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Zipp freehub damage: Is this normal?


Willehond

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My Zipp 404's started singing a couple of weeks ago with an annoying pinging sound.  I couldn't figure out what it was, but eventually traced it to the freehub.  Just look at this damage to the freehub!

 

Is this normal and if so, how can I prevent it (if at all)?  I have also recently had the same damage on my PowerTap hub, but my cheap Shimano WH550 hubs have survived for years with no damage.  Is this a Zipp/PowerTap issue and how do you prevent it?

 

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Willehond2010-06-13 14:23:44
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My Zipp Shimano body did the same thing. I filed the bumps down & replaced the cassette with a SRAM Red one. My reasoning is that because the larger sprockets of the Red casette is machined from one piece, torque would be more evenly distributed, making it less likely to notch the body. It also seems to have a tighter fit on the body than the Dura Ace casette it replaced.

(it also weighs less - bonus Smile)

 

In general, I don't like the Shimano freehub design -  the grooves are too shallow imo. Campy has a better design, with much deeper grooves - my Zipp Campy body has seen much more use than the Shimano one, and is still perfect.

 

Perhaps your Shimano wheels has a body made from a harder metal? 

 
Christie2010-06-13 14:35:24
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Thanks Christie.  I was thinking of a shim/plate to spread the load on the contact area, but the one piece cassette sounds like a good option.  I'll investigate. Willehond2010-06-13 15:12:40

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Guest Big H

Maak 'n stukkie Kryptonite onder jou saal vas. Dit sal jou minder sterk maak en jy sal nie die freehub so skrikmaak nie!!!!!!!! Sny ook jou hare korter..... dit het vir Simson gehelp!!!!!!!!

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  • 3 months later...

OK, I think I might have found a good solution! Took my damaged Zipp freehub to the LBS and getting a new one and they suggested the Marchisio cassette. Brilliant piece of engineering if you ask me!!!

 

The cassette is built up of individual "spacers" and the sprocket sits ON TOP of the spacer! That means that the contact area of the gear is nearly trippled and obviously spreads the load which basically eliminates the damage. Well, that is what I hope! Sounds perfect to me! Additional benefit is that you can buy individual sprockets to replace damaged ones or to build up your own ratio according to the race requirements (like in the old days!)

 

Looks good:

post-1131-053305500 1286874515.jpg

post-1131-078278200 1286874650.jpg

Edited by Willehond
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American Classic (yes I know these are Zipp wheels) has actually stopped making the their Shimano freewheel bodies out of alu because of this. Their Campag is still alu as the grooves are deeper.

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American Classic (yes I know these are Zipp wheels) has actually stopped making the their Shimano freewheel bodies out of alu because of this. Their Campag is still alu as the grooves are deeper.

 

American Classics also makes a cassette shim which is supposed to help with spreading the load (for alu freehubs), but I can't get hold of it, so this is why I've been looking at alternatives.

 

The problem is the same on the PowerTap wheel which also has a freaking alu body and I've done even more damage there. In fact, it was so bad that the cassette was actually fused with the hub body. I had to use a hammer and screwdriver to moer them loose!

I'm hoping the new cassette will solve the problem. I will report back...

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Watse supplements gebruik jy ;) :D

Ja, dis 'n curse om so sterk te wees. My geneties superior ouers het my met al hierdie krag opgesaal en nou betaal ek die prys!!!

...en ek eet natuurlik net die beste Spaanse steak wink.gif

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This is a common problem on Shimano-style freehub bodies. However, back in the day when Shimano redesigned its freehub body, the weight-weenie thing didn't exist and steel was good enough. However, as soon as people started to weigh stuff, the trouble started. Then many shimano-compatible freehub bodies were made from alu. Shimano resisted a little bit until they too gave in. The result is the notched bodies that you see. Campag foresaw the problem and designed its freehub body from alu, but with deep notches. Shimano recently followed suite with such a deep-flute freehub body on its top-end stuff.

 

American Classic, the doyen of weight-weenie stuff, modified its freehub bodies so that the leading edge was steel and the rest alu. Nice.

 

Sram went the other route and redesigned its cassettes so that they have big fat spiders that server multiple sprockets, thus spreading the load.

 

The problem will not go away until we go through a redesign, and that is painfull.

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