Freewheels

[ogre]

What are the advantages of a front free wheel versus a back freewheel? and what are the cost differences

[PaRtZ]

advantage on the back is that theres less force applied directly onto it

advantage on the front is that it will spin much more freely

The cost will be the same because the screw on cog/freewheel will both be needed, just screwed on in different places

[Walleee]

surley a front freewheel system is cheaper in most cases?

A fixed hub and an ACS will set you back probobly about £50 or so. If you get an eno thats gonna set you back maybe about £120 depending on the hub. However bear in mind ENO's are the best freewheels you can get at the moment.

To get a rear freewheel setup which is going to be on power with the ENO, your looking at chris king or profile, not 100% sure on prices, but id be willing to bet the hub alone will be in the region of £120 at least.

A 12 t cog for a fixed hub will set you back £10, a front fixed cog is going to cost in the region of £20....

[butcha87]

or get a freewheel hub for the rear. and run an ENO on the back and a fixed cog up front.Marginally more expensive.

[Mark W]

Smallest Eno though is 16t, so that'd require a 22t sprocket up front to keep the 1.5 ratio on mods, and a lot of mods can't take a 22t sprocket + bashplate, so it's not so good, really.

Benefits of front freewheel: Often, it'll be lighter overall. You can get lighter hubs, and the freewheel + sprocket weighs less than the freehub + larger sprocket up front of a 'conventional' sorta setup. Also, some people reckon that the chain constantly moving means it's under tension for longer, so it'd give you a faster response, although I'm not so sure about that one, really... I suppose you could get a decent setup with FFW cheaper than an equivalently decent rear setup. Seeing as the ACS has 36eps and costs £10, you're getting quite a lot of bang for your buck. For similar performance, you'd need something like a Hope, and it'd just be more expensive basically. Disadvantages include the fact there's more force on the teeth of the freewheel, and on the freewheel itself up front, which isn't so good. Equally, ACS's seem to loosen themselves off really easily (unlike the Eno, so maybe it's an open bearing thing...), which is a bit arse.

Advantages for the rear are that it's a stronger setup, pretty much. Also, an ACS on the rear will have more effective engagement points than at the front. If you ran the 1.5 ratio which'd be about 22:15-22:16, you'd end up with 54 engagement points per revolution of the cranks instead of just 36. However, when you break that down, that just means you'd have to kick 3.3° more to get to the next engagement point, and that's not really aaaaaaall that much to worry about... Either way, it IS a stronger setup, and you effectively get a better engaging freewheel, BUT it'll usually work out heavier due to the larger gearing needed, and it can work out as slightly more expensive.

[ogre]

Nother little thing (migth be off topic, i'm not sure lol) you know the two echo hubs what does the "fixed" (as aposed to the non fixed one) bit mean?

[Impacted.]

Nother little thing (migth be off topic, i'm not sure lol) you know the two echo hubs what does the "fixed" (as aposed to the non fixed one) bit mean?

The fixed hub doesn't move so that means that it's for front freewheel setups, whereas the othe one idles if you push it backwards so that means that you'll need a screw on cog for the front.