terotechnology

I've got a couple of bikes ancient enough to have freewheels rather than cassettes.

Keeping these bikes on the road is getting to be a problem as my state-of-the-art circa 1985 equipment is wearing out! Although you can get still get a limited range of 5 & 6-speed freewheels from Shimano, all of their deraileurs seem to be for 8 speeds upwards.

I'm thinking of getting a Shimano 105 9-speed rear mechansm and connecting it to Dura-ace 9-speed downtube mounted levers (the only ones that seem to be available) to operate the aforementioned 5-speed hub (14t-24t).

Has anyone any idea whether this will work, specifically has anyone tried this combination?

All insights gratefully received.

Noah Scape

You could use the new 105 rd with the friction shifters that came on the bike...

luker

It will not index, of course. If you're looking for pure friction shifting, sure, a modern derailleur will work with a 5 speed setup.

You can still find 8-speed freewheels - they're on ebay quite often, and 8-speed indexed shifters will be found there as well. The rear stays have to be splayed an extra 4 mm, and you'll more than likely have to use a longer axle, but this setup will work in index mode.

terotechnology

True.

However I'd prefer to retain indexed operation if possible. In fact the Suntour Accushift that I've had on there for 20 years still works the lower four of the five gears quite reliably but as many reader will now the travel per click of Suntour is not the same as Shimano.

Surely other people must still try to use indexed gearing with 5-speed freewheels?

cudak888 

Since you wish to retain the five speed freewheel, I see no reason to replace the derailer. From what I see, you seem to be dead-set on a 5 speed indexed system with downtube shifters.

Problem is, I don't believe any company made a 5 speed indexed downtube-mount shifter. You could try using a 7-speed indexed Suntour lever, for the two extra gear positions won't be "accessible" once the derailer hits the low gear stop.

Don't bother trying to use a Shimano SIS 7-speed lever, for it won't have wide enough spacing to work on your 5 speed cog.

Incidentally, 6 and 7 speed freewheels are still out there...tons of them. The sixes can be found in Shimano UG or IG, and the sevens can be found in HG too. Shimano doesn't make a road-geared 7-speed HG freewheel, but there are a few other companies that make Hyperglide-compatible 7-speed road freewheels. Nashbar and Harris Cyclery have these.

You can also find Suntour 6 and 7s out there - but you'll have a harder time locating those all-important compatible indexed shifters. Then again, when you've cleaned up the LBS, you can always try eBay.

-Kurt

luker

I was just pondering the spacing of campy indexed systems. The notches are not symmetrical until you get to 10. nines are pretty close. A seven is evenly spaced except for the 1-2 jump and the 6-7 jump, but the gears are much more widely spaced on a 5 than a 7. A six...ummm...hold on...nope. The 1-2 and the 5-6 are very much wider than the middle four. Spacing is gonna be a bit smaller as well. I don't think you are gonna get a 5-speed indexer. Sorry.

cudak888 

Did you forget about Suntour, my friend?

luker

no. I just had a box of campy crap in front of me. The box of Suntour crap is in the garage, next to the box of shimano crap. But...I think that all of the manufacturers use the same spacing arrangement, just different dimensions. The biggest and littlest are wider than the middle ones.