Freehub vs freewheel

[Corleone]

What are the disadvantages to having a freehub instead of a freewheel?

[thisthingz]

none besides its heavier in the back rather putting the weight in the middle
i think, im new to this stuff but thats what ive heard

[clifford_bgrddg]

when you break a freewheel it can be replaced relatively easily. freehubs require rebuilding.

you pay less for a better product with a freewheel than with a freehub. a CK hub can cost exponentially more than a white industries freewheel for example.

freehubs allow you to run multiple gears, whereas a freewheel is single speed which would make the bike (if it were a stock) illegal in a comp. furthermore, if you're running single speed, and you ride around alot, not just sessioning a certain area, then you've got a very low top speed. a freehub (with a casstte of course) can be used whilst traveling around town.

[tomacropod]

freewheels have been around since around 1883, freehubs since 1983.

- Joel

[eturt9]

freehubs allow you to run multiple gears, whereas a freewheel is single speed which would make the bike (if it were a stock) illegal in a comp.

Not exactly.
you can run a freewheel in teh front or the rear on a fixed hub. If run in rear, you can only have one gear. If you run it in the front, your fixed hub can have a cassette on it or not. Also, its fine to run single speed for comps now.

Free hubs can also be either single speed or w/ a cassette.

if you run a free wheel in the front and have gears you can change gear while coasting without pedaling. :wuteva: but who cares.

[bouncingbabyboy]

To run a XL or truvative crank you can't run a chain ring smaller than the bolt pattern (22 tooth). By running a threaded crank you can run an 18 tooth freewheel and effectivly raise your ground clearance while still having a lower bottom bracket which some would consider more stable.

All that said you can still run a fixed cog on the crank and run a free wheel or threaded single speed hub with a free wheel in the rear. White ENO trials is a lot cheaper than a Chris King hub, true. If you strip a front freewheel you don't have to build a new wheel to repair or replace it. You do have to get it off the cranck which can be fun.

It all really comes down to what mechanism you like best for a clutch. I like the White ENO trials FW on the crank with the BT fixed hub. People rave about the King, so that is a good option if you want a $400+ hub. If you run 110 spacing (I think the A2 is BMX spacing) a lot of people like the silent hubs.