Freewheel Vs. Freehub Deference What Are They?Can I Convert?

I have spent most of my life riding bikes. My mum says when I was four.

I wasn’t interested in any other toys or stuff that they bought me.

I only used to keep playing with my elder sister’s bike. hhh

It really intrigued me. They saw my interest and bought that baby cycle for me. I was on cloud nine. Ever since, I have only been seen with bikes and other stuff related to bikes.

So that’s my story.


Now you’ll believe when I say that I have spent a considerable amount of time of my life surrounded by bikes. Playing with them and riding them.

I used to pull the pieces apart and put them together back again which led me to a great deal of understanding of bike engineering. However, one thing that has always bugged me was, I couldn’t differentiate between freewheels and freehubs.

I could never understand how they were any different if they were, and what was its impact on my riding experience. So, this confusion led me into a lot of research on the said topic.

Gladly, I now know the difference between a freewheel and a freehub and I’m ready to share my knowledge with you.

First things First!


Before we dive into the difference between a freewheel and a freehub, let me first explain to you what a freewheel actually is!

have you ever seen little steel plates in the middle of your bicycle wheel?

These rotate when you pedal and ride the cycle. Yes, those are the freewheels. Well, generally. i.e. if they are not cassettes.

The freewheels are attached to a central hub which is then connected to the wheel. Together this apparatus helps the bike wheel rotate and move forward.

Freewheels, cassettes and hubs are all different from each other!


There is a general misconception that makes you think as if freewheels and hubs are some sort of contradictory parts but in fact they are not.

Freewheels always go on to the hubs and so does the cassettes. The difference mainly lies between the freewheels and the cassettes not the hubs.

The hubs are however also different based on their modes of attachment to the gear but the primary difference lies between the freewheels and cassettes.

The difference between freewheels and cassette:


To see the difference, you have to open them up form the hub.

To untie the freewheel from the hub, you need to have a tool.

This tool is made exactly to fit the particular free wheel structure. It has some regular splines that fit perfectly with the tool and helps it open.

Different types of freewheels have different splines which categorizes them.

And the apt tool is used to open them. Once they’re open, you’ll see that in the freewheel, there are five to seven cogs on.

Normally. Older bikes have five cogs and newer or race bikes have seven cogs.

All of these cogs are attached and together they make a gear. This gear is then attached to the hub which is a separate unit.


In the hub, we’ll see rings or threads as we call them. These threads are there to accommodate the freewheel. The freewheel ties around these threads and makes the gear complete and functionable.

The structure of Hubs and cassettes:

The major difference between freewheels and cassettes is that in the cassettes, instead of splines, we only have two to three notches here.

The tool is made accordingly, which is then used to detach the cassette from the hub. Once it detaches, you’ll see that there are no threads on the hub seen.

The cassette does not screw on to the threads of the hub as in the freewheel instead it is held by a lock ring.

The lock ring is what’s holding the cogs in place on the hub and they are not actually screwed onto the hub itself.

Once you remove the lock ring by a tool, you will see that the cassette is actually just a compilation of cogs onto the hub.

So, this type of hub in which there are no threads and the cogs are not screwed on to is called a freehub, and is directly attached to the bike.


Unlike the freewheel, there is no ratcheting mechanism in the cogs. The whole mechanism is made inside the freehub. The cogs or the cassette just works accordingly.

And they cannot perform any ratcheting on their own. The size of the cassettes also varies.

They may have seven up to eleven cogs. Most widely used size include that of eleven cogs.

How to tell what do you have on your bike just by looking!

The best way to differentiate between a freewheel and a freehub is to unscrew your freewheel and look what type it is. however, there is also a little trick that I learned over time.

When you’re looking at your wheel, just look for the lock ring. It should be very visible in the middle of your wheel structure.

If you find a lock ring, then you have a cassette and a freehub as described earlier.

And, if you see no lock rings, just the splines then you have a freewheel.

Exceptions are always there!

The general rule between differentiating a freewheel and a freehub has been described earlier.

Look for the lock ring! However, exceptions are always there. There was a type of freehub and cassette that instead of having a lock ring, used one of its smallest cogs to tie itself up around the freehub.

These types are not used anymore and the most commonly used form is of cassettes.

Most of the modern bikes in the market now use cassettes instead of freewheels.

Are these two interconvertible?

Here comes the question of great importance. But by now I think I have well explained the entire thing.

The freewheel and the cassettes are based on entirely different structures.

The major difference lies in the presence or absence of threads on the hub. And the threads on the hub is a manufacture thing.

We cannot alter what has been made. If your hub has threads you can use freewheels, if your hub is a freehub, you have to use cassettes.

You cannot convert one into the other. You cannot devise any ways to inter-convert them.

Trust me, I did try all the possible tricks up my sleeve, but this is something that isn’t meant to happen.


If you want to convert from freewheel to cassettes or freehub you will have to change the entire wheel.

Only then you will be able to switch between the two. Hope you followed my explanations and descriptions.

I have tried my best to deliver to you the knowledge that I have gained.

My love for bikes continues and I hope it dwells in your hearts too! feel free to leave any comments about my post.

Would love to read from you guys.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *