Boatdesigner

I am rebuilding and upgrading an old Puch. It came with a 6 spd. freewheel, I have replaced it with a Sunrace 7 spd. 13-24 freewheel. The rear derailler is a NOS Suntour Cyclone MkII (friction, not index). When I try to adjust the derailler so that it will shift to the largest gear, the derailler bottoms out (the limit screw is all the way out) before it can shift into the largest gear. It will shift into all the other gears with no problem.

I am wondering if this could be related to the bike not having an integral derailler hanger? The Sunrace freewheel has a lock ring on the outside that sticks out more than the old Suntour freewheel. The lock ring rubs on the nut for the derailler hanger, so I followed Sheldon's advice and put a small washer on the axle. This gave me the clearance, but I wonder if it is pushing the derailler too far out for it to reach the innermost gear. Could the washer combined with the thickness of the hanger be enough to keep the derailler from working? Were there two different types of deraillers, one for bikes with integral hangers and one for those without? Any ideas for how to get the clearance without the washer? Thanks!

genericbikedude

Convoluted little problem that you have there. Is the derailler hanger bent at all? If not, have you considered bending it?

Boatdesigner

The hanger appears to be straight as it lays flat on a table. I hadn't considered bending it as I thought that would put the derailler on an angle, causing other problems. It is a convoluted problem. I wonder if I shouldn't try the old derailler and see if it has the same problem. Thanks for your help!

LittleGinseng 

If the spacing on your freewheel is standard (as opposed to Ultra) and your rear derailleur is for 5 speed, then you'll need a different freewheel, because the derailleur may not have the necessary amount of travel. If your Cyclone II is a 6 speed model then an Ultra 7 freewheel would work fine. There's a 2 letter date code on the inside of the derailleur. What might it be?

Boatdesigner

The original 6 spd freewheel was standard spaced. I was under the impression that all 7 spd freewheels were ultra spaced, was I wrong? The new freewheel does appear to be the same width as the old. The dropouts are spaced at 126mm, which I thought was the standard for 6 spd's.

The date code is "XL" I believe. This is the letters printed next to "Maeda Ind. Japan" on the back of the derailler. According to the "History of Suntour" article I found on the 'net, the Cyclone MKII wasn't introduced until 1982, so I assumed the derailler was from the 6 spd era. The bike was made in 1983 and was all original prior to my recent changes. Were the deraillers for bikes with an integral hanger different than those with a seperate hanger? Thanks for your help!

EDIT: According to the Vintage-Trek date code list, it would have been made in December of '81. I am guessing it was an early '82 model year?