Question! Front free wheel?

[standup]

I'm riding the ellsworth specialist, love the bike. I always like to mod stuff out and was curious as to what a front freewheel would feel like? I have a hope pro 2 on the bike now but, would I be gaining aything from it? I just want to try something new.

any thoughts?

[jda]

I have never tried one myself but most people I have asked said they skipped too much or didn't last long.

try the search function, there's plenty of info on ffw setups.

[xsv4crob]

Mine works great and has never skipped but I still prefer the feel of my King on my older bike.

If you changed your set up, it might look good but compared to the Hope, you probably wouldn't feel much difference.

[justtysen]

The differences in feel are minimal and in my opinion not preferable in any way. The clicking of the ratchet can be felt more directly in the pedals and the cranks spin backwards faster.

I think you have a great hub and shouldn't change until something breaks. But if you really want to spend money on trying something else then I'd recommend a singlespeed hub with a high engagement freewheel (WI) or a King hub.

Personally I don't see any advantages to mounting a freewheel on the cranks if you don't have to.

[Soapster887]

The only difference for me between the ffw, and rear free wheel set ups i have ridden is you are less likely to get your jeans ripped in the rear free wheel. The sound is slightly different. Other then that, I really didnt feel that much of a difference. If you have a Hope Pro 2, save your money for a more critical componant, like brakes or rims or something else. The hub is awesome.

[aki]

Someone mentioned about having the extra weight in the middle feels better than having a King in the rear.

One problem I found with my constant chain skipping after switching to the FFW was that it didn't have some slack to the chain. After giving some slack, I had once in a blue moon skip (like any hubs) but not at critical moments that you'd get scared of.

It's all personal preference in my opinion.

[justtysen]

Someone mentioned about having the extra weight in the middle feels better than having a King in the rear.

I don't know if I buy that. Besides the fact that the King isn't heavier than some of the cheap fixed hubs.

[samtrials]

i dont really think i makes that much of a difference between the two. The only thing in my opinion is i think the freewheel might be more protected from being smashed of things because its right under the bash ring if you run it on the front maybe?

[no_seat_no_ED]

can't you get more engagement points out of a ffw?

[justtysen]

can't you get more engagement points out of a ffw?
Not unless you used a gear ratio lower than one. For standard trials gearing ffw setups have fewer perceived engagement points.

Freewheels maintain the same number of engagement points no matter where they are located, but that number is the number of engagement points per rotation of the freewheel. What trials riders really want to know is the number of engagement points per rotation of the cranks. For front freewheels it is the same number as listed for the freewheel since the freewheel and cranks are mounted together. The freewheel rotating once per rotation of the cranks.

When a freewheel is mounted to the rear wheel it rotates once per rotation of the wheel. Since trials bikes use a gear ratio greater than one, the rear wheel rotates more than one time for every rotation of the cranks. Hence a single rotation of the cranks will pass through more than one rotation of the freewheel, and thus have a higher number of engagement points.

This gear ratio effect also means that you are at a mechanical disadvantage for applying force to the freewheel when it is mounted to the rear wheel. This doesn't effect your riding at all but it does save the freewheel from unnecessary stress.

Front freewheels offer virtually no performance benefits.

[Ebon Dragon]

The ratcheting feels much nicer with FFW. thats about it.

[netto]

is this mike by any chance? with the right parts (and money), you can build a lighter setup using front freewheel than king(with hd axle and steel drive shell)