinking about. It'd be like having my soul removed.

Raph

"why don't they make their pawls out of a quieter material "

Er.... peanut butter?


I'll try and remember what that grease is called. It's kind of sticky and gloopy, it doesn't get pushed out of the way like normal grease, cos it's sticky and keeps getting pulled back into the gaps under the pawls. It's a light blue colour and is stringy like melted pizza cheese. I've got it in a grease gun so I no longer have the original container with the brand name. Surely someone else here has used it and knows where to get it?

mercsport

Yes , I've seen it too . But I can't put a name to it either ! Sounds to be better than the normal brown gloop .
Thanks for keeping it in mind . I'd appreciate the heads -up .

Cheers

mercsport

A footnote to all the above .
Too fagged to bother searching out the blue gloop , today I unscrewed all the stuff that is to be undone on the left side of the rear Shamal hub - a couple of 5mm Allen keys and a 2.5mm are the tools needed - and just pushed enough to seperate the freewheel from the hub - an 1/8th only - and squeezed some ordinary gloop into the gap . Screwed everything back together again - result : SILENCE on the freewheel .
Joy . Peace , perfect peace !

FORUM EXPERT

Well done You have just voided your warranty. The factory adds the correct amount of grease to ensure correct operation.

mercsport

Well , seeing as you're a self appointed 'expert ' I guess you're right . However , where exactly have I voided the warranty ? How does 'maintenance and adjustment' make it void ?
Or are you just being a 'prick' ?

aracer

I think FORUM EXPERT is actually a TOTAL NUMPTY

Ken Night

jpembroke wrote:

8 miles? The descent from the Col de la Cayolle is 20 miles. The thought of doing that without my faithful Campag click to keep me company........no, it doesn't bear thinking about. It'd be like having my soul removed.

the round from Barcelonette is one of the best in the Alps-about 125k and 3500m of climbing...........but I digress

It is a lovely sound. No question.

When riding around as a lad, one would put a piece of card on the seatstay, so it clicked in all the spokes to give street cred.....

I've thrown the cards away and I have Zondas and Eurus, Daytona, and an 8spd Veloce

The click does diminish in time, but you only have to service the hubs to restore it (easy of course, with Campag, as the writer above observes)

I've restored the 8spd Veloce to full volume-love it, love Campag. I do sympathise if it's an irritant....but it does beg a question about wheel choice

robbarker

The best way to solve the Campag noisy freehub problem is to stop using Campag freehubs. Whatever you do don't remove pawls, Campag freehubs are said to be unreliable enough as it is.