Freewheel vs cassette

[RidingBSOisnotacrime]

Today, I have removed the freewheel from my touring bike as I wanted to service the dirty hub, cogs, spokes etc. It was shocking to see how easy the process was. I have used a long braker bar and the £4 special tool for removing the freewheel. You don't disturb any other parts and it takes not even a minute once you remove the rear wheel from the bike of course. I am actually planning to buy a second freewheel for hills now. I am now confident that I can change it according to the terrain just before I go to cycling. Yup, there is enough slack in my chain. I know cassettes are very popular and I opened some cassettes before on my road bike but is there a huge difference in their performance? I can't compare because they are on completely different bikes. All I can say is after today's experience on a freewheel maintaince I am very impressed about their practically. Just wondering what people are thinking about that? Are you a cassette person or freewheel? Why?

 

[Cycleops]

Youll be able to get more speeds on a cassette of course. Some say that the length of unsupported axle on a freewheel makes them (the axle) weak and prone to breaking, I’ve had no experience of that. Most modern bikes use cassettes.
i have one freewheel and one cassette, one vintage, one modern bike.

 

[si_c]

A cassette and freehub is a techically superior solution for a number of reasons, not least of which is that there are more bearings and further out along the axle - this means that there is more support. Whilst it is possible to bend an axle it's not particularly common, a more prevalent issue with freewheels is a bit of wobble. A good explanation of the latter is here.

Lastly it separates the bearings and ratchet from the sprockets themselves, this means manufacturing costs are reduced overall I would imagine - however don't expect this to be passed on to the consumer.

 

[midlife]

As above, the longer the freewheel the more unsupported the axle so would never be more than 8 speed. I'd try a tripple up front if you need a wider range of gears