Originally Posted by
eschlwc
i would use the freewheel that fits the dropouts best. if the spacing is 120ish, use a 5-speed. if the spacing is closer to 126mm, use a 6- or 7-speed.
i have a project now that came with a 5-speed, but the drops measure about 125mm. the hub o.l.d. is well short of that, so the skewer is asked to pull the drops together significantly. the axle is only 130mm. so i went to the co-op, bought a used 133mm axle and am converting it to a 6-speed the frame will better fit.
for me, it's all about the frame. i don't like anything to fit tight or short of perfect. if i get a rear flat out on the road, i don't want to struggle with removing the rear wheel. it should simply "dropout."
Yes, exactly. I have found older bikes with 120mm or so spacing, and with same-spaced rear hub/wheel that was spaced and dished for a 6-speed freewheel.
Seems that the rear wheel can be built strong enough to accommodate this, though could of course be stronger still if spaced at 124 or 126mm.
Some of the bikes have protruding bolts/nuts at the inside face of the dropouts, used for derailer claw hangers or axle stop hardware. To the extent that these protrusions can be milled down using a Dremel, will often allow a wider freewheel to fit, using the same hub/wheel as the 5-speed bike came with.
I modified this "5-speed" Peugeot rear hub to just barely accept a 7s freewheel and still fit with little effort into the 121mm-spaced PX10LE's dropouts.
The MA2 rim is dished and tensioned strong as heck, and the axle protrusion past the face of the smallest cog is but a scant 3.3mm, so the special (Maillard/Roval/Edco) fine-threaded axle remains very strong as well.
I shift it with 8s Ergolevers and derailer since the LE is such a hard-core racing bike where the extremely steep geometry often has me wanting to keep both hands on the bars!
