Fifty Plus (50+) - rear freewheel

Hi hope all are good... I'd like to know what is a good cog set to use on hilly terrain... right now i am using a 12 - 21 7 speed freewheel with a 34/49 compact double.... i'd like to stay with that compact double....
and just change the freewheel to something better .... i am really just gettting back into biking again after years of being away from it...


any and all help would be great....
thanks a ton

rc

Nearly read this wrong and thought " What are you going ona bout a FREEHUB when talking about gearing. Nearly forgot about freewheel cassettes. I would look a Sheldon's site

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/freewheels.html#6

To see what is available

No matter what you get- if doing hills then you need the biggest rear cassette possible Except the jump on the Megarange from 24 to 34 is a big big and awkward.

On 15% hills I use a compact crankset of 50/34 and a cassette of 12/27. That gets me up all the hills in my area but if Mountain climbing- Then I would look at the 34.

Your rear d. might be a short cage - it should be OK to 27 th. (Sheldon says probably 30).
Is there a shop in your area that has a focus on older bike tech.? They might be able to take your freewheel and swap cogs for lower gearing and make sure it all works OK.

There were options for 7 speed that don't do that giant 24-34 jump. Our tandem has a 7 speed with a 32 top and pretty smooth transitions from 12 (I think).

You may find that a 13-26 freewheel provides the granny gears you need without changing anything but your chain (two additional links are presumably needed). SRAM made a 13-15-17-19-21-23-26, which would give you two gears below your current bottom end.

Gearing questions can really be answered by only one person. Gearing that's comfortable for stapfam might be impossible for me. Some riders like to attack a hill, others stay seated and grind up. Nobody else can tell you how big of a rear cog you need for your kind of riding.

That said, I'm going to disagree with the other posters regarding the mega-range freewheels and cassettes. I think of it as being a normally spaced six speed with a bail-out cog added. Whenever I find myself in a position wher I'm looking for a bail-out gear, I want to be able to feel a significant difference after completing the shift. The mega-range freewheels do that.

If your bike has a 12/21 freewheel now, chances are it has a rear derailleur to match. If that's the case, it isn't going to handle a wide range freewheel. The solution is to bolt on a mountain bike rear derailleur. That'll give you both the big cog capability and the chain wrap that you're going to need.

hi .. thanks for all the good info...
right now i do have a mountain bike rear derailleur a suntour XC Expert... it should be able to handle it i hope :)

thanks a ton guys


rc

Freewheels are widely available--it would be too strong to say they're making comeback, but they aren't about to disappear. Nashbar and Performance have both had them in recent catalogs, and I've seen them many other places. Rivendell (www.rivbike.com) carries several.
If you're straining in hilly terrain, I'd say to go with the biggest large cog you can fit, probably 27 (maybe 30, but I don't know for sure). Your 12-21 would be completely useless for me here in the Sierra. I don't know that I've ever been in the 12-tooth cog on either of my road bikes.

ebay is a good source for stuff the bike shops can't be bothered supplying any more

Richard

... I don't know that I've ever been in the 12-tooth cog on either of my road bikes. I have never even had a 12-tooth cog on any of my road bikes. :)

I have a new Shimano 14-28 7 speed freewheel that you can have for the cost of shipping. I bought it before I realized that my 7 speed was a freehub.

Just send me a PM if interested.

Are you sure that what you need is a freewheel and not a cassette (http://sheldonbrown.com/images/freewheel-vs-k7.jpg)? Sorry if you are clear on the difference, I'm just trying to make sure we are giving you the right answers.

The choice in freewheels is not as great as it was 15 years ago, but there is a decent selection. Here (http://www.bikemannetwork.com/biking/c/COMPFW7) is about the best selection of 7 speed freewheels I've seen recently in one place.
The selection of 7 speed cassettes (http://www.bikemannetwork.com/biking/c/COMPCASS7) is not a whole lot better.

I have been trying to come up with a good 7 speed cogset to go with a compact double myself. I can either get a good range of gears with a 12 or 13 to 28 or I can get a tight range with small jumps between gears with a 12 to 21 or 13 to 23. I'm not very happy with any of these choices, so I am going to go back to a triple with 26/38/50 rings and a 12-21 cassette to get the range I need for the hills and the tight spacing I like.

And, if you need a cassette, I think I have a Nashbar 7 speed 14/28 cassette free for shipping too. I bought it before I realized I needed the UG style with the small cog that screws on...

To be complete, for 7 speed there is a chance that it could be:

a) Freewheel
b) UG Cassette (older style)
c) HG Cassette

The easy way to tell if it is a freewheel is to hold the wheel still and spin the cogs. If the splines that you use to remove it move with the cogs, it is a cassette. If the splines stay still, it is a freewheel.

And as usual for most things bicycle related, Sheldon Brown has information on the topic: http://sheldonbrown.com/free-k7.html

EDIT: I just realized the BD linked to Sheldon Brown.

Also... if you need the old style cassette, they are even rarer!!! Although the last I looked, Loosescrews.com has one available.

http://www.loosescrews.com/index.cgi?c=Cassette&sc=Complete%20Shimano&tc=7%20Speed&id=696124015863