How to: Rear hubs

CASSETTE HUBS / FREECOASTERS
Rear hub is basically heart of a freestyle bmx bike. It has to be resistant to all the pressure associated with riding. There are three basic hub types - freewheel, cassette and freecoaster. Freewheel is not used anymore in freestyle bmx riding. So basically there are cassette hubs and freecoasters only. Both hub types are equipped with driver that can be placed either on the left side (LHD - left hand driveside) or on the right side (RDS - ride hand driveside). This makes you wonder about what side is the one you need? Well there is a simple rule to that. Stand on a bike (or imagine yourself standing on one) and pay attention to which leg do you have in the front possition. The one you have in the front is your DRIVESIDE. Another common part for all hubs is 14mm spindle that is strong enough to carry riders of all weight categories.

1. FREEWHEEL HUB
Rarely used today. Mostly equipped with ball bearings. Every freewheel has an inner threading and it's screwed onto the hub shell.

There are two types of freewheel:
13T, 14T, 15T - smaller diameter of inner threading that fits only with the flip-flop hubs specially designed for this type of freewheels  
16T and more  - compatible with all classic hubs.

From the left: rear hub with freewheel threading, freewheel remover, two freewheel examples
 

2. CASSETTE HUB
Most reliable hub with stronger type of pawls, springs and ratchets inside of hubshell or driver. In most cases the cassette hubs are equipped with a quality sealed bearings - SB.

Driver:
8T, 9T, 10T - most common gear ratio today is 25T or 28T with 9T driver as 99% of the hubs available in today's BMX world feature 9T driver. Another feature is quality sealed bearings.


3. FREECOASTERS
New type of hubs allowing you to move backwards without pedaling. Freecoaster gives you thousands of new combinations to try/learn. Internals are different to a cassette hub but the principle is the same.

Hub's lifespan is influenced by the following factors:
- chain overtightening (not only the driver's teeth gets damaged but the sprocket as well)
- pegs (when the spindle is bent, the bearings and driver gets damaged)
- riding style (doing tailwhips on daily basis, big airs to fakie and gnarly riding in general)

What type of chain to use for 8T,9T drivers?
It is recommended to use the HALF-LINK chains only.

From the left: cassette hub, hub shell with pawls, driver with pawls and slide bearing, spare pawls.

REAR HUB GUARD
Protects the hub againts the damage caused by grinding. For more information read the article about hub guards here.