JOHN J

good morning,

I hope all is well.

Anyway I started commuting again and built up a surly cross check.

to save some time and $$ I used some parts from a early 90s falcon road bike Primarialy the wheels.

the wheels I used are 90s 105 ,seven speed hub and campy omega hardox rims. new rims as of 4 years ago both rims are 36 hole.

The seven speed hub is ok but id like a bit tighter range in the mid gears that I could get with an 8 speed im missing one step that would be where I am most of the time.

I noticed on the Harris site that the free hub can be changed easy enough but whats involved with the re dishing ?? is re dishing needed in all cases?

Im a do it your selfer when it comes to almost anything except detail wheel work IE: building ,truing ...

my options

1) leave it 7 speed as there is not much difference, Im whining about one gear

2) install the new "free HUB" to make it an 8 speed

3) new wheels (have to be 36 spoke, 40 on rear even better) use the old whells for the falcon as a single speed project.

its a case of these current wheels are pretty good quality but just a tad shy of what I need.

many thanks

"John"

Retro Grouch 

I've converted several wheels from 7-speed to 8-speed and vice versa. If you do most of your own work it's not a bad job at all. Generally the biggest deal is respacing the axle to get the over locknut dimension that you need. If your bike frame has 126mm rear spacing, 8-speed isn't a good idea because the dish that's required will be too drastic.

Redishing the wheel, assuming everything else is in good condition, is a piece of cake. Just tighten all the right side spokes about 1/4 turn and flip the wheel over in the frame until the rim comes out evenly spaced whichever way the wheel is faceing. If you tighten every spoke by the same amount it won't affect the trueness of the wheel.

JOHN J

thanks for the reply,

actually the surly cross check is 132 or 135 spacing I think 135 Ill have to check.

what would I need besided the hub? my skewer is long enough?

the spoke work for this sounds easy enough.

I may just give this a whirl as I dont want to purchace new wheels as these are very nice quality wheels .

thanks "john"

Retro Grouch 

Probably the only thing that you'll have to buy is the freehub body ($25.00-$30.00). If your rear spacing is already 132.5mm or 135mm removing an axle spacer from the left side of the hub and redishing the wheel will probably do the trick for you.

Raiyn

The Cross Check is 132.5 mm in the rear. They call it "Gnot Rite" and it's done that way so you can go either 130 or 135 on it

phidauex

I recently replaced the freehub on an early 105 hub to go from 7 speed to 9 speed. I actually bought a Sora 8sp hub for 12 dollars, and then swapped the freehubs. Now I've got a 7 speed sora hub, and an 8/9/10sp 105 hub!

9 speed gear is easier to find, and in some cases cheaper, than 8 speed, and uses identical freehubs. I respaced by moving a spacer from one side to the other, and then redished. I had to space my old frame from 126mm to 130mm too, but that was a small change and easy to do on a steel frame.

You can buy just a freehub, or any cheap 8sp shimano hub, which will have the same freehub. The cones and axle were the same between the sora and 105 as well.

peace,
sam