I recently had the chance to ride two bikes that cost about as much as a second-hand small car. The new Specialized S-Works Crux 5 gravel bike. And the Storck Fascenario 5 ‘speedgraveller’.
Both are as light as a feather. Both accelerate as if Newton were having a bad day.
It’s more like an aeroplane take-off than gravel biking.
But the most impressive thing about these bikes was not the way they moved forward.
It was the moment when they stopped doing anything. When the cranks stop turning.
As soon as you stop pedalling, they start talking.
Not a free run, but a threatening gesture
No, it’s officially called a freewheel. In reality, it’s an acoustic show of force. It’s not a freewheel on these bikes; it’s a threatening gesture. A metallic whirring. A self-assured growl. Not hysterical. Not nervous. But like a predator that has long known it stands at the top of the food chain.
After all, the lion king doesn’t roar because he’s afraid.
The longer I thought about it, the more the freewheel struck me as a status symbol.
It used to be the Rolex. Or the Porsche key that you’d slam down on the bar. Today, it’s the rear wheel hub.
There are people who buy an Industry Nine Hydra with 690 engagement points. Others swear by Chris King with its ‘Angry Bee’ whirring sound, NonPlus or DT Swiss with a 54-tooth ratchet. Technically, it’s all fascinating. Acoustically, they’re somewhere between a swarm of bees and a circular saw.
The message is always the same:
Listen up. Look here – here I come!
Of course, the effect can be enhanced even further. Less grease in the freewheel. Thin oil instead of thick lubricant. Tall carbon rims act as resonance chambers. A whirring sound turns into a concert. If you like, you can tune your freewheel so that pedestrians voluntarily make way three bends in advance. And other cyclists voluntarily pull over to the right – a swarm of hornets is on its way!
But this is precisely where the crucial question arises.
Is a loud freewheel really a sign of class? Or is it more like the cycling equivalent of a Lamborghini driver who floors it one last time in the city centre at night?
Perhaps true sovereignty is exactly the opposite.
Perhaps the king does not need to remind his subjects that he is king.
Perhaps the quietest freewheel is the loudest statement of style.
I don't know.
All I know is that, after my first ride on the S-Works, I found myself suddenly stopping pedalling more often.
Not because I was tired.
But because I wanted to hear how expensive a bicycle sounds.
Dimitri Lehner
Editor
