I think it's a free wheel. I really don't know the difference between that and the other option (free hub?), but I thought freewheels were what 5, 6, and some 7 speeds are. I also thought 6 speeds were spaced at 126 mm, but I used my rule and measured it at 130 mm (didn't crack out the calipers, but I think that's pretty accurate as I used my 6" metal rule I had to use in QC when I had to make sure things were accurate to +/- 1/32 and then converted). I did notice it looks like the previous owner through a couple of nuts on there between the cogs and the frame, so maybe that's to make up the difference. I don't know what it originally came with. At the time I bought it he told me he'd swapped out the chainrings for a biopace set he'd had laying around as he liked the biopace better (and this was his personal bike he was finally getting rid of after he'd gotten out of flipping, but again this may just have been a story to sell his bike).

I've never tried bar ends, and have bar end mirrors on there at the moment that I kind of like but would be willing to give those up if that'd make the situation better and wouldn't cost too much. Do they still make the 7 speed bar ends (something I could find at jenson or niagara) or would I be trolling ebay for them and a 7-speed free wheel (and how do I know if it's a freewheel?). I wouldn't mind getting a bit smaller of a rear cog as I'm not much of a spinner and don't have too much difficulty hitting a top speed on the smallest rear cog, so if a 7 speed would give me more range, that'd be great.