Engagement

1speed

Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
So tonight I brought my new Niner into the shop just to get a reality check on something I've noticed with this rig. In short, it seems that I get delayed pawl engagement after coasting, something I especially notice at speed. It's not an actual issue - it's never caused me to drop the chain and the pawls aren't actually slipping. They just don't engage right away. It seemed really odd, so I brought it in to see if this was just me being overly sensitive or if it really is a thing. Scott at Evolution looked at it and said that he used to have the same thing happen on his bike and when he measured mine, he agreed that it is quite a delay. I have a Hope rear hub on this bike, and so we're going to replace the specific free hub with another that has more pawls and better engagement.

Anybody else deal with something like that? Like I said, it wasn't a problem with riding but it just didn't feel "right" for what I'm used to.
 

Santapez

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Not too thick of a grease/oil? Or the springs weak on the pawls?

Either of those two can cause that problem. Thick oil holding the pawl down or the spring not pushing it back through the grease right away.
 

Paul H

Fearless OOS Poser
What's a "pawl" :shrug:
??
closeup-of-the-paw-pads-of-labrador-pup.jpg
 

1speed

Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
What's a "pawl" :shrug:

Basically, pawls are like little pins on the freehub body whose free-end engage with the teeth on your cog so that you can pedal in only one direction. The are responsible for the clicking sound you hear when your freehub spins.
 

1speed

Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
Not too thick of a grease/oil? Or the springs weak on the pawls?

Either of those two can cause that problem. Thick oil holding the pawl down or the spring not pushing it back through the grease right away.

I don't think so -- at least not due to wear and tear. This was happening from day one (the bike is only about two months old.) From what I heard it's designed this way, although for the life of me I can't imagine a scenario where late engagement would be preferred ... ??? ...
 

UtahJoe

Team Workhorse
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I don't think so -- at least not due to wear and tear. This was happening from day one (the bike is only about two months old.) From what I heard it's designed this way, although for the life of me I can't imagine a scenario where late engagement would be preferred ... ??? ...
Maybe not preferred, but 6 pawl, or higher engagement hubs are usually more expensive and can be heavier. Its funny I never noticed this until getting a new set of flows for my trigger last year that have the 6 pawl neo hub body...then switching back to my scalpel which has a very old DT240 rear hub with 4 pawls...While I almost never ride SS, I do ride in techinical stuff quite a bit and im constantly ratcheting my pedals...You dont really notice the difference with the 4 and the 6 pawl until you switch back to the 4 and realize how much more you are rotating the pedals before the hub engages.
 

UtahJoe

Team Workhorse
Team MTBNJ Halter's
So my instant engagement onyx hub has no pawls... got it.
No, onyx uses a sprag clutch design...certainly maximizes the engagement, kinda works like this
image003.gif


instant engagement...only down side is they are ~twice the weight of say a stans hub and pretty expensive. Really depends what you are using it for. My road bike for example...I get on it and I pedal, I dont ratchet my pedals..but riding some really technical stuff, its a really nice feature to have.
 

extremedave

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Not too thick of a grease/oil?
Thick oil holding the pawl down or the spring not pushing it back through the grease right away.

This makes the most sense. Unless they left out most of the pawls during assembly or there's some other defect.
 

Supermoto

Well-Known Member
No, onyx uses a sprag clutch design...certainly maximizes the engagement, kinda works like this
image003.gif


instant engagement...only down side is they are ~twice the weight of say a stans hub and pretty expensive. Really depends what you are using it for. My road bike for example...I get on it and I pedal, I dont ratchet my pedals..but riding some really technical stuff, its a really nice feature to have.

The best feature is that they are silent.
 
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