Slight grinding from cassette/rear hub

[EasyPeez]

You don't mean the clicking sound of the pawls do you?

Some retailers smear liberal quantities of grease into the hub where it contacts the pawls so make them quiet like Shimano. When the grease wears out/is thrown away from the area, the hubs starts to click like any normal Campagnolo rear hub.

No, I got used to the pawls early on. This sound was not a clicking, it was a light scraping that sounded exactly like you'd expect a spinning rotor catching on a brake pad to sound. Hence why it took me a while to figure out it wasn't a brake problem, and why it also took me a few minutes in my LBS to convince the mechanic in there that it wasn't a brake problem!

Could be a faulty / warn out freehub but could just be a dirty one...could try taking the cassette off, degreasing the freehub, re greasing, sticking the cassette back on...might work...if not, probably need a new freehub, else it might stop engaging and then you might find yourself stranded one day...LBS should be able to remove the cassette and inspect it for you...if it is a degrease and regrease then it should cost around £5. Anything else might be more...if it is to do with the freehub...

it turns out your second suggestion was right. It comes in handy being friends with a bike shop mech who is also a bit obsessive like me...once I'd convinced him it wasn't the brakes he just had to get to the bottom of the problem, even though I explained I was just after advice on the likely cause and intended taking it back to York for any work doing. So yeah, he insisted I bring it into the workshop where we stripped the wheel down and cleaned and regreased the freehub and it seems to have cured the problem. Didn't cost me a penny and as he got me to help him I was able to learn how to service/replace a freehub

It's an absurd bicycle fashionista/weight weenie thing to absolutely hate those disks. Don't ask me why. I've tried to get to the bottom of it on this forum with no luck. They shouldn't have removed it without asking you first, but I guess they knew better than the bicycle's manufacturer! If the chain ever slips off the large rear cog, your spokes will be damaged, possibly beyond repair. Not to worry though, I'm sure your LBS will give you a new wheel free of charge!

Hmmm...I'm sure they will...and pay suitable compensation should the chain going into the spokes cause me to fly into a ditch and lay me off work for a month?! Turns out when we stripped the wheel down that they had also put a spacer in back to front. I really liked the bike shop initially; when they dropped and damaged my new bike, causing me a month's wait for a replacement, I just put it down to one of those things. But since then they've sent me home with a replacement bike that turned out to have a faulty rear mech, then when replacing that took off the spoke protector without asking and put in a spacer incorrectly...I'm not sure I'd buy from them again

 

[EasyPeez]

One thing my mate couldn't help me with was why the freehub would have grit inside after 550 dry miles. He said the back to front spacer was unlikely to have caused this, and there were no faults or broken seals apparent etc. He wondered if the grit had got in there when the bike was put together or when having rear mech fixed in York. Can't see either of those being the case though?! Hope this isn't going to be a recurring problem as although I now know how to fix it I don't have the tools or space to do it at home at present.

 

[ayceejay]

That would be my guess EP the grit was there from the start.

 

[S.Giles]

Hence why it took me a while to figure out it wasn't a brake problem, and why it also took me a few minutes in my LBS to convince the mechanic in there that it wasn't a brake problem!

That reminds me of the (one and only) time I took my bike into Halfords with a brake problem. I knew exactly what was causing the trouble - a seized disk brake caliper (I had dismantled it at home out of curiosity). The 'mechanic' however was quite sure the brake cable was causing the issue. Anyway, three days later (and two days late) I finally received a call to pick my bike up and guess what? The cable had been replaced and the brake still didn't work! They ended-up putting a new caliper on for me free of charge while I waited (leading me to wonder why it took them three days to fail the first time).

It was after that episode that I started to get interested in doing my own repairs. I wouldn't dream of letting anyone else work on my bike these days, so maybe they did me a favour in the long run. I also got a £15 gift voucher from Halfords head-office as compensation (which I wasted on Haynes' hopeless The Bike Book: Complete Bicycle Maintenance - not recommended).

 

[Turbo Rider]

One thing my mate couldn't help me with was why the freehub would have grit inside after 550 dry miles. He said the back to front spacer was unlikely to have caused this, and there were no faults or broken seals apparent etc. He wondered if the grit had got in there when the bike was put together or when having rear mech fixed in York. Can't see either of those being the case though?! Hope this isn't going to be a recurring problem as although I now know how to fix it I don't have the tools or space to do it at home at present.

Glad you sorted it Could look at buying one of these - worth every penny in the long run and very cheap, considering...

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/tools-maintenance/tools/halfords-essential-bike-tool-kit

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/s?q=x-tools+bike+tool+kit+-+18+piece&cat=product

 

[EasyPeez]

That would be my guess EP the grit was there from the start.

Really? Bizarre. I'd sooner that be the case though I s'pose.

which I wasted on Haynes' hopeless The Bike Book: Complete Bicycle Maintenance - not recommended)

What don't you like about the book? I've found it covers everything I need and more and is and well-written, though not as useful in many cases as Youtube vids due to the obvious limitations of the format.

Glad you sorted it

In no small part thanks to your helpful advice, for which I'm very grateful. Cheers.

 

[EasyPeez]

Could look at buying one of these - worth every penny in the long run and very cheap, considering...

Wow - they are excellent value. Seems the logical next step given that I've got the workstand now.

 

[S.Giles]

What don't you like about the book? I've found it covers everything I need and more and is and well-written, though not as useful in many cases as Youtube vids due to the obvious limitations of the format.

I found it consistently stopped just short of giving enough information to enable me to know how to tackle the job at hand. It was descriptive rather than instructive, if that makes sense. In that respect it was very frustrating. I suppose it depends on what sort of jobs you are attempting and how much you are relying on the book to fill-in gaps in knowledge. I'm always fiddling around with my bike, but haven't touched the Haynes manual since I bought it well over a year ago. I think it may have now gone to a second edition (I saw one on Amazon that looked different to mine), so maybe they've improved it.

I've since found a vastly better book, but unfortunately don't have it to hand (it's in the shed), and can't remember the title. Believe me though, it leaves the Haynes book in the dust! (I can find out the title tomorrow if anyone is interested).

 

[annirak]

It's an absurd bicycle fashionista/weight weenie thing to absolutely hate those disks. Don't ask me why. I've tried to get to the bottom of it on this forum with no luck. They shouldn't have removed it without asking you first, but I guess they knew better than the bicycle's manufacturer! If the chain ever slips off the large rear cog, your spokes will be damaged, possibly beyond repair. Not to worry though, I'm sure your LBS will give you a new wheel free of charge!

Because all they do is make your bike noisy. I had one of those on my hybrid, and it consistently picked up a tiny fleck of grit, then made scraping noises whenever I freewheeled. I took it to halfords (didn't know any better at the time) and to do them credit, the mechanic knew exactly what it was, showed me the problem, told me how to fix it, and didn't charge me a penny.

Since then it's been an ever-present battle grit goes in, irritates me, I take it out.

That bike has gone well over a thousand miles. Over 500 this year alone. I've never had my chain snap and go into my spokes. I *have* broken a rear axle.

Recently, my cassette wore out. Can you guess what I took off while I had it apart?

 

[S.Giles]

Because all they do is make your bike noisy. I had one of those on my hybrid, and it consistently picked up a tiny fleck of grit, then made scraping noises whenever I freewheeled. I took it to halfords (didn't know any better at the time) and to do them credit, the mechanic knew exactly what it was, showed me the problem, told me how to fix it, and didn't charge me a penny.

Since then it's been an ever-present battle grit goes in, irritates me, I take it out.

That bike has gone well over a thousand miles. Over 500 this year alone. I've never had my chain snap and go into my spokes. I *have* broken a rear axle.

Recently, my cassette wore out. Can you guess what I took off while I had it apart?

I can appreciate your frustration with that situation. I've never had a problem with grit getting into the disk on my bike and causing a noise. I'd imagine that particular disk sat too close to the cassette for comfort.

It's not reasonable to state that 'all they do' is make the bike noisy, since you don't know if it ever performed its intended function and prevented spoke-damage (if it only happened once, it has earned its keep IMO). I've just replaced the rear wheel on my bike (which I purchased second-hand). It had no spoke protector when I bought it and guess what? There was evidence of spoke-damage of the sort that would have been caused by the chain coming off the cassette. I'm not going to risk that happening to my nice new Sapim Race spokes!

 

[Cyclopathic]

That was eliminated by the clue that the grinding only happens when freewheeling. The bearings on the cones always work when the wheel turns and will thus always grind, if it were them.

Probably summat else then.