Road bikes with loud free wheels?

[Bikerjon]

What’s the deal with the extra loud freewheels on road bikes these days? Does it actually serve a purpose or it just a “thing”?

The “MAMIL’s” were out in force around my way today and I notice they all seem to have the extra loud clicking freewheels, so I'm guessing this is now the mark of an expensive bike?!

[ReaderScars]

Started off as a BMX 'fashion' years ago. Laughable, the things that people buy into.

Thing is, if that's the only type of pawls/springs (whatever they're called) that the manufacturers put out you're stuck with it if you need a new freewheel.

[okgo]

It doesn't mean they're expensive.

I've got Royce hubs that when greased are near silent. But they do get louder as they dry out.

[Long Drax]

The noise is there to warn pedestrians on shared pathways that there's a cyclist approaching from behind.

[mcelliott]

I've got campy zondas they wicked

[yellowjack]

I'd like some loud freehubs.

A mate has Hope wheels on his MTB and they sound pretty cool (very childish thing to say at nearly 48 years old, I know).

But sadly (or perhaps happily?) I've never paid money out for "just wheels". I've been lucky to have been happy with what was fitted to my bikes when I bought them, and I've looked after the bearings, kept the rims clean, and they've lasted well. And just when I thought I'd be buying a set because I trashed the ones on my 'winter' bike (derailleur detachment - it broke a bunch of spokes, the bearing race is pitted after many thousands of miles, and the rims are wearing down after 21 years), a friend's husband offered me his old wheels for nowt as he'd got a bargain pair of Vision wheels for his road bike.

At this rate I'll never get to have a set of "clicky" bicycle wheels!

[james7]

Loud freehubs are cool

If you want to be one of us cool kids you can use playing cards in your spokes, but be warned they fall out if you go too fast
You will also need flat pedals as all us cool kids are rockin flat pedals


I love mine on my mtb on shared use paths as people hear the angry wasp noise and are a bit more prepared for the fat sweaty bloke slowly overtaking them
Not sure if they would annoy me on a road bike though. My mtb makes a bit of tyre noise etc, but my road bike is silent and i kinda like that.

[Matt_N]

Hope and Zipps hubs tend to be quite loud.

You can upgrade some hubs from 3 pawl to 6 pawl, DT for example, that gives them an angry wasp buzz.

105 freehub on my commuter is near silent, as are my Miche hubs.

Powertap is mid level.

[ecs]

Chris King freehubs are famously loud - I think you can even get the noise they make as a ringtone! Hope freehubs are usually pretty noisy too They usually cite higher spring tension on the pawls (or a higher number of pawls) for quicker engagement when explaining why they're so noisy, but I think it's really just fashion/their 'trademark' since you can get quick engaging hubs which are nice and quiet too.

[Maxf]

Mine are pretty loud - the wheels came with the bike. They are pretty handy though - the noise definitely helps let people know I'm behind them in a non-aggressive way.

[okgo]

ecs said:

Chris King freehubs are famously loud - I think you can even get the noise they make as a ringtone! Hope freehubs are usually pretty noisy too They usually cite higher spring tension on the pawls (or a higher number of pawls) for quicker engagement when explaining why they're so noisy, but I think it's really just fashion/their 'trademark' since you can get quick engaging hubs which are nice and quiet too.

My CK hubs are much quieter than others. Its more of a hum vs click owing to the way the hub is made.

[the tribester]

Long Drax said:

The noise is there to warn pedestrians on shared pathways that there's a cyclist approaching from behind.

.....who is not pedalling

[Bikerjon]

Ah I suppose I can just about get the warning pedestrians angle if you don't want to use a bell, but I suspect that it's now just trendy as I've heard this mostly on road bikes and they tend to stick to roads rather than paths. Angry wasps is a good description!