after-market freewheels?

[TheGiggler]

can you buy any after-market shimano compatible freewheels?

i will probably always ride cheap pre-built wheels with shimano hubs... so i'd love to be able to put a freewheel on the hub that has more pawls and will engage in less than like a 1/4 crank.

if i remember correctly the shimano freewheels are replaceable, cause i think i've broken some in the past and gotten them replaced.

anyways, is this possible?

[Mr. Charles]

i really really doubt it. though, it's not that bad of an idea.

you know, they sell non-shimano prebuilt wheels for a reasonable amount of dough... sure, it's more expensive than shimano crap, but in the long run, it's not too bad.

[NickS]

Good idea:)

[FatHack]

Welcome to the wonderful world of patents, shimano has one on their freehub body interface. Therefore, unless manufacturers want to pay huge coin, they're left to develop entire hubs.

[TheGiggler]

hmmm, figures they'd patent it... this is shimano were talkin about.

i'll check out the higher end prebuilts next time...