Freewheel pushing on chain.

[Ti_on_Steel]

I pulled my Serotta out of the cold but dry basement today having not ridden it in a week or two, and noticed something strange. When I spin the rear wheel in the stand and then let it spin, the rear wheel turns the peddles, like a fixie. What am I doing wrong here?

[thegunner]

either the grease is too thick or the rear hub needs overhauling -- maybe it's too dried out and needs a bit of oil lube. My CKs had the same issue...

[bicycletricycle]

ya, what he said, CKs and mavic's have a tendency to do that. It might go away with a few miles, try to keep pedalling or your chain might load up onto the chainstay, jamming up or maybe just scratching your stay a little. If it doesnt go away after a few miles i would say its time for a rebuild.

I guess it could be a bearing gone bad, depends on the hub.

[carpediemracing]

If it's really cold the lube in the freehub/freewheel probably coagulated a bit, preventing the pawls from disengaging. A thinner lube should work. At some point normal lubes seem to fail. By those temps I'm committed to riding the trainer now, but in the old days I used to ride a squeeky bike outside in the cold.

Maybe a light weight synthetic motor oil would work? Just thinking out loud. They flow even at very low temps. Our Honda took 0W-20 and we used synthetic oil.

[that guy]

Brand-new freewheels will do that too. Just need to loosen up a bit. If it's colder than normal the grease/oil will thicken up as well.

[572cv]

Same issue on a Hed Bastogne wheel. Turned out that the nut on the axle which secures the freewheel/cluster has to be adjusted Just So... Too tight and the problem you describe appears.
Maybe the lube others have mentioned is the better approach, but I thought I'd mention this.

[Ti_on_Steel]

Allright, I'll take it out for a ride this weekend and see if riding it warms up the lube before I go tearing it apart. Thanks.

[oldpotatoe]

I pulled my Serotta out of the cold but dry basement today having not ridden it in a week or two, and noticed something strange. When I spin the rear wheel in the stand and then let it spin, the rear wheel turns the peddles, like a fixie. What am I doing wrong here?

Mavic wheels? Common and the freehub isn't 'freewheeling' as it should. Worse case is you ride, stop pedaling and the freehub keeps pulling the chain, leading to RD damage.

Take it apart, clean, lube or have a competent LBS do it.

[Ti_on_Steel]

Mavic wheels? Common and the freehub isn't 'freewheeling' as it should. Worse case is you ride, stop pedaling and the freehub keeps pulling the chain, leading to RD damage.

Take it apart, clean, lube or have a competent LBS do it.

Yup, Mavic Ksyriums. When I take it apart, what am I looking to lube. I thought these were sealed bearings, so it's not like I'm going to repack them right?

[oldpotatoe]

Yup, Mavic Ksyriums. When I take it apart, what am I looking to lube. I thought these were sealed bearings, so it's not like I'm going to repack them right?

Take the freehub body off, 5mm in RH axle end. Pop the LH axle end off, held on with a rubber seal, then 10mm allen inside the hub, lefty loosey. (watch the 2 pawls/wee springs..they have 'lose me' wrotten all over them)...clean, lube the base of the freehub body, pawls and seal with OIL. I use Mobil One, cheap and doesn't get thick when cold. Inspect plastic bushing at base of freehub body for cracks. You can also do Mavic 'tech tip(told to me by a Mavic outsode rep) and put an additional .5mm axle spacer under the freehub body along with the 1mm spacer now there.

The bearings, one in the LH side of the hub and one in the freehub and one on the 'stub' of the axle stay smooth for a long time. What's making the freehub 'travel' is lack of OIL around the freehub base as it contacts that big rubber seal.

[bicycletricycle]

those little springs are as good as lost, i don't like taking those hubs apart unless i already have spare springs in hand.