kenshireen

I have a look kg96 from late 80's.
It has 7 speed cassette 13-23. The hills are killing me. I need a bigger gear
I am looking for the best quality cassette I can get and hopefully I can squeeze 8 cogs on here.

I know this is an old bike but I am trying to keep it with the original group Shimano Ulegra.

Thank you

leicanthrope

No need to apologize to this crowd about the desire to keep an old bike up and running.

Dfrost 

I have a bunch of what I believe are Dura-Ace level Hyperglide loose cogs (with a not smooth champagne-ish finish), from 13 to 26 teeth (all in excellent condition) and even more with a chrome silver finish from 11 to 34 teeth, including several Miche cogs in 22 teeth, which I don't think Shimano ever made for Hyperglide. And I have spacers in 7-, 8-, and 9-speed thicknesses. So I could build a cassette for you of whatever combination you desire. And my limited experience is that the cogs do NOT have to be from a matching group to index properly.

What is the length of your freehub body? And are you shifting with indexed or friction levers?

PM me and we can figure out something.

kunsunoke 

Chain Reaction has Ultegra 9-speed clusters that will work in eight-of-nine configurations. The one you want is the 12 - 27 cluster. This should work okay with the tricolor rear derailleur I think that you have. See - Shimano Ultegra 6500 9 Speed Road Cassette | Chain Reaction Cycles

By the way, you'll want to swap out your chain as well, unless your current one is practically brand-new and you kept the spare links. Chain Reaction has another deal on cluster and chain combinations.

Or you could get a KMC X9.99 and have half of the misery that Shimano chains carry.

If you have an Ultegra crankset with 130bcd, you can only go as low as 38t. SRAM has them still. Otherwise you'd want to go with another crankset like the Sugino XD, or another in 110bcd (the new compact standard). The Sugino XD is a nice upgrade, IMO.

RobbieTunes

I just gave away a 12-28. I think I have an 11-26 left. I'll check.
As others have said here, building one seems the way to go.

You'd be welcome to whatever I have.

kenshireen

[QUOTE=kunsunoke;18121119]Chain Reaction has Ultegra 9-speed clusters that will work in eight-of-nine configurations. The one you want is the 12 - 27 cluster. This should work okay with the tricolor rear derailleur I think that you have. See - Shimano Ultegra 6500 9 Speed Road Cassette | Chain Reaction Cycles

By the way, you'll want to swap out your chain as well, unless your current one is practically brand-new and you kept the spare links. Chain Reaction has another deal on cluster and chain combinations.

How do i know if I have enough space for this cassette.. I believe the look kg96 has 126mm freehub body. My crankset is campy. I didn't understand your comment about 38T being as low as I can go... right now I have a 39/53 so I should be good. My main concern is do I have enough room in the back.. I have a 7 in there now.

thank you

Murray Missile 

Someone correct me if I'm mistaken but, it is my understanding early 7 speed freehubs aren't wide enough to accept 8 speed cassettes. You can however swap the freehub body to the wider one to accept 8 and 9 speeds. Is this correct?

kenshireen

This is my concern?

Don Marco

That is correct.

kenshireen

Since I have DT index shifters wouldn't I also have to change them if I go from 7 to 8 speeds

Mumonkan

provided you can fit an 8spd cassette on there, i got this for my all 8 speed tricolor group and its does a great job of making it easier to climb hills

Amazon.com : Shimano HG51 8-Speed Cassette (11-28T) : Bike Cassettes And Freewheels : Sports & Outdoors

ThermionicScott 

You can't put an 8-speed cassette on your 7-speed hub. Thankfully, there are plenty of 7-speed cassettes still in production. These HG50s are just as good as HG90, the finish is less fancy: https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...30&category=42

kenshireen

Why cant you do this...smaller spacers?... How can I tell if I have a 7 speed hub... rather than an 8 speed hub... I know there are only 7 gears on the cassette but how can I be sure that I couldn't slide 8 gears on there

kenshireen

How do you "swap" the freehub body

CliffordK

Bike Friday did that on my Pocket Rocket.

They took a Sachs 3x7 Dualdrive & mounted a 9s cassette cut down to 8s (using 9s brifters).

I'm not sure of the exact cassette they chose, I'll have to look at it. However, I believe that most of the Shimano 11T and 12T 9s sprockets are compatible for use as a first sprocket.

So:

Try for example:
HG80 11-28
Shimano HG80 11-28 9-speed Cassette - Harris Cyclery bicycle shop - West Newton, Massachusetts

Drop the first sprocket, to give you:
12 - 13 - 14 - 16 - 18 - 21 - 24 - 28

Simply use a 9s chain if using friction shifters.
If using indexed shifters, you'll have to also choose a 9s shifter.

Don Marco

Buy this: 8 speed freehub

Remove the old one, install the new, recenter the axle, add an 8 speed cassette, and carry on.

Sticking with 7 speed is definitely the easier way to go. No shifter swapping.

ThermionicScott 

A 7-speed freehub body measures about 31mm from the inner ledge to the outer edge, like this:



8-speed cogs are almost exactly the same width as 7 -- Shimano widened the freehub body by about 5mm to add the extra gear.

You probably know this, but it bears repeating: just increasing the number of gears doesn't make bicycling easier, it's lower gears that you need, and swapping to a 13-26 or 13-28 cassette would be the cheapest and easiest solution.

dddd

This is correct. ^^


Since you are not competing, there is absolutely no need to increase the number of cogs.

Shimano offers 12-28t and 13-28t cassettes, and a new, longer chain will almost certainly be needed.

SRAM offers a beautiful, fully-chromed, lightweight 7s cassette in 12-32t size for a very low price. I buy and use these myself on a few builds now! With this you will need a 7/8/9-speed mtb-style Shimano indexing derailer to work properly, but you will have the low gear you need.