Mavic freehub loses drive. Terminal?

[muchacho]

Today I suffered a loss of drive in the freehub on my rear Mavic Aksium wheel. Disturbingly it now spins in both directions and I had to hobby-horse it all the way home. Are the splines within likely to respond to an overhaul or is this my cue for a new wheelset?

Many thanks,

James

[astroarcadia]

muchacho said:

Today I suffered a loss of drive in the freehub on my rear Mavic Aksium wheel. Disturbingly it now spins in both directions and I had to hobby-horse it all the way home. Are the splines within likely to respond to an overhaul or is this my cue for a new wheelset?

Many thanks,

James

Definite cue for a new wheelset, possibly Lightweight or Enve to be sure of avoiding this problem again.

[battered]

Not entirely sure for modern gear but had this on 90s Shimano and it means a new hub. You couldn't get the fwh mechanism separate ly but it's easy to unscrew and fit to the old hub. I dont think you can free up the dead fwh, they won't come apart and it will be blocked with crud that you generally can't clean out. YMMV.

[TheInternet]

When my Fulcrums did that it was a £3 pawl spring. It could be the same with yours but a new wheelset would conveniently rule out many things at once.

[Jimbo.]

muchacho said:

Today I suffered a loss of drive in the freehub on my rear Mavic Aksium wheel. Disturbingly it now spins in both directions and I had to hobby-horse it all the way home. Are the splines within likely to respond to an overhaul or is this my cue for a new wheelset?

Many thanks,

James

This was, I believe, a fairly common thing with Mavics up until recently. It'll be a simple repair (replace freewheel) job than any bike shop with a Mavic account can do.

[muchacho]

Excellent stuff Pistonheads : thank you. I will present it to my local, terribly old-fashioned shop for repair and then go from there. Any thoughts on the Vittoria wheelsets?

[AyBee]

Mavic freehubs are remarkably easy to pull apart, just undo the nut holding it on and the freehub comes off. From that, you'll be able to see what's happened to the pawls and springs and make a decision from there

[Gren]

AyBee said:

Mavic freehubs are remarkably easy to pull apart, just undo the nut holding it on and the freehub comes off. From that, you'll be able to see what's happened to the pawls and springs and make a decision from there

Exactly this. My missus pringled one so I bought a new wheel and removed the hub on the old one to keep as a spare. Easy to remove the freehub and service. It's more likely to be the springs than anything - there are only 2-3 of them are remarkably flimsy. Keep an eye on them when dismantling as they have a life of their own.

[TheInternet]

Gren said:

It's more likely to be the springs than anything - there are only 2-3 of them are remarkably flimsy.

Only one spring in my Fulcrum wheels. Seems like a crap idea to me.

[BGarside]

Take off the freehub body and it should be easy to see what the problem is. Just 2 pawls attached to the hub which are springloaded against serrations in the inside surface of the freehub body. Clean inside and oil the pawls where they sit in recesses in the hub body and maybe oil the serrations to make sure everything moves freely. Be careful not to lose the little springs underneath the pawls.