Spline?
- Thread starter pawl
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Specialeyes
Guru
Generally, the more splines a hub has, the smoother the take-up as you pedal will be so it will feel smoother. If you imagine a hub with just one spline, it could go through almost a whole revolution before the spline engages and makes the wheel turn. At the other extreme, a hub with 360 splines (they don't exist either) would only rotate a tiny amount before the splines engaged. Hope that makes sense 
raleighnut
Legendary Member
You're mixing splines up with pawls (which given the OPs username is apt)Generally, the more splines a hub has, the smoother the take-up as you pedal will be so it will feel smoother. If you imagine a hub with just one spline, it could go through almost a whole revolution before the spline engages and makes the wheel turn. At the other extreme, a hub with 360 splines (they don't exist either) would only rotate a tiny amount before the splines engaged. Hope that makes sense
I would think 'spline' in this context refers to 'centrelock disc' as opposed to 6 bolt disc mounts.
simon.r
Person
raleighnut
Legendary Member
Yep, nice piccy you found
OP
OP
pawl
Legendary Member
I Did wonder if it had something to do with disk brakes Thanks for that
Thanks to all that replied
rogerzilla
Legendary Member
A splined connection, in engineering terms, is just a shaft with longitudinal ridges and a matching part that slides onto it. They are better at transmitting torque than a cottered connection or similar, and are easier to undo than a screwed connection.
Shimano use splines for cassettes and the crank to BB connection (now in its third incarnation; the first one was pretty rubbish as they didn't really understand the way a crank squirms under load, and it tended to loosen and trash itself).
It's not a common word outside mechanical engineering circles; the first time I heard it was indeed in a university mechanical engineering lecture.
Shimano use splines for cassettes and the crank to BB connection (now in its third incarnation; the first one was pretty rubbish as they didn't really understand the way a crank squirms under load, and it tended to loosen and trash itself).
It's not a common word outside mechanical engineering circles; the first time I heard it was indeed in a university mechanical engineering lecture.
si_c
Guru
The ridges on a freehub body and on a centrelock rotor are all technically spines as @rogerzilla notes.
Also worth mentioning is that Shimano 12 speed drivetrains use what they term a microspline freehub body - where the ridges are narrower and smaller than on a more traditional freehub. This could also be the spline that @pawl is seeing mentioned - particularly if looking at MTB wheels.
Also worth mentioning is that Shimano 12 speed drivetrains use what they term a microspline freehub body - where the ridges are narrower and smaller than on a more traditional freehub. This could also be the spline that @pawl is seeing mentioned - particularly if looking at MTB wheels.
Specialeyes
Guru
You're right of course - I put it down to a Zwift-induced brainfart 😊
rrarider
Veteran
Well, I thought that it was but I accept that even with the benefit of the Oxford English Dictionary, a person would struggle to find a definition that made sense.
Perhaps I belong to the generation that struggled to get the the splines on a gearbox first-motion shaft engaged with the driven plate of a clutch when replacing the whole clutch in the 1970s. I think that DIY car maintenance has become more difficult as cars got more complicated and is now a lost art/science to new motorists.
raleighnut
Legendary Member
Having trouble there is often down to the clutch plate being misaligned to the spigot shaft bush, the answer is to quote Arkwright "jer Jer Jiggle it a bit"
rogerzilla
Legendary Member
I thought it was also the sleazy promoter from "The Blues Brothers" but I now see he was Maury Sline.
rrarider
Veteran
The proper way was with a clutch alignment too to centre the plate on the flywheel, which cheapskates like me made out of a length of broom handle with tape wrapped round it.