onespeedbiker

I talked about this in an earlier post but I'm too lazy to track it down; but this time I have another question, were some Italian freewheels terrible shifting? I don't mean clunky. I mean never knowing if the chain will find the cog. I bought a 6 speed Everest steel freewheel with 5mm spacing, that had very little mileage and still if shifted horribly. I tried several different chains of various widths, but still the chain would ride up on the top of the cogs when shifting and skate prior to dropping down on the cog. The cogs had a median groove on top and the teeth that seemed to catch the side plates of the chain, so I ground them off; no real improvement. I than tapered the cogs to about 1/2 the cog thickness and that did the trick, the chain usually drop right onto the cogs of the next cog and no more skating. My question is, was this normal back in the days. It seems the 5-6 speed Italian freewheels have thicker cogs that are spaced farther apart than most the Suntour freewheels I have and I certainly didn't experience these issues. ?

dddd

It's not just the thickness and spacing of the cogs.
It's also the beveling of the teeth that allows the chain to fall reliably into engagement with the cog's teeth.

By the same token, it's not just the chain's inside and outside dimensions that determine it's ability to fall into reliable engagement with the cog's teeth.
It's the bulging and beveling of modern chain's plates that allow the chain to snag the tips of the teeth so the rollers are positioned to fall straight into engagement with the sprocket.

Unfortunately, certain of the older French and Italian freewheels don't work well with modern chains, whereas just about ALL of the Japanese freewheels, regardless of the number of speeds, work best with modern 9-speed chain.

Michael Angelo 

I've never had any of those problems on any good freewheel. I always use a SRAM PC870 chain, on 5,6, or 7 speed freewheels. To me KMC Z chains are terrible shifting chains.

dddd

Z-series chain is flexible, so doesn't handle big gaps between cog and pulley very well, but otherwise shifts well imo.

The Z chains are not so long-lasting though, and not so kind to freewheel's teeth since the pitch from link to link is overly variable.


Schwinn Varsity freewheels often provide a good example of an old freewheel that doesn't like modern chain.
Some of these were even made by Shimano, but of the very old-school tooth shape that looks to be a copy of older European designs.

onespeedbiker

I also use SRAM 8 speed chains with my 6 speed freewheels , which was the chain that simply did not work with this particular 6 speed freewheel, however I have not tried one since I ground the cog teeth. Between a Regina 8 mm pin chain and a KMC 7.3 mm Z chain, the Z chain shifts best. You have reminded me that I have yet to try the SRAM chain again. I have also ordered a Sedisport chain, which was the best reputation as a replacement chain back in the day..

repechage

Sedisport is good, but not cheap when found today.

Atom and some Maillard freewheels just do not shift very well. Atom is curious as it is basically the same mechanically as a Regina of the day, but the teeth top profiles can be different.

old's'cool

I used an Atom 5-spd freewheel very briefly, but discarded it almost immediately as it featured a false neutral with every attempted shift. Fortunately I was not neutered in the process.

onespeedbiker

If you are looking for some, Boulder Bicycle is selling them for $26@. https://www.renehersestore.com/servle...k-Chain/Detail

onespeedbiker

I refused to throw it away; I figured I would either make it work or destroy it; I get that way sometimes

jimmuller 

In the old days I rode an Atom freewheel for many miles, then a Suntour ProComp. Can't say as I noticed a difference. Changing to a VGT-Luxe made a difference.

But new Shimano FWs do shift nicely with new PC870 chains.

repechage

They did, "this item is out of stock" when I checked last time and today.

old's'cool

fify

Chombi

Maillard FW are tough reliable FWs, but some chains tend to ride on the grooves on the ends of the cog teeth. Using Sedis chains and retrofriction shifters (to ease action at the levers) help alleviate this problem....but not entirely..... Later Sachs/Maillard FWs should work better with their partial grooved and pinched FW cog teeth...

cobrabyte

guys,

A SRAM PC-8xx IS a sedisport chain...and SRAM continues to produce the bushingless sedisport chains now under the SRAM PC8xx series. I wouldn't bother paying $$ for the NOS sedisport chains, since the new SRAM ones can be had for ~20 and are the same thing.

Sachs Bicycle Components

In November 1997 SRAM acquired Sachs Bicycle Components, including a significant hub gear production line, from Mannesmann Sachs AG, a unit of German telecommunications group Mannesmann AG. Sachs had 1,250 employees and annual revenues of more than $125 million.[SUP][7][/SUP] A new state-of-the-art factory was constructed in Schweinfurt, bringing development and production facilities under one roof. SRAM invested over $1 million (USD) in new engineering and development resources. The remainder of the Sachs company (ZF Sachs) is now owned by ZF Friedrichshafen AG. ZF Sachs mainly deals in parts for motorised vehicles.

Michael Angelo 

Took a ride on the Carlton today, 6 speed Regina Freewheel, SRAM PC870 chain, Shifts like a hot knife thru butter.

sailorbenjamin

My wife is very impressed with how the stripes on your throw cushions match the stripes on your bike.
She wasn't so appreciative when I built a bike or two to match our living room.

onespeedbiker

Oh well, it wasn't that much more than a PC-870 and it will be period correct.

Edit: I also see the pin length is 7.29 compared to a PC-870 which is 7.1, so they are not the same and hopefully it will work better with the wider spaced cogs of the Everest freewheel; pretty much the same length as the Shimano 8 speed HG or IG pin length.

cobrabyte

Good luck to you. let us know the turnout.