I have a few questions of which I could start a thread for all of them or just do it now. Just do it now!
Background: This all started with wearing out a rear block, more like a couple of sprockets in the block. This is on my commuter that now has over 3000 miles on the original block. Amazon is a friend with Prime so I ordered a replacement 7 speed block. Their supplier sent an 8 speed block. I checked the order and sure enough I had ordered..... a 7 speed block! I complained, they sent a replacement and I sent back the original. The replacement was the same that I sent back, an 8 speed block. I emailed Amazon explaining how incompetent their supplier was in reading the box description of the content. I suppose Shimano is to blame as well with one character in the PN being different, not! The responded with apologies (good), told me to keep the one sent, (OK) and the next day I got a 7 speed block.
Sounds good huh! Well not really, The tooth counts between the two 7 speed blocks are different and now my gearing is messed up such that I am limited in top speed with my cadence. At my age, I have some difficulty in increasing my cadence but really, I would like to kind of coast down hill while pedaling with minimum force without having to hit 110-120 cadence.
Since the 8 speed block tooth count progression looks better, I was thinking of converting to an 8 speed block in the rear. I purchased 8 speed shifters and made sure my RD was up to the increased range. As you know the free hub is shorter on the 7 speed than the 8 speed so I could just swap free hubs. I happen to have an XT rear hub for an 8 speed.
1. Should I swap the existing hubs or just the free hub?
Current hub:
[IMG]
P1030871, on Flickr[/IMG]
Replacement hub:
[IMG]
P1030864, on Flickr[/IMG]
2. What model block is this? It is lighter than the new one, oh its the extra sprocket!
[IMG]
P1030867 on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]
P1030869, on Flickr[/IMG]
8speed replacement:
[IMG]
P1030870, on Flickr[/IMG]
Oh, you say I should have posted this in the Bicycle Mechanics thread. The bike is almost C&V, 1997 RockHopper.