question about evolution of wheels: 7 to 8 spd
Saw some mavic wheels on cl this weekend and the seller sent me photos, and a description.
Rims: Mavic "Open 4 CD"
Hubs: Shimano 600
Freewheel(?) Dura-ace hyperglide 8-speed
Oh yeah, one broken/missing spoke in front, and he's asking $100 - sounds like a lot to me. But I'm curious about wheel evolution anyway.
Question 1) By the photos, they appear to have a 8-spd freewheel. Does hyperglide indicate a freewheel? Since I have one wheel with a 7-spd freewheel and another with a 7-spd freehub/cassette, I assumed at 8-speeds everyone would have transitioned to freehubs - yes/no?
Question 2) can I assume anything about the rear spacing of this 8-spd? like 126? Although now that I ask, I know my 7-spd touring bike has 130+ rear dropout spacing. The seller is explaining things is very simple terms like: "the thing that hold the spokes" when he means the hub, so I didn't what to go back and forth asking him to measure things.
Question 3) I have a Shimano 600 6-spd freewheel and was wondering if I could throw it on there in place of the 8-spd in an attempt to make the wheels would work with my existing RD. Sound reasonable? The candidates for this wheelset are all mid-70 to late-80's machines, and I believe all with 126 spacing.