Freehub failure [take two]

Pete Biggs said:

Can extreme pedalling force damage cheap freehubs and cause the freewheel mechanism to stop
working - or are other factors always responsible instead?

Are you serious? Ask a tandemer!

James
PS the answer is yes, easily, in fact there are very few hubs that are capable of reliably holding
up to 2 riders with MTB gears.

Pete Biggs said:

Can extreme pedaling force damage cheap freehubs and cause the freewheel mechanism to stop working
- or are other factors always responsible instead?

Quoted message said:

Note. Only coasting or back-pedaling is affected. Forward drive is OK.

Freehubs generally have the ratchet pawls cramped into a smaller diameter than freewheels of the
past and are more heavily loaded, especially with the lower gears available today (under gearing
with chainwheel smaller than rear sprocket). When a ratchet step or a pawl is overloaded, metal
sticks up where it shouldn't and causes that point to hang up when it passes a pawl or ratchet
tooth, depending on who ate it.

Yes, it is entirely possible to ruin a ratchet escapement. The presence of all sorts of noisy
escapements is a sign that there is a problem down there.

Jobst Brandt [email hidden] Palo Alto CA

Thanks James and Jobst.

....Backs up my brother's theory that fitting bar ends and "giving it some welly", as we say in
Britain, is responsible.

I hope a Shimano (Deore or LX) freehub will fair better.

~PB