chain help please

stueyc

got on winter bike for work this morning after about week off...drive ok and shifting fine,however as soon as stop pedalling chain will not release and snags,ending up removing from cogs,when trying to freewheel or spin the drive back seems like chain snags and doesn't roll....is the chain mucky?worn?..cassette worn?....help please

speshyalex

have you checked your jockey wheels arn't seized?

stueyc

jockey wheels seem to be spinning ok...its only a problem when reversing the chain...normal drive is fine but when freewheeling chain or cassette or cogs don't release and spin

John C.

Sounds like the free wheel/hub has siezed up, You could try loads of WD40. but as a new hub is about 20 quid you may be as well getting a new wheel

Mike67

+ 1 for the freehub.

It may be just be gunked up or may be broken.

You could take the cassette off and see if there is a load of gunk behind the cassette around where the freehub meets the wheelhub spline.

If you're feeling really enthusiastic take the freehub body off the wheel and clean it all up behind there.

Otherwise as John C says squirt a load of WD40 down the gap between it and the hub spline and hope it frees up a little.

Can you turn the cassette backwards by hand at all?
Is it just stiff or does it feel like it's catching as it goes around.
Catching would indicate something jammed/broken in there.

Nerrep

The above options are more likely, but it might be worth checking the spokegaurd (the plastic disc behind the cassette). On my mountain bike it had broken and dropped down, wedging the cassette to the spokes, meaning that the freewheel became jammed. Solution was to rip it off with some pliers.