Classic & Vintage - Any Value in old multi speed freewheels?

I work in an earn a bike org, and I was going thru the PILES and PILES of parts, trying to carve out some room from our ever dwindling amount space.

I started in a milk crate full of freewheels, cleaning off the crud, checking for seized up/frozen ones (off to the dumpster)... and I started to wonder:

First... why we save so many old 5-6 speed freewheels considering the bikes (kids cruisers mostly) we repair.

Second... is there any value in these?

I don't have pics, but I took a few notes:

REGINA GS-CORSE SICC (5 SPEED)
has a weird looking notched ring instead of threads

SACHS-MAILLARD (6 SPEED)
MADE IN FRANCE (HELIOMATIC? SPLINED INSTEAD OF THREADED)

SUNTOUR 'PERFECT' VIA (MANY, USUALLY 5 SPEED)

REGINA EXTRA (THREADED, 5 SPEED)

SHIMANO VIA MF-Z012 (6 SPEED)

SHIMANO VIA MF-HG-22 (6 SPEED)

PRO COMPE INDUSTRIES MF (6 SPEED)

ATOM MADE IN FRANCE (5 SPEED)

I pitched a lot of Falcons and no names

--------

Just curious. I think some of the volunteer mechanics will upgrade a 5 speed kid bike to 6 speed cluster. Seems sorta like a waste, but hey... it's a volunteer shop!

tanks for any perspective!

Mark

Don't be too quick to toss older freewheels; there is a healthy market for them on eBay. If you have a 13-26 or a 14-26 6-speed freewheel, preferably an "ultra"-spaced one, I am interested.

o
preferably an "ultra"-spaced one, I am interested.

okay...dumb question... what does 'ultra spaced' mean?

a couple of these might be pretty close range ratio

o

okay...dumb question... what does 'ultra spaced' mean?

a couple of these might be pretty close range ratio

An "Ultra 6" freewheel was a narrow spaced freewheel that fit 6 cogs in the space formerly required by five. An Ultra 6 freewheel equipped wheel would fit in 120 mm dropout spacing. Sun Tour made them and they were popular in the early '80's.

One way to tell them was that the smallest cog was flush with the outer face of the freewheel body. A regularly spaced 6-speed freewheel had a smallest cog that stuck out a bit beyond the body.

"ultra spaced" means 5mm spacing between cogs, standard spacing (non-ultra) can vary but is usually 5.3mm or wider. A 6 speed ultra will be about the same width as a 5 speed (standard).

edit: HR beat me to it

Yeah, like toe clips and straps, they're getting hard to find these days. Fortunately I scored a buncha Suntours recently on ebay.

Any Italian, English or French ones (Sachs, Maillard, Atom, Cyclo, Regina, etc) will have good value if in fair to good condition. Japanese ones actually work better, but are also more common.

I heart regina freewheels for the noise they make while coasting.

The suntour perfects and 888's were pretty common on many bikes, and they sell well on ebay.

The Maillard Heliomatic is very hard to find in good condition. However, there are very few still riding on one of them. I believe I have one on my Trek 560(that's what the hub says).

If you have any aluminum freewheels at all......please PM me. I'll buy them.

Thanks!
-C

I would love to get my hands on the Regina 5 speeds I will pay the shipping and a bit extra, for a restoration which will be ridden occasionally so I am not concerned that suntour are functionally better. Send me a PM if you are willing to ship them.

M-theory... PM sent in 1 minute.

is there any value in these?

Hi Mark, how's it going?

The Suntour Perfect must have been a Yellow Jersey staple. It's what I have on my bike that YJ built in 1977.

I was curious about value so I watched em on ebay for a bit. There were a lot of them. I saw two just like mine (5 cogs, 14-28) and they were not exactly hot items. One sold for $5 plus shipping. Another seller wanted $10 minimum and got no bids.

Now if you had one with a cog smaller than 14, that might motivate me to learn how to work on a freewheel. I seem to be mashing in high gear a lot, so it would come in handy.

Cheers.

Certain sizes of freewheels, such as the ubiquitous 14-17-20-24-28, show up frequently on eBay. It is also very easy to find 14-22, 13-19, and other close-ratio combinations, as well as 14-32s. The real trick is to find a 13-26 or a 14-26, which will work well with older Campagnolo derailleurs whilst providing a very useful gear ratio progression with combinations of readily available chainrings. If anyone wants to sell a 14-16-18-20-23-26 ultra, I would be very interested.

yes I found the larger size sold for more on ebay. Reginas with 24 or more teeth seem to do well while no one wants the ones that only go to 21.

So hard to tell with a used freewheel whether it's really functional or not. Many will have one or two gears that are worn out and will slip/lurch or jump gears. Isn't that why they were replaced? You can sort of tell by looking at the width of the remaining teeth compared to a fresh set. If the tooth width is good, then it may be ok, but if any are worn narrow, forget it.

Hi Mark, how's it going?

hey Pete, how goes the build up?
I got my Dawes project in gear... changed out the cottered Nervar crank for a Stronglight (lightens the old steed up by a FEW POUNDS!) Who nose if it will even see much riding this year (as a SS)
Mashing in high gear? sheesh... you must be moving a lot faster than this old guy (laughs)

and to all --
thanks for the perspective. I think I am just going to leave the clusters in the crate for now. Life is intervening and I don't even have time to think! Looks like what I have is mostly middle of the road common stuff. I agree about the 'worn cog' issue. Several of these have worn teeth on gears, so they'd be a crap shoot.

the nice thing about having a bunch of old threaded freewheels is that you can mix and match to make a cluster with your own custom gearing

the nice thing about having a bunch of old threaded freewheels is that you can mix and match to make a cluster with your own custom gearing

Been there ... done that ... many times. :)

hey Pete, how goes the build up?
I got my Dawes project in gear... changed out the cottered Nervar crank for a Stronglight (lightens the old steed up by a FEW POUNDS!) Who nose if it will even see much riding this year (as a SS)


Hey Mark, Stronglight sounds great! Nice old school pedigree, and the switch from steel to alloy must help with the weight. You still up for SS riding? I thought your daughter made off with your flip-flop SS wheel.

My dumpster bike's winter overhaul is actually progressing nicely - it may even be ready by road cycling season. I just need to cable up and trim the derailleurs; finish rebuilding the pedals; and get the wheels cleaned up. Still planning to swap in your bars and stem, after getting back into the feel of my current ones for comparison.

I went with a 52/38 crankset build, felt like an idiot for buying a NOS Simplex triple front derailleur that I'm not using. (Anyone interested?)