Do pawls break often?

[tacomodo]

I joined the ranks of EMTB riders this summer. I've been riding just over a month and in that time I've broken the pawls in the rear wheel twice. This really sucks when the bike weights more than 25kg and I'm stuck in the middle of the woods miles from home and shop.

I bring a multitool, tube, CO2, that sort of things, for roadside fixing, but tools to remove cassette and hubs and such - surely I shouldn't have to pack that as well...?

Is this something that happens often?

The bike is Haibike Nduro 8.0 in case anyone wonders

 

[njn]

What's the brand of the hub?

It is not a common failure.

 

[tacomodo]

Looking at the specs it's "Haibike Components TheHub ++ thru-axle 12x148mm"

 

[Al Boneta]

Looking at the specs it's "Haibike Components TheHub ++ thru-axle 12x148mm"

So it’s more than likely made by joy tech or formula. It’s not a common occurrence to have them fail.
You local Haibike dealer should be able to sort you out with spares, but since this problem has been persistent, I would recommend a new hub. Something bulletproof like a Hope or a DT-Swiss

 

[galaga187]

I only learnt about pawls two years ago when my road bike failed- it’s quite rare but mine has done it twice. On mine it was the spring that broke not the actual pawl. You can sometimes get them to engage by bouncing the back wheel.

 

[Dax]

I've never broken a pawl in 25 years of mtb.

 

[smokey_jo]

Hope aren't bulletproof, mine blew it's pawls to bits on my normal bike last month

 

[tacomodo]

Hope aren't bulletproof, mine blew it's pawls to bits on my normal bike last month

Aw, not thrilled to hear that. My dealer swapped to Hope Pro 4.

Perhaps hubs without pawls i.e. Mavic ID360 would be better for ebikes.

 

[smokey_jo]

Mine was a pro2 evo so hopefully the pro4 will be more reliable. When mine blew it's pawls it took the small freehub bearing with it too.

DT do a star ratchet system might be worth a look

 

[Slowroller]

I have a friend who is a mechanic and swears by DT 250/350s. I've never had an issue with the star ratcheting system myself in DT's and other hubs that use their internals, it's logical, less small parts.

 

[Tony4wd]

A hub with individual springs for each pawl shouldn't let you down, even if one spring breaks. Otherwise the DT Swiss dual floating ratchet design has a good reputation.

 

[steve_sordy]

I had a e13 hub on an mtb that failed on average every 710 miles! The cause was water leaking in past the seals and rusting the springs to the point where the springs failed, one by one. It didn't seem to matter how much grease went in there. Each failure was a warranty claim. The same tech guy at Silverfish (UK agent for e13) dealt with each one. When he received the third one, he rang me up and said that he had only ever had one fail before and now I had three of them! On the last occasion in an effort to be 100% certain it was fixed for good, he replaced the whole hub, body, bearings, seals, the lot! Shortly afterwards I sold the bike to a mate who was test riding the bike when the hub had failed for the third time. Guess what? At about 700 miles after he bought the bike, the hub failed. It was the springs rusting through, again. He gave up and rebuilt the wheel with a different hub and never had another problem.

That wheelset was an e13 one and it was not cheap. It even had an impressive five-year warranty. Just a bad seal design let it down.

I have never had a hub fail on any other bike, before or since.

 

[JimBo]

That wheelset was an e13 one and it was not cheap. It even had an impressive five-year warranty. Just a bad seal design let it down.

Thanks for mentioning this Steve! I just had a 4.5 year-old eThirteen TRS rear hub fail (axle snapped) on my MetaPower and was read to buy a whole new wheel (there were stress cracks on the TRS rim). Then I intuitively did a quick search on these forums, and here it was!

They're replacing the hub and rim with much improved "e*spec" versions (the ones that came stock were discontinued a while ago). I just have to buy new spokes and build the new wheel.

 

[Ark]

I had a e13

Not sure I ever saw anything good posted about that brand

 

[Suns_PSD]

Pretty sure if I had experienced this I would probably move to an Onyx hub as they are robust and reliable and e-bikes seem to have some play in the built in freehub in the motor so an Onyx would not add any additional slack.

 

[Mikerb]

poor seals are the reason for most freehub failures assuming they are reasonably maintained. My son had a Hope pro4 hub/freehub fall to bits........outer freehub bearing literally fell to bits..............and the reason was the end cap which you could easilly remove with just fingers.........it provided no seal at all. I think folk also make a mistake thinking fast engagement is the bees knees............I doubt it makes any difference on an EMTB since most of the engagement gap is on the motor sprag/freewheel plus motor response delay. Faster engagement is also less strong and can induce greater pedal kick. DT Swiss provides specifics on both those aspects.
So......if the outboard freehub seal is provided by an end cap then it should be reasonably difficult to remove ( my DT Swiss 350 hubs need the end cap to be held in the soft jaws of a vice whilst the wheel is levered up to remove it). The seal is often an O ring which can perish and/or stretch. The inboard seal is often coloured green and fits a gainst the freehub flange that sits against the hub face. It is best to smear some gease on it when servicing....but if the end cap is not a tight fit it will provide little or no seal.
I am no fan of pawl systems! The DT Swiss star ratchet system combined with the XD freehub is the best system I have used.

 

[Bontee]

No not common,30 plus years on multiple makes including cheap ones and never broken a pawl