1989Pre 

What I'm trying to do is swap out a couple sprockets from my 5-speed Atom/Maillard freewheel, and put them on my 4-speed Atom/Maillard.
These should be compatible and easily transferable, but my LBS told me today that "You can't swap sprockets off of a freewheel, because they are an integral part."
Sheldon Brown has indicated that older freewheels such as these have threaded sprockets, vs the later, splined ones.
Who is right?
One other detail: the 5-speed is french thread. The 4-speed is English thread. Is this detail consequential?

198

bikeman715

I go with Sheldon on this one . You LBS don't know because they are too young .

fietsbob

All You Can do Is TRY it. Malliard Aris Is a Mix of small treaded ones and large splined , Atom is an older product by the defunct company

get Out the Chain Whips and start Unscrewing the cogs 1 by 1.

rmfnla

Many freewheels could be disassembled but you never know what to expect with French anything...

Andrew R Stewart 

Don't be surprised if the cogs don't want to unthread easily. Years ago I worked in a shop which specialized in custom gearing. We often built up Maillard, Atom, Regina and of course the two S's freewheels. The Euro ones were always a pain to deal with. Often the biggest cogs were left hand threaded and went on from the back side. Having a way to hold the freewheel body tight enough to loosen the last cog will prove to be a challenge. Good luck. Andy.

fietsbob

Regina ORO the last 2 are left hand threaded there is a shoulder in the body they stop against.

clean it up and Look between the cogs for the shoulder if there is a spacer then its not , shoulder in the far inside may be splined stages .

ARIS there's 2 bigger over the body thread and pawls and ratchets, smaller as the tooth count has to be smaller..

A Cheater Handle became Part of my chain whips so they're a bit over 2 feet long..

and To cure Blow outs there is an 1/8" spring clip masterlink wher the chain meets the rather thick piece of Hot rolled steel

with the Holes in the edge the ability to hold the Body steady while the 2 chain whips are Pulled against each Other will help A Lot..
It aint watch repair, some brute force may be needed, after all the hill climbing of past decades has tightened it Up.

NukeouT

True!

I recommend buying another wheel that fits your rear drops and uses a ~4-speed freewheel. I had a Maillard hub, and it was always a pain in the neck + they're known for under-engineering the drive side which leads to earlier failure.

1989Pre 

Just for anyone's future reference, I sent both freewheels to the good folks at Yellow Jersey, and they hooked me right up. They said my extra 20T would not fit in the "second position", so they found me a N.O.S 19T that would!
They said that the cog threads are the same on both english and french threaded freewheels. I neglected to mention that both of these are N.O.S.
I now have a 4-speed freewheel on my hub that has the exact gearing I wanted: 14-19-24-28. Now, if I can just get the Cyclo Mk7 to accept the 28T, I'll be fine. I hope I don't have to wait for a Mk8, cause they are hard to find.

fietsbob

Malliard Used to Be part of the Fichtel-Sachs group of Companies ,, when SRAM investors Bought out Sachs .

They didnt want anything Malliard made so it went away.. and the Machine tools at Sachs, in Germany, were shipped to Taiwan.




Glad you hooked up with that long established Bike Shop in Madison Wisconsin.

1989Pre 

Thanks for that history on Maillard/Sachs/SRAM, Bob.

Yeah, I was so impressed with Yellow Jersey, I think I'll have them paint my road frame at the end of the season.

rmfnla

Me too; not many places will take the time to redo a freewheel, let alone an oddball one...