# Freewheel: Expensive vs. Not



## tree98 (Jan 30, 2011)

Is there a difference between a $10 no name freewheel and a $70 white industries one? 
I am looking to buy one but would look to know if I am just wasting money if I buy an expensive one.


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## tree98 (Jan 30, 2011)

rcnute said:


> I've always been happy with my $10 ones so I never tried the fancy ones.


Which ones do you use?


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## rcnute (Dec 21, 2004)

I've always been happy with my $10 ones so I never tried the fancy ones.


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

I'm usually not a big advocate of spending big$$ on bike components....Freewheels are the exception to that rule... There are WI freewheels and everything else.....they are worth the $70


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## tree98 (Jan 30, 2011)

*Would this work with a 1/8" chain? My front chaining is 1/8". This has 17t and 19t cogs. It is a white industries dos.*


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## FatTireFred (Jan 31, 2005)

tree98 said:


> Is there a difference between a $10 no name freewheel and a $70 white industries one?




heII yes
figure out your gearing on a cheapo, then blow the wad


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## tihsepa (Nov 27, 2008)

A white industries is well worth it. Very nice indeed.

No, the dos wont work with 1/8th chains.


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## Mootsie (Feb 4, 2004)

Dave Hickey said:


> I'm usually not a big advocate of spending big$$ on bike components....Freewheels are the exception to that rule... There are WI freewheels and everything else.....they are worth the $70


+1 I had the POS $14 Shimano one for a couple years. I then bought the White Ind one and would never go back. The quality is evident from the first turn of the pedals.


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## commutenow (Sep 26, 2004)

Get the WI it is so nice and I am glad I bought one!!


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## rcnute (Dec 21, 2004)

tree98 said:


> Which ones do you use?


Whatever they take off the shelf at the shop. But I guess I need to give the good stuff a go!


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## BianchiJoe (Jul 22, 2005)

I put a WI on every SS that'll take one. TOTALLY worth it.


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## WA/SScrossracer (Oct 4, 2010)

I've found the WI to be worth it, especially for a Mountain SS, or a cross SS racer that is ridden in wet muddy conditions. Probably not quite as big a deal on a nice weather road SS bike. My two SS mountain bikes, and SS cross racer all have WI freewheels, and if I started up BMX racing again I'd look to get one on the BMX bikes as well.


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## Jim311 (Sep 18, 2009)

I have a cheap one on my Kilo TT. It is smooth in it's coasting action, but under pedaling power it goes "kerklunk, kerklunk, kerklunk" softly. It's somewhat annoying, but considering it was either pay 15 dollars or pay 80 dollars... I got over it. Reliability was never an issue but I only had a thousand miles max on it.


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## vismitananda (Jan 16, 2011)

In my country I can find freewheels as much as $5 and the quality is fairly good. MOB is the brand. They are only local bike company, producing and selling their items exclusively where I lived.


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## tree98 (Jan 30, 2011)

Alright well I went the cheap route to get the gearing right... Now that I have that established, what is the best/a good 1/8" chain compatible one? Also if you can help... Anyone know a good size/brand to run for cross with a 48t front? I run 58 18 now... Thanks


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## tihsepa (Nov 27, 2008)

A white industries single is good with a 1/8 chain. The double not so much. It dosent get better than WI. Thats the bottom line.


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## blakcloud (Apr 13, 2006)

tree98 said:


> Alright well I went the cheap route to get the gearing right... Now that I have that established, what is the best/a good 1/8" chain compatible one? Also if you can help... Anyone know a good size/brand to run for cross with a 48t front? I run 58 18 now... Thanks


For a chain, try the SRAM PC 1. It is inexpensive and works just fine. It is 1/8th. 

I use White Industries free wheels on all my bikes and they are the best but I do see a new freewheel has hit the market. The Token is in between the Shimano and WI at least price wise and it is a true 1/8 freewheel. Limitations are it only goes as low as 17 teeth.


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## tihsepa (Nov 27, 2008)

blakcloud said:


> For a chain, try the SRAM PC 1. It is inexpensive and works just fine. It is 1/8th.
> 
> I use White Industries free wheels on all my bikes and they are the best but I do see a new freewheel has hit the market. The Token is in between the Shimano and WI at least price wise and it is a true 1/8 freewheel. Limitations are it only goes as low as 17 teeth.


I like that they market that Token freewheel as a "track" freewheel. I still see them at 70.00 or so. Not good enough that I couldnt just get a WI for 10 bucks more.


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## fattybikejones (Apr 14, 2011)

I wondered about this as well.. I'm running the cheapies, but when this one blows up, I will be looking at a WI


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## fattybikejones (Apr 14, 2011)

I wondered about this as well.. I'm running the cheapies, but when this one blows up, I will be looking at a WI:thumbsup:


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## Richard (Feb 17, 2006)

blakcloud said:


> For a chain, try the SRAM PC 1. It is inexpensive and works just fine. It is 1/8th.
> 
> I use White Industries free wheels on all my bikes and they are the best but I do see a new freewheel has hit the market. The Token is in between the Shimano and WI at least price wise and it is a true 1/8 freewheel. Limitations are it only goes as low as 17 teeth.


Just checked out the Token at Chainreaction. Not in stock and $68. Plus the description implies that the cog is alloy. Not what I'd want on my commuter.

The ACS has started it's "clunk,clunk,clunk" again which had been temporarily solved by a night in the solvent tank and a day dripping Phil Wood Tenacious into it.

It's a WI for me.


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## markaitch (Nov 3, 2010)

blakcloud said:


> For a chain, try the SRAM PC 1. It is inexpensive and works just fine. It is 1/8th.
> 
> I use White Industries free wheels on all my bikes and they are the best...:





fattybikejones said:


> I wondered about this as well.. I'm running the cheapies, but when this one blows up, I will be looking at a WI:thumbsup:



first off...i do agree white ind freewheels are by far best quality
next...sorry if i sound snarky, maybe i just look at things differently than you 2 guys that i quoted above 

*but*...

blakcloud...you won't spend a few $ for a decent chain, you use just about the cheapest, heaviest chain in existence because it "works". yet you don't mind spending big bux for your freewheels when lower-priced ones will also "work"?

fattybikejones...you're gonna spend 1/4 the price of your vilano on a new freewheel for it? or will you be putting that wi fw on your low-budget conversion?

perhaps i am a bit dense but i just do not get it...


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## fattybikejones (Apr 14, 2011)

markaitch said:


> first off...i do agree white ind freewheels are by far best quality
> next...sorry if i sound snarky, maybe i just look at things differently than you 2 guys that i quoted above
> 
> *but*...
> ...


I said I would be *looking* at a White Industries freewheel.. and, no.. *not* for the the Vilano frame. It would be in the future if and when I invest in a Milwaukee frame. For as hard as I will be riding this conversion..it may be worth it to have the WI FW. I am still wondering how much more durable the WI FW is compared to your garden variety Shimano..which work great IMO. Trust me..I will be doing my research before slapping down 80 plus dollars for a freewheel. I guess I should have elaborated a bit more when I made that statement in a earlier post.


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