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I am very confused with something regarding bikes...

How is it that a bike wheel continues to spin (either from momentum or from going downhill) when the rider is not pedalling, without also spinning the pedal?

Similarly, what mechanism allows the addition of this spin from momentum with to the spin from the pedalling that makes the wheels spin faster than they would with just one or the other?

I've literally searched all over the internet for this and have found nothing, so I'd really appreciate the help.

Wasabi
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Ankit
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    Note that so-called "fixies" (fixed-gear bikes) which are preferred by some cycling enthusiasts as the "purest form" of cycling, but are also used by bike messengers (less stuff to break, clean, and maintain), and track racers (because of simplicity and weight) savings, do not do this. They don't have gears, they don't freewheel, they typically don't even have brakes (you brake by "pulling" against the pedals with your front foot or pushing back with your back foot). In this video, you can see what looks like a bike messenger doing what is called a "track stand": https://youtu.be/AAvEnZKfxQE – Jörg W Mittag Apr 27 '20 at 15:24
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    Track stands are not impossible to do with "normal" bikes, but are made easier by fixies since they also allow you to pedal backwards, thus increasing the degrees of freedom you have for keeping balance. Track stands are a staple of track sprinting because the rider in front is at a disadvantage: a) they cannot easily see the opponent and more importantly b) they are in the wind, while their opponent is drafting behind them. In the sprint disciplines in track racing, only the last lap counts, so in the first few laps, you will often see both riders track standing, and whoever loses balance … – Jörg W Mittag Apr 27 '20 at 15:24
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    … first is at a disadvantage. – Jörg W Mittag Apr 27 '20 at 15:27
  • @JörgWMittag and kids tricycles or unicykles :) – Viktor Mellgren Apr 29 '20 at 11:37
  • The older cars with an overdrive option also freewheeled when in overdrive. – Jon Liebermann Oct 08 '21 at 02:55

3 Answers3

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The soft clicking sound you hear when coasting is the pawl going over the ratchet as in the picture below. enter image description here

Jordon
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it is called a freewheel.

Inside the sprocket gear, there is a mechanism that lets the chain engage the rear wheel only when it is moving faster than the wheel is turning; else the wheel will turn freely.

They are either several spring-loaded ballbearings that self deploy when the outer ring turns faster and recoil when it turns slower than the inner ring. or there is a ratchet mechanism.

there are similar gears in some cars as well. so as to disengage the engine when the car is rolling forward by momentum or downhill slope. Here is the Wikipedia page LINK.

free wheel

kamran
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    Thanks a lot this is very helpful! – Ankit Apr 27 '20 at 06:13
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    Typically it’s called a freehub on bikes with removable cassettes these days :) – Jonathan R Swift Apr 27 '20 at 06:34
  • The only car that I know of that had a mechanical freewheel mechanism was that on the earlier Saabs (ignoring automatics...) but needed locking so reverse was possible. – Solar Mike Apr 27 '20 at 09:12
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    The photo in this answer shows a sprag clutch rather than a freewheel, but the concept is similar. – fred_dot_u Apr 27 '20 at 09:57
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    This question has some interesting real-world examples: https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/44990/what-freewheel-mechanism-designs-are-used-in-bicycles – DBS Apr 27 '20 at 15:56
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    I cannot speak for cars with automatic transmissions, but cars with manual transmissions do not, as a rule, have any kind of freewheel mechanism. – Wayne Conrad Apr 27 '20 at 16:56
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    Yeah, citation needed on cars having freewheels. – whatsisname Apr 27 '20 at 17:13
  • The Wikipedia Link has reference to application in cars and tractors, etc. The link is capitalized blue font in my answer. – kamran Apr 27 '20 at 17:21
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    Yes, but your answer gives the impression it's *common* in cars. It isn't. – T.J. Crowder Apr 27 '20 at 18:03
  • @T.J.Crowder, i will check my answer and if i implied all cars i change it. thanks. – kamran Apr 27 '20 at 18:20
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    I would eliminate the citation for cars. Wikipedia mentions only a couple of very odd Saabs from 35+ years ago. Saabs of those era were very different indeed and don't represent nearly any other typical car. – Eric S Apr 27 '20 at 20:00
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    Cars absolutely do not use mechanisms like this - maybe you can find an oddball exception somewhere in the history books, but modern cars have nothing like this. Cars use differential gears and, in automatic transmission vehicles, a torque converter, but not a ratcheting mechanism like this. – J... Apr 28 '20 at 12:47
  • They are less common in cars that shaft drives on bikes. Modified cars do use them, especially for dirt racing (inner wheels bite, outer wheels freewheel), Some ZF limited slip diffs use them. Typically a viscous coupling is used if the drive ratio is higher to the front wheels. Helicopters certainly do use them. – mckenzm Apr 28 '20 at 21:23
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    I should add that this is very very common in motorcycles, usually in starter clutches that share the drive shaft axis. – mckenzm Apr 28 '20 at 21:35
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    The Wartburg 353 definitely had a freewheel, which could be turned off if someone wanted engine braking: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartburg_353 – uk4sx Apr 28 '20 at 22:21
  • @uk4sx The Wartburg, and the SAAB in this answer, are both two-stroke engined and are both half-century old relics - oddballs of a design strategy long since buried and dead. – J... Apr 29 '20 at 19:17
  • The other common name in cycling is a **freehub** - with the same functionality but is part of the wheel's hub. By comparison a freewheel is integral in the stack of cogs (aka the block). Outside of cycling this might be called a one-way bearing or a sprag bearing. – Criggie Apr 29 '20 at 20:53
  • @kamran, if you didn't create the Sprague clutch drawing then you need to credit the image creator (otherwise SE considers it plagiarism). – Transistor Jun 14 '20 at 08:43
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Basically several ratchets, below animation shows when you are not pedalling. In the other direction the ratchet will engage and provide force.

If you lift a bike and get the wheel spinning or just leading the bike, sometimes the pedals will turn very slowly due to the friction of ratchets.

Ratchets]

Image borrowed from https://www.notubes.com/technology/neo-durasync-speedsync (no affiliation)

Viktor Mellgren
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