Awhile back I introduced you all to the Onza Tensile freewheel for single speeding enjoyment. Oh, and I do love to single speed! I slapped that Tensile freewheel on one of my 29″ers and set to riding it right away.

I was fairly impressed with how it engaged and also on how quiet it was. I figured it might be a buzz factory what with 60 engagement points and six pawls bouncing around inside that hardened cro-moly shell. The first few short rides didn’t show up any faults, so I decided a long distance training ride was in order back in early April.

Well, the ride was on a day when it was 35 degrees Fahrenheit with blowing snow/sleet, and very wet gravel roads, borderlining on mud in several places. With a 25mph wind whipping the slop all over the place, I really soaked the Tensile freewheel in some mucky-muck, in limestone flavor!

The day after the ride, I went to check on the bike and discovered that the freewheel was frozen solid! So, I endeavored to overhaul it, since it is supposed to be completely user serviceable. Well, Sea Otter and my cycling event that I promote were taking up alot of my time. I had to wait until just recently to get to this.

To my surprise, the bearings were in retainers, but I still managed to sink one of the steel springs into the parts washer at the shop. I am probably going to sift through the mire once more before I throw in the towel and try to get a new spring set. (All parts are supposedly available.) I’ll not be able to throw it all back together until I find a suitable replacement.

So far I am pleased with the Tensile’s dry weather performance and serviceability, (just watch those pesky springs!), but I can not really recommend it for any sort of wet weather performance. In comparison to ACS Claws freewheels, which are similar in design, the Tensile isn’t nearly as “inclement weather friendly”. I certainly have put ACS freewheels through much worse than I did the Onza product.

For all weather performance and reliability, the White Industries freewheels would be a better choice in my opinion. I’ll report back on the parts availability and further testing of the Tensile freewheel soon.