bikerboy869

Hello all. I have been doing some research on rear wheels to hopefully replace my current one. I have discovered it is kind of difficult to find a somewhat new wheel with a 7 speed cassette. My questions is, is it possible to use a 9 speed cassette with my bike or would that just not work at all? I have found several used rims in very good conditions but they are all 9 speeds. I dont have a lot of cash to throw around so I am just trying to find the best option here. Thanks for any and all help!!

bikerboy869

I just realized I'm kind of stupid and I forgot to mention i have an AL frame Trek 1500 from around 95. I saw the thread on doing this with a steel frame but nothing about AL. THANKS!

StanSeven

This is from Sheldon Brown:

"If your frame is made of aluminum or carbon fiber, do not attempt to re-space the frame, these materials are not suitable for "cold setting."

If in doubt, try the magnet test: if a magnet won't stick to it, don't try to re-space it! "

Note he is talking about "cold setting" which is permanent. You can probably spread an Al frame enough to put in an 8 or 9 speed wheel but then you are stuck if you need to change a flat on the road. You also could cause a weld to break or stress Al without being aware of the problem.

Your best bet is sticking with 7 speed. If your hub is still good, just build a new wheel from it.

MarkSch

BB869,

I don't think rear spacing is at all an issue for you...should be 130 even on the 7 speed.

Do you know if your wheel has a free-hub? This might be the bigger deal. My 7 speed bikes were all free-wheels....meaning the pawls and cogs were in a single device that threaded only the hub. If that's what you've got, then switching to 9 or 10 speed means getting new hubs as well as cassette, shifters...+/- derailleurs depending on what make you have now.

mark

Paul L.

When I replaced my 7 speed rear wheel the bike shop gave me an 8 speed wheel with a spacer to put the 7 speed cluster on. From there it was a derailleur adjustmen.

Homebrew01

-10 ......... It's no big deal to take a wheel on & off. I have a 130 hub on my old 126 Cannondale. If you're stronger than a 5 year old you just spread the dropouts a tiny bit when inserting the wheel. 4 mm is pretty small.

bikerboy869

it seems like I'm getting mixed reviews. I have a feeling that going from a 7 to a 9 would be ok it just may require a little tuning and such to get the whole thing working properly. Would i need new shifters and such to use a 9 speed cassette or just an adjustment??

RT

Post this over in the mechanics forum and you're golden.

sced

Continue your research, but you're stumbling into something that might be a bit complex and possibly expensive. For me, the difference in rideability between my 10spd and 7spd bikes has a lot more to do with the gear ratios than the number of gears. When riding a 7spd I never think to myself "I wish I had more gears". You might just try to tidy up what you have. Older parts are generally easy to find on Ebay.

AEO

you can put a 9sp cassette on a 7sp 126mm freehub.
8 of 9 cogs will fit, you use a 9 sp chain and 9sp shifter. You get 8 working gears.
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/k7.html#up7

It's possible to put a 130mm 8/9/10 sp wheel in the 126mm drop outs for aluminum frames, but it's not recommended since alu will fatigue and crack with repeated stretching of the frame. Metal Fatigue and Fatigue Limit

This is why you see steel for springs and never aluminum.

Skewer

The OP first needs to verify his rear frame spacing between the dropouts. It is likely 126mms, but it is possible it is 130mms already, in which case it will be no problem to to buy a new, off the shelf wheel with a 8,9,10 speed freehub, and then choose a cassette with the number of cogs he wants. If he moves up to a eight or nine speed cassette, he will need to change his right shifter to match the number of cogs. If he moves up to a nine speed cassette, he will also need to get a new 9 speed chain. He can also stick with his 7 speed cassette and put it on the new 8,9 10 speed hub with a 4.5mm aluminum spacer to the back side of the 7spd cassette that is available at Nashbar. (He may already have this spacer.) If he sticks with a 7spd cassette, he won't need to change his right shifter.

Here is a picture that will help him check his spacing:
https://sheldonbrown.com/frame-spacing.html

If his frame dropout spacing is 126mms and he decides that he doesn't want to risk spreading the aluminum frame each time to take in and out a 130mm wheel, then the OP's best option would probably be to call Sheldon Brown/Harris Cyclery and go over his options for a new wheel with them. Imo, they will be able to set him up with a new rear wheel that will meet his needs.

Brian Ratliff

You guys are waaayyyy too scared of aluminum and CF. You can easily spread a 126mm frame by hand to accommodate a 130mm hub. In fact, when the industry switched, the first 130mm hubs had rounded nuts on the end to make this manual spreading easier. I rode for a long time on a lugged and glued, 1990 era aluminum Trek, spaced for 130mm with a 135mm mountain bike hub in it. Never a problem. Only a minor hassle pulling the stays apart when inserting the wheel.

If you have a 7 speed hub, you can, like the other poster suggested, put 8 of 9 cogs from a 9 speed cogset on it. Change your shifter and derailleur to 9 speed and you are golden. I did this for several years. If you are rebuilding the bike and don't want to spend money on a new wheel, this is the way to go. This way, when you do finally get a new wheel, you are all set up for a 9 speed drivetrain. I finally converted mine to 9 speed last year and it was just a matter of getting a new 9 speed hub.

And BTW, the current Shimano standard hub for ultegra and below are 8/9/10 speed compatable. So no need to scrounge around for NOS parts if you want to upgrade to 9 speed.

If you want to keep your 7 speed drivetrain, there is a spacer you can buy to allow the 7 speed cassette on a 8/9/10 speed hub. Just ask your local bike shop.

MarkSch

It depends what you want....

Again, if you don't have a free hub, you will need new hubs / wheels.

If you have index only shifters, you will need new shifters...if friction and you want to stick with friction, you don't.

If you have a Dura Ace RD, you MAY need a new RD as well (cable pull differed for older models)

You WILL need a new chain.

You MIGHT want a new crankset, but can see how this all works on your current.

bikerboy869

My trek 1500 is from 95 and it has Shimano 105 components on it. I am sorry, but I am not sure what you mean by free hub. I have learned a lot but there are still things I dont know. It does sound however that I could just get a new Shimano based wheel with a 9 speed cassette and just stretch the frame a few mm. Would I then just take the 9th cog out and use just 8 of them then?

Brian Ratliff

Read some of these articles. It ought to clear some things up.

Homebrew01

In the old days (pre 1990 or so), bikes used "Freewheels". A freewheel has the cogs, bearing, pawls (that click, click) all in one unit, and it threaded on to the hub. Freehubs are the new kind (since late 80's). The bearing and pawls are part of the hub. you then buy cassette, which is just the cogs themselves. they slide onto the freehub, with a lockring that scrows on to hold them in place. Various vintages of freehubs & cassettes are compatible, but not all. Freewheels and freehubs are NOT compatible at all.

If you have an old-style hub & freewheel, you cannot use that wheel with cassettes of any sort. You will need a freehub type wheel that will accept the slide on cassettes. My old 1985 Cannondale had old hubs & 7 speed freewheels. I bought a used freehub wheel & cassette to give me more gears. It didn't have index shifting, so my existing downtube shifters work. I spread the dropouts a little bit to fit the wheel in - no big deal. Since I only take off the rear wheel when I flat, it's hardly an inconvenience.

If you have 7 speed index shifting, then your shifters only have 7 clicks built in to allow gear changing, and you'll need new (or used) index shifters to accomodate the numbers of gears you want to go to.

bikerboy869

wow... It seems like something that is so simple, ie putting a new wheel on a bike, is so complex due to technology! What is the easiest way to figure out if I have a freewheel or freehub?

dekindy

My Schwinn Paramount is 7-speed but the spacing is 128mm. I don't know if this applies to other bikes. Measure it and verify.

Homebrew01

It's not really complicated .... just the terminology is a bit confusing, and there are compatibility issues among different generations of equipment. If your bike is 1995, most likely it has a cassette and freehub. Are your shifters built into the brake levers (brifters) ... or are they on the downtube ?

Retro Grouch 

Absolutely! Before going into all of the endless "What if's" why not start with a simple fact? Measure the space between your rear dropouts. Lacking that information every other answer is stupid.

bikerboy869

OK, so here is what I have discovered. I measured my rear dropout and from inside edge to inside edge it is exactly 5 inches or 127mm. Surprisingly, this is not what I was expecting... Any ideas?

Homebrew01

I think you've got a bunch of good answers to various scenarios.

"...switching to 9 or 10 speed means getting new hubs as well as cassette, shifters...+/- derailleurs depending on what make you have now..."

"...you can put a 9sp cassette on a 7sp 126mm freehub.
8 of 9 cogs will fit, you use a 9 sp chain and 9sp shifter. You get 8 working gears.
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/k7.html#up7

"... It's possible to put a 130mm 8/9/10 sp wheel in the 126mm drop outs for aluminum frames..."

and posts 11,12,13,15

You haven't replied to some questions here, so that still leaves some gaps in advice.

"Do you know if your wheel has a free-hub?"
"Are your shifters built into the brake levers (brifters) ... or are they on the downtube ? "


What's your specific question ?

Reynolds 

I'd say there's no problem using a 130mm hub on a 127 mm frame, but you could also 'narrow' a 130 hub to 127 by using thinner locknut/spacers on the left side and redishing the wheel (not possible on all hubs, though).

bikerboy869

You are very right Homebrew, I did miss some questions! Here are the answers:

I am not sure if I have a free-hub or not. How can I easily find out?
My shifters are downtube shifters.

My specific question is:
can I put a new wheel with a 130mm hub on my 127mm rear dropout alum. frame and use the bike with out fear of it cracking on me and becoming useless? My old 7sp wheel is done for and I need to replace it. However, as we all know newer wheels have 130mm hubs.

Fox Farm

Yes, the seven speed hub will require a little spacer ring for an 8 or 9 speed cassette. The cost is minimal. I would look at Bike Nashbar for cassettes for 7 or 8 speed. They are actually a lot less expensive than 9 or 10 speed. You will need to do that derailure adjustment as mention by another poster.