Ringle Superduper eight Freehub body question?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

Recently bought a NOS Ringle super bubba rear hub and just got it back on Sat from the local bike shop all built up.

Maybe I'm worrying about nothing but it seems that the freehub body spins freely but when I put it in the frame and tightened up the skewer, the freehub body no longer spins freely. It still turns, but its noticeably tighter and you can feel some resistance when you turn it backwards.

Also if you hold the freehub body and spin the wheel, it slows down really quickly, almost as if its dragging. Is this normal?

Unfortunately, I don't have the funds until Friday to buy the cassette and gear cables to complete the build and see if its going to be ok. I'm just worried that I'm maybe missing a spacer or washer or something and don't want to damage the hub.

Am I worrying about nothing, or does the freehub body tighten when fitted to the frame? I thought the frame would only press on the axle, not put pressure on the freehub body. Or maybe because its a new hub, it'll free up with a bit of use?

I do not know, but I've not seen a hub do that.

I would change the title to include 'Ringle super bubba'

It will catch the people that know Ringle hubs much better than a generic title that only people like me will read.

If I only visited once a week and knew about Ringle, I probably wouldn't bother reading this. (your title is your advert for the question )

Cheers Fluffy, i'll try that, see if it gets any answers

I've now tried a different hub, an old pulstar I had lying around and the freehub still spins freely regardless of how tight I do the axle up, using the same skewer.

The Ringle only spins freely when the skewer is only lightly closed (not a good idea cause its going on a Klein with rear facing dropouts) but when tighened up, the freehub becomes noticeably "sticky" for want of a better term.

I'm pretty sure after trying the other hub that its not a problem with the frame/alignment and the hub either must be faulty or needs running time to free up.

Going to be gutted if there's a problem with the hub as I've just spent over £100 quid getting it built on top of the hub cost.

there must be some play in the hub . and when skewer is done tigh everything compresses and it can run freely .

Hi there- someone else drew my attention to thsi post- so hopefully I can help.
I think that Chris is pretty near the answer, on two counts.
ONE- I have seen a few hubs where the freehub body hasn't been pushed fully home in assembly (remember these were built by people rather than 1000 pieces a minute type machines). Check that the nut on the axle is tight. Chances are its on with some sort of loctite, so you'll need to undo the nut, and then do it back up again.

TWO, the ratchet ring in the body is a tight fit at best, and isn't always tightened down- again, as it was a hand assembly operation (all be it with production tools). The ring is screwed into the body. It isn't always screwed in all the way. It was hard to assemble on the bench, compared to the mechanical advantage implied on the drivetrain by pushing a 24/32t gear up a hill. This is I think where the improvement to your hub may lie.
You have the wheel built, pop on the cassette, and stand on the cranks. Any luck you shoudl get another 1/4 turn on the ratched ring, and all the bearings should hunker down into their locations.
Bear in mind now that the axle nut will again now need a little tightening, and also if you mech stops were set, the whole asembly will have moved inboard a tiny amount, so re-check your gear setup.

The ratchet ring tightening a little happens on all hubs to some extent when first ridden. The tight tolerances of some designs though means that some designs of hubs need a little more bedding in than others. I'd be pretty sure that this is it.

If you get real stuck, drop me a pm- I'll do my best to help. I have all spares for this hub if needed

Cheers elite504, was kinda hoping you'd pop into this thread, sounds like some very useful advice there, i'll give it a try as soon as I get a chance. I think I may have even got the hub off of you, I was pretty sure there must be some kind of bedding in involved and your explanation makes sense.

Ill try it tomorrow night with an old cassette I have here and hopefully all will be well.

Thanks for the response and cheers to whoever pointed elite towards this thread, Stu

All is now well

Cheers Nick for the great advice, didn't even need to stand on the pedals in the end. Got a new cassette onto it last night and it seems as soon as it was tightened, its pushed the freehub body that tiny last bit and seated it properly. So hub is now spinning freely and working lovely.

Just gotta remember how to setup gears now

Great news man, I love it when a plan comes together
After all that don't end up shifting in to the spokes!

I know, its making me nervous, haven't set up a rear mech in nearly 10 years, hope I don't cock it up