SHIMANO Special grease for pawl-type Freehub bodies 50 g,White

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A ratchet design uses a pair of inter-connecting rings with teeth on their inner faces. James Huang / Immediate Media

There are two types of springs currently in use; multiple small coil springs and single-circle clip springs. The former are found in older Hope and older Campagnolo hubs. The latter is used in newer hubs from Hope, Campagnolo and a host of other manufacturers. It wouldn't be a bad idea to test the impact of the freehub ratchet and pawl system of a bike and see if high-tech coatings could reduce any residual drag. Has kept the Campag Khamsin hubs happy on my commuter bike which sees a lot of rain. Has muffled the characteristic Campag freehub sound, but all I care about is keeping the hub internals clean, dry and smooth running. It is important to distinguish between shimano style freehub bodies and the others, where the freewheel body rotates on the axle using its own set of bearings, which is what I presume you have. I’m guessing One Pivot makes the assumption that everyone knows, or should know what NLGI is, by his not defining what that acronym is. It’s the National Lubricating Grease Institute and they have defined some industry standards that most mere mortals are unaware of, or couldn’t give a sh!t about.

Campagnolo®

You can also use Shimano-standard cassettes with 8, 9 or 10 speeds, but will need to fit a 1.85mm spacer on the inboard side of the cassette to fit, plus an additional 1mm spacer for 10-speed cassettes. Now we’ve had a look at the internals of the freehub, let’s turn to the outside of the freehub – the part on which your cassette mounts.

I recall being told that you should apply a thin film of grease to the outside of the freehub body before installing a new cassette...but now I can't actually find any authoritative confirmation of this! If you just want a no-nonsense mountain bike at an attractive price point, the Canyon Neuron AL 6 is a very good answer. The procedure below is based on the Shimano® freehub removal process. Several other brands follow the same steps.

Dumonde Tech PRO X freehub grease has been designed specifically for freehubs that require a lightweight grease that will stay in the moving parts and provide long term high level performance. A freewheel can be pretty effectively lubed with any medium-viscosity oil. There's not much in there; a couple of ratcheting "pawls" and their pivots.

Hmm, Campagnolo are cone and bearing hubs, so I guess it can be used for cone and bearing hubs ... that would make it a one grease that does it all, wouldn't itNormal grease is NLGI #2, you want NLGI #0. Maybe #1, but definitely not normal #2 (wheel bearing greases, marine grease etc). Chris King hubs have a ratchet system that works in a similar way, but with either 45 or 72 points of engagement, for ultra-fast take-up, once you start to pedal. With this design, it’s the inboard ratchet that slides on the hub to engage the freewheel, giving Chris King hubs their characteristic bulge on the right side.