bike wrench

Edit: Thanks for support! Right now my plan is to try and replace the grease in the hub with something known to work in low temperatures.

So I got some new wheels for my commuter and on my first ride, after ~3 miles it feels like I'm getting some chain skipping - I wasn't - then soon after the hub completely stops engaging and I walk home.

Never had that happen before. Thought it might be a cold temperature issue but bringing the bike indoors overnight didn't seem to resolve it right away, but eventually something did. A short test ride later and the hub froze up again.

They're Hunt wheels, I reached out and they said it's unexpected but probably not because of the cold temperatures (about 20F). They sent a new set and the exact same thing happened on the first ride, about the same distance.

I'm leaning toward it being a temperature thing, and they just have too thick of a grease in the freehub that is getting thicker in the cold? If this is the case, would it be simple to pull apart, clean, and replace with a different grease?

I hate driving to work, so I'm tempted to try and pick up a hub locally this weekend to swap (if that's possible, I've never tried and haven't looked into standards or anything).

If it is a temperature thing, it can get to -40F here, and I (usually) still bike to work in those temps, so let me know if there's anything I should "shop for" in a replacement.

If anyone has any other ideas what could cause this, let me know! I'm worried I used the wrong cassette or something dumb that I don't know about (Hunt support didn't seem to think so). I suppose there is the chance that I just got 2 bad sets in a row.

More info:

• HUNT 4 Season Gravel wheelset
  • Shimano/SRAM HG Splined
• Cassette: Shimano CS-LG300 CUES LINKGLIDE HG 9sp Cassette 11-41t
• The wheel's freehub came with a spacer for compatibility with different cassette types and I am not using the spacer: A guide on when to use the spacer

For what it's worth, Hunt has been great to work with