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My Auntie has a relatively new, inexpensive 18 speed bike used for gentle rides back and fore from the shops/work, bought pretty recently from Halfords. Since day one she's had problems with a sticking freewheel and it's been back to the shop once for a replacement. I've had a quick look this evening and the gears are indexing fine but I can see the (screw on) freewheel hesitating even after a quick squirt with GT 85 (which did seem to loosen things a bit - didn't want to overdo it for fear of it getting into the hub bearings). What's the best course of action? . . . back to Halfords again (which is a bit of a lengthy round trip in a borrowed van) or possibly worth taking off the wheel and soaking the freewheel in oil? The bike is kept outside by the way.
They're not very well sealed, so keeping the bike outside probably doesn't help. Soaking it may be worth a try, but you may end up washing crap in as well as out, probably best to replace it and hope you get a better one(quality seems to be a bit of a lottery on these).
Cheers 🙂