my cruiser and my 10 y/o's bike both need new freewheels. i can't afford the white industries. what's another good option for a cheap price?

i currently have whatever generic FW DK puts on their completes. my son has an ACS claws. the generic has held up fine for 3 years now, my sons didn't even last a year. the ACS is popping, cracking and grinding. it's dragging the cranks and not freewheeling smoothly at all.

so what's a decent cheap option for us?

edit, just noticed i posted this in the vintage racing forum, if a mod could move it to the racing forum, i'd appreciate it.

You can probably keep them. Keep the freewheels oiled and they won't drag, the factory grease gets thick over time and the internal cogs / springs wont release. Light oil like Tri-Flow lube breaks it down and keeps it running smooth. Lay the bike on it's side and drip some oil in the top edge of freewheel, spin the rear wheel slowly as you do this to get a good coverage inside the bearings / spring mechanism.

Hallo makes a nice unit for around 50, otherwise I'd stick with the tried and true Shimano MX for around 30. anything under 20 is usually junk with regular use. Although I have had a dicta of all things last a whole season a few years back. Suntour used to make a damn good one, you can still find an NOS one on e-bay from time to time

There's usually a "Best Freewheel" thread open in the racing section, but I've seen some folks get pretty passionate about their preference. I'm a WI guy myself, but have run the Excess freewheels recently and was pretty impressed. The new ACS Crossfire has also gotten a pretty good fan base lately, it's a complete new design than the old claws poop.

I chose the Excess over the Crossfire because the crossfire requires a special removal tool. Both are readily available by pressing them buttons on the right.