Originally Posted by
cruisintx
I just measured the rear dropout spreads; the Raleigh with 5spd RC is 120.6mm and the Felt F80 with 9spd RC is 127mm.
The Raleigh is nominally 120 mm as above. What "speed" is the Felt now? It is either 7-speed or may have been made during the transition from 7 to 8+ speed hubs and the spacing was a compromise between 126 and 130 and would take both. Usually that would have been 128 mm though.
Originally Posted by
cruisintx
The note about width of rear dropout spacing has me wondering if there are narrower hubs available that might allow for more cogs in a rear cassette with minmal cold setting.
It is physically possible to cram an 8/9/10-speed freehub body onto a 126 mm hub but it leads to excessive wheel dish and a potentially weaker wheel. One of the major reasons for the increase in hub width as the number of cogs (and cluster width) went up was to keep the dish within reasonable limits.