Howdy,

I am interested in anyone's advice about an old mountain bike I just picked up. It's a vintage Diamondback Ascent. I'm going to add fenders and racks - probably a trekking bar. I could stop there to save cash, or make some additional changes. (I figure I can always make more changes later.)

My quandary is over the wheel set. It has a 5 speed freewheel with what looks to be 122 mm spacing and horizontal dropouts. The rear hub seems to be in poor condition. I haven't overhauled the hubs yet. If I find the bearing races are in poor condition, should I move to a cassette, 135 mm spacing and quick release? The bike has non-indexed thumb shifters.