The pedals turn, but nothing happens

londonlivvy

On the way back from a long ride, I suddenly had the sensation of no power - like when the chain falls off, your pedals spin round, but the rear wheel doesn't turn. I looked down, but the chain was still in place.

I am deducing that it's something wrong with the rear axle.

Is this fixable/moveable by me? Or do I need to get up at stupid o'clock to take my bike on the train to my (not very local) bike shop?

el_presidente

FUBARed freewheel, deffo a LBS job unless you are happy stripinghubs / removing freewheels?

londonlivvy

definitely NOT confident about that level of bike involvement. Rats. This was first ride out with new freewheel thing already.

Grr. Expensive things bikes.

Thanks for telling me what it probably is, though - saves me spending hours fiddling with hopeful expression thinking I'll manage to fix it.

Jamey

Just out of interest, is it quicker to replace a freewheel (assuming you can buy the spare parts - I've heard freewheels are tricky to purchase on their own) or is it quicker to replace the whole hub, which obviously means stripping and rebuilding the wheel?

itboffin

Before you do it's not uncommon for freewheel to stick or jam, mine did when it was really cold, normally they stick shut but you never know.

Just a thought

cullen_bay

no, the pawls wont be engaging methinks, its an lbs job, as shimano wont sell spares and i havent got a clue about sram, if you do touch it, then you cannot use the warranty.

MrChuck

I'd have thought just replacing the freehub will be a more attractive option than rebuilding the wheel around a new hub. Don't think they're that hard to get hold of, but if you're struggling a whole hub (including freehub) isn't that much more (Shimano anyway) and you could 'just' take the freehub off that. It's very hard though!

whyamihere

Freehub bodies are very easy to get, and easy to fit. If you're not confident about stripping a hub down, it's an LBS job though.

Vivid

Jamey wrote:

Just out of interest, is it quicker to replace a freewheel (assuming you can buy the spare parts - I've heard freewheels are tricky to purchase on their own) or is it quicker to replace the whole hub, which obviously means stripping and rebuilding the wheel?

If your talking about a Freewheel then they literally need unscrewing off and then screwing back on using the freewheel tool.

Freehubs require removing the axle which obviously takes more time.

To londonlivvy - Is it a freewheel or cassette?

Mills127

This has happened to me this morning!

My bike is only 4 months old (Felt Z70 2008) and i've covered somewhere around 900 miles - i'm surprised this has happened at this stage. should i be? annoyingly, i only got my LBS to take the play out of my rear hub (regreased the bearings etc) 4 days ago - is this an unhappy coincidence? i can't help but feel frustrated that i've had some work done on (almost) the exact area that the problem has occurred and the condition of the freewheel hasn't been checked.

Furkuk

Same here, happened to me this week. Took the wheel off, Squirted lubricant down the cartridge and spun it until I heard the ratchet working inside the emptied the lubricant out then forced some grease into it and it is working perfectly now

cougie

Its frozen - loads of people have been getting the same problems in the cold snap. Try weeing on it !