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
The bike is in my garage normally which is usually quite a bit warmer than outside, but by no means heated. I kinda doubt condensation or water are what's happening just because in both cases the rear wheel was unboxed, installed, and taken for a ride and failed on that first ride.
I don't really know the basics of oil vs gease but will be doing more research before changing anything :)
Grease is thicker and stickier, lasts a lot longer but also offers weaker lubrication than oil. Both of them thicken in cold temperatures, but since grease is more viscous in equal temperature, it also becomes too viscous in warmer temperatures than oil. They don't have a strict freezing point like water, but slowly get more viscous as temperature goes down
That's very generalized, there's both oils and greases that can take very extreme temperatures