Help needed: Chain doubles up on itself when riding without pedalling

Hi everyone,

I can't sem to find the answer to a peculiar problem, that my local
bicycle repairman has been unable to fix.

Case in question is a MTB with ca. 2000 Deore XT. I had it in storage
for approximately three years while abroad (where my more recent bike
was stolen). Now when I ride it with my feet on the pedals, but without
actually pedalling, the rear wheel will rotate the chain forward which
doubles up on itself. This is very annoying, also because when I start
pedalling again, there is no immediate response, because the slack
chain has got to be reeled in first. If I roll forward and raise my
feet off the pedals, they will spin too (which they aren't supposed to
do). Oddly enough they don't spin if I just push the bike (no weight on
it).

The bike repairshop man says that due to the long storage duration, the
lubricant in the rear wheel bearings has become "resin-like" and
sticky, and he cannot fix it.

Do I need a whole new wheel? Suggestions please.

Daniel

wrote:
Hi everyone,

I can't sem to find the answer to a peculiar problem, that my local
bicycle repairman has been unable to fix.

snip

The bike repairshop man says that due to the long storage duration, the
lubricant in the rear wheel bearings has become "resin-like" and
sticky, and he cannot fix it.

Do I need a whole new wheel? Suggestions please.

He's partly correct. You're describing what happens when the lubricant
in the rear hub's cassette body hardens and/or becomes too sticky to
allow the free movement of the rear cogs. This will happen over time to
any hub that sits unused for a long time.

He can't fix it? Find a better mechanic. A good mechanic would remove
the cassette body from the hub, soak it in solvent, lubricate the
cassette body, and reassemble the hub. This page:
http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=45
shows how to do this.

I recently had to do this- I rebuilt a wheel that had hung in my garage
for a couple years. Apparently the inside of the cassette body had
gotten a bit rusty, and the pawls weren't engaging properly. I removed
the cassette body, cleaned it, spun it while pouring oil into it (the
oil came out the other side brown as the rust was broken up), and
packed it with light grease. It works great, and makes very little
noise.

Of course, the proper course of action would be to replace the cassette
body, but I'm cheap.


Jeff

wrote:
Hi everyone,

I can't sem to find the answer to a peculiar problem, that my local
bicycle repairman has been unable to fix.

Case in question is a MTB with ca. 2000 Deore XT. I had it in storage
for approximately three years while abroad (where my more recent bike
was stolen). Now when I ride it with my feet on the pedals, but without
actually pedalling, the rear wheel will rotate the chain forward which
doubles up on itself. This is very annoying, also because when I start
pedalling again, there is no immediate response, because the slack
chain has got to be reeled in first. If I roll forward and raise my
feet off the pedals, they will spin too (which they aren't supposed to
do). Oddly enough they don't spin if I just push the bike (no weight on
it).

The bike repairshop man says that due to the long storage duration, the
lubricant in the rear wheel bearings has become "resin-like" and
sticky, and he cannot fix it.

Do I need a whole new wheel? Suggestions please.

Daniel


Get a better mechanic.

--

Llatikcuf-at-gmail-dot-com

Eat the meek!

It's generally a bad idea to put grease in a freehub. The grease can
thicken by itself with age, or can trap dirt which has the same
effect, and prevent the pawls from engaging. THAT can be a dangerous
situation, especially if you're putting a lot of pressure on the
pedals and they suddenly slip forward- what will become of your wee-
wee?

The freehub should only be lubed with oil.

On Mon, 29 Aug 2005 19:17:36 -0500, fd fdd wrote:

It's generally a bad idea to put grease in a freehub. The grease can
thicken by itself with age, or can trap dirt which has the same
effect, and prevent the pawls from engaging. THAT can be a dangerous
situation, especially if you're putting a lot of pressure on the
pedals and they suddenly slip forward- what will become of your wee-
wee?

The freehub should only be lubed with oil.

The person you're replying to did not suggest otherwise.


Jasper

On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 01:18:12 GMT, Jasper Janssen
wrote:


The freehub should only be lubed with oil.

The person you're replying to did not suggest otherwise.

Au contraire, mon ami!

I quote thusly:

"I recently had to do this- I rebuilt a wheel that had hung in my
garage
for a couple years. Apparently the inside of the cassette body had
gotten a bit rusty, and the pawls weren't engaging properly. I removed
the cassette body, cleaned it, spun it while pouring oil into it (the
oil came out the other side brown as the rust was broken up), and
packed it with light grease. It works great, and makes very little
noise."

Packing a freehub with light grease is the bad idea to which I
referred.

On Mon, 29 Aug 2005 22:06:19 -0500, fd fdd wrote:
On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 01:18:12 GMT, Jasper Janssen
wrote:


The person you're replying to did not suggest otherwise.

Au contraire, mon ami!
[...]
Packing a freehub with light grease is the bad idea to which I
referred.

You're right. My apologies, I somehow missed that in several careful
rereadings.


Jasper

wrote:
Hi everyone,

I can't sem to find the answer to a peculiar problem, that my local
bicycle repairman has been unable to fix.

Case in question is a MTB with ca. 2000 Deore XT. I had it in storage
for approximately three years while abroad (where my more recent bike
was stolen). Now when I ride it with my feet on the pedals, but without
actually pedalling, the rear wheel will rotate the chain forward which
doubles up on itself.

The bike repairshop man says that due to the long storage duration, the
lubricant in the rear wheel bearings has become "resin-like" and
sticky, and he cannot fix it.

Do I need a whole new wheel? Suggestions please.


Nope, you need a better wrench to take the hub apart, take the freehub
off, flush, oil and reaseemble.

wrote:
Hi everyone,

I can't sem to find the answer to a peculiar problem, that my local
bicycle repairman has been unable to fix.

Case in question is a MTB with ca. 2000 Deore XT. I had it in storage
for approximately three years while abroad (where my more recent bike
was stolen). Now when I ride it with my feet on the pedals, but without
actually pedalling, the rear wheel will rotate the chain forward which
doubles up on itself. This is very annoying, also because when I start
pedalling again, there is no immediate response, because the slack
chain has got to be reeled in first. If I roll forward and raise my
feet off the pedals, they will spin too (which they aren't supposed to
do). Oddly enough they don't spin if I just push the bike (no weight on
it).

The bike repairshop man says that due to the long storage duration, the
lubricant in the rear wheel bearings has become "resin-like" and
sticky, and he cannot fix it.

Do I need a whole new wheel? Suggestions please.

Daniel


It's likely, as others have suggested, that the freehub is sticking,
preventing freewheeling when coasting. This can be fixed easily, but
you'll need a cassette removal tool, a chainwhip, and a big Allen (10mm,
I think) to remove cassette and freehub from the hub body. The XT
freehub has a thin rubber seal on the backside which you can carefully
remove to then flush with solvent and dribble in some oil.

Before doing this -- or having it done, check to make sure that there is
nothing between the freehub and the hub that might create some drag. A
common culprit is the plastic spoke protector, or even some string or
weeds that may have gotten entangled in the gap.

wrote:
Case in question is a MTB with ca. 2000 Deore XT. I had it in storage
for approximately three years while abroad (where my more recent bike
was stolen). Now when I ride it with my feet on the pedals, but without
actually pedalling, the rear wheel will rotate the chain forward which
doubles up on itself. This is very annoying, also because when I start
pedalling again, there is no immediate response, because the slack
chain has got to be reeled in first. If I roll forward and raise my
feet off the pedals, they will spin too (which they aren't supposed to
do). Oddly enough they don't spin if I just push the bike (no weight on
it).

That last sentence throws me for a loop. The ratchet freewheels when
you're off the bike, but not when you're on the bike. I was willing to
go along with the gooey grease explanation until I read that sentence.
I'd say you need a good mechanic to look at it. Sounds like something is
bent, but it's pretty hard to guess what it is over usenet.

Maybe a few more details would help the local gurus figure it out... is
it a full suspension MTB? Is it possible that something near the back
wheel was bent during storage (i.e. did you notice any damage when you
retrieved it)? Is the problem more noticeable in one gear rather than
another?

--
Dave
dvt at psu dot edu