# single speed freewheel



## h2o-x

I am just finishing up a Masi build with a flip-flop hub. Who makes a good single speed freewheel other than White Industries? I just can't rationalize spending that much on a freecog right now. But it seems that most of the ones I have seen for $20 are certainly not Scottish, they're CRAP! 

Is there anything in priced in between $20 and $80 that doesn't sound like they used pebbles for bearings?

Thanks.


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## harryhood

I was actually just wondering the same thing..


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## jmlapoint

I have used several
The ACS CLAWS Freewheel is inexpensive, but fairly noisy/gritty IMO.
The Shimano SF-MX30 is nice and can be made very quiet if you remove the Coverplate and oil with Phils or any good heavy oil.
The Shimano SF-1200 is also nice and can be made very quiet with the same treatment.
Use a Pin-Tool or a punch to remove Coverplate which comes off 'Clockwise'.
Lots of Ball Bearings so be careful.
John


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## Dave Hickey

It's White Industries and the rest....ACS, Shimano, and others are all the same quality..


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## FatTireFred

nobody


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## PeanutButterBreath

Shimano is the second best bet, but still a lame child's toy next to White Industries.


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## roadfix

I actually like the sound of a swarm of bees.


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## anthony.delorenzo

There are some trials freewheels like Echo that cost less than White Industries, but not much. 

For me, ACS Claws have been a reliable second-rate freewheel. I like the fact that they are horribly noisy. But there is basically White Industries and everyone else.


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## Jim311

I have an ACS. It started out really noisy but I guess I crushed all of the spare metal and sand that it came with into a very fine oily paste and now it's fairly quiet. It still wobbles back and forth and is definitely not a precision instrument. I keep the fixed gear cog on the other side so who cares if it fails.


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## h2o-x

Jim311, if the ACS fails, you may end up with fixed on both sides of the hub.


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## PeanutButterBreath

h2o-x said:


> Jim311, if the ACS fails, you may end up with fixed on both sides of the hub.


Or you may smash your junk when the pawls fail to catch while hammering up a hill out of the saddle.


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## h2o-x

Good thing this Masi is a girl's slope tube bike, for I would hate to smash my junk when my pawl fails!


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## FatTireFred

h2o-x said:


> Jim311, if the ACS fails, you may end up with fixed on both sides of the hub.




or completely free on one...


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## Richard

I threw my ACS in the solvent tank, blew it out with "Monica" (what our mechanics call the air compressor attachment for "blowing" crap off and out) and then dribbled Phil Wood Tenacious Oil into it for a couple of hours. It definitely smoothed it out and quieted it down, but it still has that annoying random "clunk".

Yep, there is White Industries and everything else.

By the way, with our BMX clientele, we've had more Shimanos go bellyup than ACS. But they're both crap.


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## Jim311

LOL, neither becoming fixed or completely free sounds appealing. I just couldn't bear the thought of spending 80 dollars on a freewheel when I paid 350 for the whole bike.


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## David Loving

Jim311 - take a leap of faith and buy a white industries freewheel. Bikeman.com has the best prices I have seen lately.


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## Jim311

Is what I'm riding *really* that bad? Maybe if it craps out next week or something I'd consider replacing it but for now it seems to be working alright. I mean I already bought it, why not ride it till it dies?


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## Dave Hickey

Jim311 said:


> Is what I'm riding *really* that bad? Maybe if it craps out next week or something I'd consider replacing it but for now it seems to be working alright. I mean I already bought it, why not ride it till it dies?



It's not bad....I've never had a freewheel fail on me....The cheap ones just clunk, grind, and tick.....


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## FatTireFred

Jim311 said:


> Is what I'm riding *really* that bad? Maybe if it craps out next week or something I'd consider replacing it but for now it seems to be working alright. I mean I already bought it, why not ride it till it dies?




ride it until it dies... but also ask yourself, where will it die? and do you feel lucky? well, do ya?


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## blakcloud

Jim311 said:


> Is what I'm riding *really* that bad? Maybe if it craps out next week or something I'd consider replacing it but for now it seems to be working alright. I mean I already bought it, why not ride it till it dies?


I had that attitude until a Shimano died in the middle of my commute. Took me over an hour to walk out of the bike trail I was commuting on to jump on a subway. Not something I want to do again. The kicker is, I had a White Industries freewheel sitting at home brand new in the box. Well I actually had three as I bought them on sale from a guy on MTBR. 

I just bought a Masi and the first thing I did when I got home was installed a WI freewheel and a new chain.


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## Jim311

Dave Hickey said:


> It's not bad....I've never had a freewheel fail on me....The cheap ones just clunk, grind, and tick.....



Oh it does make plenty of noise.


Clunk clunk, clunk clunk, clunk clunk... but you get what you pay for, and it was in stock at the LBS as an impulse buy. I have a friend who is running the exact same freewheel on his beater SS MTB that sees mud, water, sand, etc constantly and he has been riding it going on 6 years. When it blows up maybe I'll consider WI but till then...


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## jmlapoint

As a possible quick fix, you might consider soaking it in some Motor Oil to let the oil sink in to maybe lube and quiet the pawls. Wipe and spin and wipe.
I have done this on a clunky FW, and it helped a little.


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## Love Commander

If I've been out in the rain, I'll dribble some Finish Line past the face plate on my ACS freewheel, then spin. I keep repeating until I see crud coming out. It has 2 years on it - though I guess only one year of use since the wheel gets flipped to fixed in the winter. So far so good. And, like someone else said, I kinda like the noise it makes when coasting.


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## Alx

you're running a flip-flop hub, if the cheap one fails switch to fixed and ride it home and swap it out, I bet even that cheap one will last longer than you think.


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## jack in the matrix

Over the past 10 years, I had pretty good luck with Shimano, ACS and even one generic Chinese brand. They would usually start out noisy (when coasting), eventually become silent (coasting - I did like stealth mode), then start knocking under power (time to replace). Only had one almost injurious failure. (My fault - knew I was tempting fate). They didn't last long (maybe a year), but I got my money's worth. That said, I now have 2 WI freewheels, and don't expect to buy another for a few years, if ever. They're totally serviceable/rebuildable.


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## MaxCycles

My cheap Shimano has lasted a while. It has the usual annoying sounds every once in a while, but not too bad. I had an ACS that I put on my gf's bike. It seemed to be a bit better quality and sounded better. You could go all out and buy a WI/Echo, but the cheap ones last a while. Won't cost much to replace either. Just have a fixed cog on the other side along with the proper tools just incase you have a failure.


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## C Cow

*3x30=90*

At least I think that's good math.

I've been riding/racing SS cx and road for a couple of years, both bikes use freewheels, and neither have a WI mounted. I've been buying what's available, and cheap. I have discovered that the Shimanos seem to last longer than the others. After about 500 miles on an ACS, that random clunk begins. Back off for a second and start pedalling again, repeat until I get the best "pawl alignment" and it's silent again. That gets old quick. My lube method- lay the bike on the non-drive side, spin the wheel, drip oil in the gap on the freewheel surface; the spinning sends the oil down into the magical parts on the inside; keep it spinning for a while to work the oil through.

The Shimanos are quite longer, maybe at least 1000 - 2000 miles. Odd pricing locally, some shops have the Shimanos less than ACS and some are the other way. Either 20 or 30 dollars for a cheap imitation, it adds up quick to the price of the WI. 

My next one will be WI, but first, I've got a couple of Shimanos to wear out.

Poor Cow


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## commutenow

C Cow your lube method works and it sure is nice to be able to hear cars when they are around. Thanks for the great info.


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## David Loving

I use a white on one side and a high quality Shimano freewheel on the "active" side and the shimano works great - it does not do all that stuff reported elsewhere. That said, the very best in the market are the White Industries freewheels - the minute I hear a peep out of the dura ace freewheel, it's off in favor of a white ind. freewheel!


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## palu

h2o-x said:


> I am just finishing up a Masi build with a flip-flop hub. Who makes a good single speed freewheel other than White Industries? I just can't rationalize spending that much on a freecog right now. But it seems that most of the ones I have seen for $20 are certainly not Scottish, they're CRAP!
> 
> Is there anything in priced in between $20 and $80 that doesn't sound like they used pebbles for bearings?
> 
> Thanks.


WI FW at bikeman is $70.


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## Fixed

*reliable?*



David Loving said:


> I use a white on one side and a high quality Shimano freewheel on the "active" side and the shimano works great - it does not do all that stuff reported elsewhere. That said, the very best in the market are the White Industries freewheels - the minute I hear a peep out of the dura ace freewheel, it's off in favor of a white ind. freewheel!


Let's say you were going to take off and ride 1000 miles alone. Which one would you use?


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## David Loving

Fixed said:


> Let's say you were going to take off and ride 1000 miles alone. Which one would you use?


Funny you ask! Turns out my White Industries 16 freewheel is on the freewheel side of the hub and I put the Dura Ace 17 freewheel on the fixed cog side. I use the 17 now. I decided to swap them, turned the wheel over, and the 16 has my chainline so out of whack that I can't use it! That's not the WI's fault of course. When I installed them I didn't know there is a difference! I'll fix it this weekend...


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## FatTireFred

Fixed said:


> Let's say you were going to take off and ride 1000 miles alone. Which one would you use?




in dry conditions without a spare? 
are you serious???


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## PeanutButterBreath

Shimano sells a Dura Ace freewheel?


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## Fixed

*chainline?*



David Loving said:


> Funny you ask! Turns out my White Industries 16 freewheel is on the freewheel side of the hub and I put the Dura Ace 17 freewheel on the fixed cog side. I use the 17 now. I decided to swap them, turned the wheel over, and the 16 has my chainline so out of whack that I can't use it! That's not the WI's fault of course. When I installed them I didn't know there is a difference! I'll fix it this weekend...


The left and right sides of the hub have different chainlines? How do you fix this?


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## Richard

PeanutButterBreath said:


> Shimano sells a Dura Ace freewheel?


I wish! The Shimanos we get are no better than the ACS Claws. And anything is better than the $10 ACS Maindrives. Now there is a POS!

By the way, it looks like J&B/Origen8 is coming out with a 6 pawl SS freewheel that looks to be about a $40 retail item. So far I've only seen a 16t and I need an 18. Might "split the difference" between the bottom of the heap and the WI's.


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## Chenadrian

h2o-x said:


> I am just finishing up a Masi build with a flip-flop hub. Who makes a good single speed freewheel other than White Industries? I just can't rationalize spending that much on a freecog right now. But it seems that most of the ones I have seen for $20 are certainly not Scottish, they're CRAP!
> 
> Is there anything in priced in between $20 and $80 that doesn't sound like they used pebbles for bearings?
> 
> Thanks.


Now, there is new ACS crossfire freewheel offered with quite and smooth rides. Try it n you may love it......


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## Chenadrian

Try the new ACS crossfire freewheel, reliable and quite! Awesome feel on paddling.......


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## Azreal

I have seen a vintage TDS made in UK. And sturmley archer Are either of these any good


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