The present invention relates to a method and a device for mounting a free wheel assembly on the hub of a bicycle rear wheel, said free wheel assembly including a free wheel body having an end portion carrying one or more pawls distributed on the outer periphery thereof, and for engaging an annular crown with inner teeth carried by one end of the hub, each pawl being biased by respective spring means towards a position projecting out of the profile of the free wheel body.
The Applicant has been manufacturing and selling a free wheel assembly of the above indicated type for some time, which is provided with an auxiliary tool for facilitating the mounting operation, which is constituted by a metal wire bent so as to form an open ring with two handling arms which project radially from the adjacent ends of the open ring. If the user has dismantled the free wheel from the rear hub of the bicycle and has to mount it again, or has to mount a new free wheel, the above-mentioned auxiliary tool greatly facilitates the mounting operation. In fact, the open ring is enlarged elastically by acting on said end arms and is then placed around the end portion of the free wheel body from which the pawls project, so that these pawls are temporarily held, against the action of the respective spring means, in positions retracted within the free wheel body, so that the latter can be axially engaged within said annular crown with inner teeth of the bicycle hub. As soon as the end portion of the free wheel body carrying the pawls has partially engaged said annular crown, the auxiliary tool can be removed, by enlarging again the opened ring and disengaging the ring from the free wheel body, while the pawls are held in the respective retracted positions by the engagement thereof with the teeth of said annular toothed crown. Once the auxiliary tool has been removed, the mounting can be completed by axially pushing the free wheel body within the annular toothed crown of the hub until the final mounting position is reached.
Studies and tests conducted by the Applicant in the field of bicycle wheels and particularly with regard to the connection of wheel spokes to the hub have however led to devise new hub configurations (which have formed the subject of previous patent applications of the same Applicant) in which said annular crown with inner teeth is in a position relatively displaced inwardly within the hub, with respect to the end surface of the latter. As a result of this, the above described auxiliary tool can not be used for mounting the free wheel, since when the free wheel assembly, with the auxiliary tool mounted thereon holding the pawls in retracted position, is inserted within the end of the hub, the interference of the auxiliary tool with the end surface of the hub prevents further axial movement of the free wheel body within the hub and blocks the pawls from entering the toothed crown and engage therewithin.