velowallah

I have an old 10 speed Peugeot from the early 70s and looking at converting it to 700 wheels since I can't find a decent 27 one. I am looking at a nice wheel with a 130mm hub for the back. Is it going to fit in the frame with a 7 speed cassette?

Bill Kapaun

IF it's early 70's, it's already wider with the 7 speed cassette.

Best to remove the hub and actually measure to see what you have. If it's been respaced to 126MM, can you spread it 4MM more. IF you already have to use extreme force to get the wheel in, you'll probably have to get the frame respaced. That extra 4 MM starts getting much more difficult.

velowallah

it doesn't have a 7 speed cassette yet. Now there's the old 27 wheel with a 6 speed cassette, but the wheel I am looking at has an 7 speed cassette and a 130mm hub.

FBinNY 

early seventies frames were either 120mm (very early 70s) or 126mm (closer to mid seventies). Measure your frame,if it's 126mm you can simply flex it wider to fit the 130mm hub. But if it's 120mm, that's too far to flex. However all is not lost, since you can permanently spread a steel rear triangle to 130mm. There are many threads here describing ways to do this, or you can find one method on the Sheldon Brown site.

BTW- if you prefer you can also permanently spread a 126,,to 130mm, but it isn't necessary.

Ex Pres 

A word of warning. I picked up a '72 120OLD frame that had had a 130 hub put into it - and it has a broken rear brake bridge (popped off one side). Was that the cause? Can't say 100%, but it's my guess.

FBinNY 

It didn't help, though a well brazed bridge connection should be stronger than a seat stay. To ensure against a joint failure, the stays should be braced at the bridges or just outside of them so all the bending moment is beyond the joint.

TugaDude

Yes, whomever forced the hub into the dropouts probably over-stressed the rear triangle and the brake bridge gave way. To lessen the risk of that happening, one can create a wooden support that will strengthen that area of the frame. I think this technique is mentioned in several threads on this forum. While not as good, strong cord can be wrapped around the area a number of times to help brace the brake bridge.

Ranger63

This DIY is probably on the sites forum a dozen times.
3/8" x 12" of all thread
2 large flat washers
2 3/8" nuts.
Run the nuts and washers in so they're inside the dropouts
insert the allthread into the dropout spacing
finger adjust the nuts/washers so they're tight against the inside of the dropouts and then evenly adjust each nut outward a half turn at a time.
I think a lot of the brake bridge damage and the unevenly bent stays comes form folks using 2x4s and standing on one side while pulling the other as methods to expand the clearance.
FWIW I've visited eBay a bunch recently and have seen quite a few NOS and new 27" wheelsets Finding one with a freewheel (vs cassette)for 7spd may be harder to do.

pierce

of course, when you put a 700c wheel on a 27" frame, you'll then have to deal with brakes that don't quite reach the rims. And, modern sidepull road brakes use recessed mounting hardware, which won't fit comfortably on an old frame.

I've gotten away with using a fine small round file to lengthen the pad mounting slots a couple MM so I could reach a 700c rim on a 27" frame using its original Diacompe sidepulls. sketchy if there's not enough material. I've seen vintage front fork crowns drilled for dual pivot brakes and their recessed mounting bolt, this will work if the crown is solid, but should be done by a machinist with a good drill press, or better yet, a milling machine, and knowledge of how to clamp odd shapes securely.

Bill Kapaun

And nothing to prevent all the bending to occur on one side only, if using the all thread method.

With the 2X4 method you bend ONE side to get 1/2 of what you want. Then you do the same on the other. Just work up in small increments.

pierce

heh, yeah, my engineering brain was going wait-a-minute. it doesn't matter which nut you turn, the force is applied equally unless the frame AND the thread-stock are both firmly anchored to a reference plane.

velowallah

Also, my chain is for a 6 speed cassette; will it fit a 7 speed one?

RubberLegs

With C&V bikes, upgrading is a tricky thing, rather hit or miss. I upgraded an old, 79 Schwinn LeTour from 27" to 700, 10 speed to 14 speed, didn't even cold set, just a little flex and in it went, and worked fine, the old brakes had enough reach as well, just adjusted them down. I HAD tried a 700 with a 9 speed cassette, 130 width, it fit, but gears did not play nice and got into clearance issues. That one ended up on my son's 86 Fuji, it liked it just fine! Chain MUST match gears or it just will not work quite right.

pierce

5-6-7-8 all use the same 'standard' chain. 9 sp uses a slightly narrower chain, and 10-speed uses a really narrow chain.

garage sale GT

I had to cold set an '85 Schwinn to keep the hub from moving from chain tension. It was a 126 going to 130. It's not good for the hub to just crank up the skewer tension.

fietsbob

One may have Built, a very nice freewheel hub wheel with a 27" rim,
or order a replacement wheel , with modest value component parts in it..

But Mass produced wheels to Manufacturers
have followed the Masses , to the more commonly used 700c.. Or26" etc..

I'd reccomend replacing worn parts with new ones, and not trying to change much,
Or, just look at buying a Brand New Bike with all the current parts and pay about the same ,
roughly $400 budget..

Besides old French bikes were put on a separate branch of using Metric sizes for many parts,
that have since been sawn off behind them, by the worlds production adopting Fractional sizes
so you see people trying hard to find 22.0 stems when every other country uses 7/8" aka 22.2.

So if the collect-ability of a bike is perceived to be a reason to put out funds
that will not be returned in resale value , then be my guest..

FBinNY 

Posssibly, but it'll tend to be finicky bout trim. 6s and 6s chains run on the same sprockets so the inside width is the same. But 7s sprockets are spaced closer together, so the outside width of a 7s chain is smaller. The wider chain is more likely to rub against an adjacent larger sprocket than a narrower one would.

In any case, it's generally best practice to replace the chain when replacing sprockets, so you might as well start fresh with a 7s chain, unless your 6s is relatively new.

garage sale GT

What fietsbob put so unclearly is true: If your freewheel wears out, you won't easily find a new one for a French bike made before the mid 80s. Same for bottom brackets, pedals, and stems.

Sixty Fiver

Going from 126 to 130 is not problematic and if you want to run a 7 speed freewheel it is not likely that these will disappear soon, have spent the morning putting new 700 wheels into my wife's Peugeot mixte and my only issue was not having enough wiring for the lights on hand.

Went with a cassette hub in the rear using a 7 speed cassette on an 8 speed hub body so I. Would not have to change out the lovely Sachs drivetrain I installed.

ThermionicScott 

The correct answer is: replace it with a good "7/8-speed" one anyway.

fietsbob

Depends .. Export french stuff may use a british thread hub, Like Schwinn bought French normandy hubs
in sufficient numbers to bear a Schwinn imprint..

a lot of back and forth here is a time sink, as we cant see the stuff in front of us so we do lots of guessing.

FBinNY 

Not so fast.

A mid 80's Peugeot made for export almost assuredly has ISO (English) freewheel threads. There's also a decent chance it has an ISO BB, but the mid eighties may be before the change over. In any case french thread BB's aren't that hard so find as long as the OP stays with the same style of BB. Headsets and stems are the most likely item to be harder to find since forks were the last thing they changed over to ISO (if they ever did).

In the OPs shoes, I'd have no reservations about buying wheels or drive train parts if the rest of the bike were in good condition. Though with all older bikes we eventually come to the point where it's smarter to start fresh.

pierce

a old pugeot 10 speed (2x5) is probably 120mm not 126. but yes, easy enough to stretch (cold set). my son's originally 120mm trek was stretched around a 135(!) deore hub when we got it :-/

Sixty Fiver

The French were quite dominant in the component market until the mid seventies and hubs destined for export were most often ISO and not French threaded, I have worked on countless Peugeots and many other French bicycles and french threaded parts are a rarity on this side of the pond.

As for bottom brackets, the mid to later 80's was when the transition to standard threading happened and if you have a Peugeot with cottered cranks the chances of that bike having a French bb is going to be pretty certain.

jyl

27" rims are are cheap as $18 (e.g. Universal Cycles, Alex rims). Maybe have your wheels rebuilt using the original hubs? Skip all the frame spreading and new cassette/chain bother.