Freewheel with the volume turned down

check_six

I've recently swapped in a new set of wheels on my roadbike, but I've become concerned about a sudden absence in my audio environment. Where's my noisy freewheel gone?

My old wheels were a set of Mavics. As soon as you relented from your vigorous yet whisper quiet thrashing of the pedals the freewheel would emit a furious buzzing. The kind of noise you would imagine a wasp would make if their carpentry project had gone from bad to worse and then they'd smashed their thumb with a hammer as the bookshelf they were building tipped over and crushed the TV. A noise pleasing to me as I swept along the avenues and boulevards.

Over time there have even been a few episodes where the pawls of the freewheel have become clogged up with goop and the buzzing noise changed to a more ominous howling like you might imagine a WWII dive bomber, or a banshee, or a banshee piloting a WWII dive bomber might make. This noise was not so nice, but at least it could be remedied with a bit of bike maintenance.

Now, however, I've installed a set of Fulcrums and all I can hear is a faint noise in the distance a bit like an ant knitting a cardigan, but trying to do it quietly so as not to wake the other ants. To make matters worse, I'd even read that one of the drawbacks of a Fulcrum wheel was that they had a noisy freewheel. Great! I thought. Lies! I discovered. Perhaps this is what passes for a noisy freewheel nowadays?

Has anyone any experience or thoughts on the current trend for noisy or quiet freewheels? Or can anyone point me in the direction of somewhere where I can get some spokeydokeys to bring some music back to my cycles?

OleRodrigo

Campy hubs make a lovely sound, like a quiet purr from the future. Fulcrums tend to be a bit more abrasive, oddly enough.

I hear great things about the noise from Tune Mig/Mags. I'm currently digging the sounds of Novatec A171/F172 which apparently are a copy of the old record hubs.

CramCycle

My understanding was that the noise was inversely proportional to the cost, class and kudos that were related to the wheels. The nosier they are, the more you should get of all three.

Boardnashea

check_six

CramCycle wrote: »

My understanding was that the noise was inversely proportional to the cost, class and kudos that were related to the wheels. The nosier they are, the more you should get of all three.

Uh oh! Maybe I've over stinge-d on the wheel purchase. I thought I was getting decent wheels (Fulcrum 5 LG, very impressed so far, apart from the lack of noise) at a bargain price. Maybe I just got a pair of barrel hoops tied together with bits of old umbrellas. Is there a reliable rule of thumb for how much you should go over your budget for a new pair of wheels?

07Lapierre

Fast Forward Wheels are LOUD!

Weepsie

My Fulcrum 3 are lovely and loud

gwakamoley

I had the same disappointment when I bought my Fulcrum 3s last year, but after a few spins the freewheel noise developed beautifully.

Sarz91

As others have said, it can take time to bed in. I had a set of hope mono rs hubs and they were noisy as hell. After I serviced the freehub the noise calmed down for a few rides but returned to normal shortly after. I put it down to the freehub grease damping out the sound when freshly applied.

lissard

You need Zondas, they can be heard from space ;-)

Borderfox

My C-24 wheels sound like an old safe being opened by an expert burglar

check_six

Is it all the deep section wheel types that make that whoop whoop whoop noise as they are rolling along, or is is just some types? Dunno if I'd be too enthusiastic about noise all the time even when you are not freewheeling.

check_six

gwakamoley wrote: »

I had the same disappointment when I bought my Fulcrum 3s last year, but after a few spins the freewheel noise developed beautifully.

This is most intriguing. I will monitor with interest.