Mainstream Freehub Brands Used On Bikes
Nestled exactly between the freehub and the chain flowing across is a cassette system. For the rear wheel to spin smoothly, your hub and cassette must thus be compatible with one another. Though Shimano designed the freehub tool first, businesses like Sram and Campagnolo developed their specimens later. Two main brands ruling the market nowadays are Shimano and SRAM. Thus, brands define the spline configuration and ratcheting mechanism. Vice versa, you cannot fit SRAM freehubs on Shimano cassettes. Let's get into more particulars about the compatibility problem.
Shimano Freehub & Cassette Compatibility
Shimano is renowned for their HG, or Hyperglide, freehubs. The most often used freehub design the brand adopted in the 1980s. While the 9-splines freehub is somewhat common nowadays, back then the Shimano HG-Style included 13 splines. The Shimano Hyperglide series provides the correct alignment to the cassette so the gear may move as it should.
HG "8-10" Speed Mountain Freehub: Shimano Hyperglide 8-10 Speed Mountain Freehub fits the 8/9/11 speed mountain cassette. Shimano's guidance for the 10-speed cassette narrows the space more than in past models; therefore, a 1mm spacer becomes vital to accommodate the cogset. At last the 11-speed road cassette arrived; this version of the freehub is incompatible with it.
Shimano HG 10 Speed ONLY Freehub: Shimano HG 10-Speed-Only Freehub is just for the 10-speed variant; other non-10-speed cassettes are not fit. This modification is for 10-speed Shimano cassettes exclusively since splines are taller at this freehub.
Usually compatible with most Shimano cassettes, Shimano HG 11/12 Speed Road Freehub is another typical freehub for Shimano. It is just for the 11 and 12-speed cassettes; if you have an 8/9/11-speed mountain cassette, they would fit on this kind of freehub with a 1.85mm spacer. Apart from the 1.85mm spacer, a 10-speed cassette requires another 1mm spacer.
Eleven or twelve speed Shimano Micro Spline (MS) This freehub has 23 micro splines, far more than typical HG series freehubs based on name suggest. Regular HG freehubs have 13 splines; this Micro Spline freehub has double that, 23 little splines. A narrow freehub allows you to merely install a little sprocket, even less than 11 teeth. Shimano changed this to fit 12-speed MTB cassettes, hence it's another special version to put on those cassettes.
Recently Shimano has unveiled another revised form of the 12-Speed Road variant that might resemble the Micro Splines freehub. This version of freehub is solely for the 12-speed road cassettes. Install the cogset without spacer; this is incompatible with the 11-speed one. Shimano reportedly makes use of the Hyperglide+ technology in this freehub, once applied in off-road motorcycles. This freehub specimen is intended for Ultegra (R8100) and Dura-Ace (R9200) cassettes.
Compatibility of SRAM Freehub & Cassette
Clearly another market leader in this category is SRAM. It also has cassettes in HG-style. Mostly SRAM freehubs fall into two groups: XD and XD-R series. Let's delve further into these.
Designed to run on 11 and 12-speed cassettes, SRAM XD 11 & 12 Speed freehub is With a distinctive shape and completely different from what you find in the Shimano HG series is the SRAM XD freehub. Not like conventional Shimano freehubs, the splines used in SRAM XD freehub are SRAM has developed the freehub lighter than Shimano Hyperglide series freehubs more robust than others. Additionally made to fit small sprockets of 10 teeth is this XD driver.
XD-R 11 & 12 Speed: Though the SRAM XD series was first intended for MTB cassettes, the XDR freehub is mostly utilized for 11 and 12-speed road bikes. Install a 1.85mm spacer and it can also fit an XD MTB cassette.
Compatibility for Campagnolo Freehub & Cassette
Campagnolo also finds place on the list. Manufacturing premium bicycle components and associated accessories is Campagnolo's specialty. The brand also creates freehub only for Campagnolo cassettes.
Only 9/10/11/12 speed Ultra-Drive cassettes fit Campy 9 and 10 and 11 and 12 speed freehub. Other speed choices cannot be fit on this freehub. The speeds above Campagnolo cassettes fit without an extra spacer.
Originally intended for the new Campagnolo Ekar gravel groupsets, N3W 13 Speed was designed by Campagnolo. Though it is 4.4mm shorter, the way splines are distributed resembles what you see in Campy. It is totally backwards-compatible and can run 12 or 12 speeds.
How do you determine the speed of the cassette?
Counting the gears on your rear wheel can help you determine your speed using the best method. Counting the teeth on the sprocket can help you ascertain the aspect of the cassette you are now running. Having several gears just indicates that your bike is multispeed rather than singlespeed. Usually road bikes have smaller sprockets with 11, 12, or 13 teeth than MTB cycles; hence, the jumps between two speeds will be lower when you move your gear. This also implies that with small sprockets, your bike can accelerate more effectively. On the other hand, while hill climbing, large sprockets with more teeth and large gear leaps simplify your life.
There are few instances when freehubs can be utilized with cassettes not intended for usage. In these situations, a spacer comes quite handy for cassette installation. Your freehub might fit both multiple-speed cassettes with or without spacers. One also should keep in mind the derailleur. Whatever you put on your bike, your derailleur needs to be compatible with either seamless gear changing, cranking hills, or increasing the riding experience generally.
