Classic & Vintage - I forgot how much I used to like bikes. . .

A little bit off topic, but I basically blew my whole day in this section. . especially in the "old frames with STI's or Ergos" thread.

Hopefully, I can get some work done tomorrow.

Oh, hey, while you're here I do have one question. I got the impression that is is possible to go STI on a 126mm aluminium frame, either via RSX or Sora shifter or. .

. . .what's that bit about using a 8/9/10 sp cassette with a current shifter and taking cogs away?

Please. Be verbose.

Two ways as far as I know, you can go for the 7sp sti route, or you can just kinda jam a 130mm hub in there and go 8/9/10. Ive done it quite a bit and had no issues with the rear aluminum triangle, maybe you'll loose time when fixing a rear flat but thats about it.

I have no experience with simply taking out cogs to fit on the shorter 6/7so hub body, it would kind of be a trial and error method getting it to all fit good, I can kind of see it as being a bit of a headache, though I am all for unconventional methods sometimes too.

. .what's that bit about using a 8/9/10 sp cassette with a current shifter and taking cogs away?

Please. Be verbose.

I have taken a SRAM 8 speed cassette and put all but the smallest cog on the hub. It was the right price, ($20) better quality and lighter than any 7 speed cassette I could find on that day. It worked fine. And it was shiny.:)

Shiny is good. I have a pre-SRAM SACHS, myself. It's not shiny. They do have a way at being the lightest at their respective price points don't they. . but I digress.

Hey, so you use the derailleur outer limit to limit the shift or the shifter. . or combination of both. I do not believe I would personally do this myself, but the concept is very compelling-- no! I meant interesting. Interesting. . not compelling. Yeah. Let's go with that.

If you can be more specific about what you want/need to do, we can really zero in on it.
A lot of us have upgraded older bikes to modern stuff, but there's a myriad of options.
Narrow it a bit and we'll give you more information than you'll ever need, some of it true.

Need:
7s 126OLD Shimano hub - Hyperglide (HG), not Uniglide (UG)
9s Shimano loose cog cassette & spacers
9s Shimano shifter
Indexed capable derailleur. Original 9s might be a little smoother, but not required.
9s chain.

Install: 8 of the 9 cogs onto your hub.
Everything else normal.

Ride

Need:
7s 126OLD Shimano hub - Hyperglide (HG), not Uniglide (UG)
9s Shimano loose cog cassette & spacers
9s Shimano shifter
Indexed capable derailleur. Original 9s might be a little smoother, but not required.
9s chain.

Install: 8 of the 9 cogs onto your hub.
Everything else normal.

RideExactly. I'd been probably perusing this and the illustrious and immortal sheldonbrown.com for what seems like ages and just this very minute stumbled across this: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/k7.html#up7

So the math works out?
9 sp cassete - 1 cog - 1 spacer = 34.72mm ?
7 sp cassette = 35mm ?

Great. Now. How the hell do I find a 126mm / 7 speed HG hub. . .[/rhetorically]

I mean I'm assuming my who knows how old or from where Miche (with a Campy stamp) freehub will absolutely not work.

ebay dude. 7 speed Freehubs are abundant. Heck, you can get em new if you'd prefer.

If you can be more specific about what you want/need to do, we can really zero in on it.
A lot of us have upgraded older bikes to modern stuff, but there's a myriad of options.
Narrow it a bit and we'll give you more information than you'll ever need, some of it true.Ha ha. Love it.

I've spent the last 15 years overclocking CPUs and overdriving ODD (the only difference is the firmware), taking crappy innards from [insert laptop brand here] and replacing with much better, up to date boards (many FrankenDells and FrankenPads), dumping old, inefficient Sybase / MSSQL installs for spiffy MySQL-- all sorts of doing more with less when it comes to PCs and periphials.

I never though it could be done with bikes. Not to this magnitude. What you guys have done and continue to do in the "old frames with STI's or Ergos" thread is a complete 180 degree turn around from what I thought was possible. I thought that simply putting this 7 sp where a 6 was was a decent hack. Oh. No. Grasshopper. The rice paper is sticky and darned if can even see that stupid pebble.

In some respects, putting a modern trans on an older bike (say pre 1989) is the ultimate overclock. This appeals to my my inner geek much greatly.

What I want to accomplish:
It looks like I may be due for an axle replacement. Thus, t's not a much a emotional / financial leap to just replace the entire hub. Thus, it's not a much a emotional / financial leap to just do as much as possible to bring the ride up to date-- "future proof" it a bit.

ebay dude. 7 speed Freehubs are abundant. Heck, you can get em new if you'd prefer.

I was being flippant, but, seriously. . new? New? I would indeed prefer.

Do you have a source?

I had already been looking since last week. Not much available, at least not that I could find. The closest was a 105 in UG trim for ~$30. Have no idea if that's good enough deal to get and replace the FH body. . .