History
The concept of a 'cassette' or unit hub was devised and manufactured by British company Bayliss-Wiley in 1938 and won the Cyclists Touring Club (CTC) award for that year. On the Bayliss-Wiley design the freewheel unit was threaded to accept the sprockets. A different four speed design was manufactured by BSA Cycles Ltd in 1949 to accompany their BSA 4 Star derailleur gear. The BSA design had a splined freewheel unit (BSA part No.8-1913) which attached to the hub shell (BSA part No.8-701) and carried four sprockets.
Shimano made their first freehub in 1978 in both the Dura-Ace, and 600 (later known as Ultegra) models. It was a significant improvement. It proved to be the first widely commercially successful freehub.
Freehubs, manufactured by various companies, are now common on mid- to high-end bicycles today. Nevertheless, freewheels continue to be fitted on some new bikes, especially single speed, and cheaper models of derailleur bicycles.
Read more about this topic: Freehub
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