Jackiemoon73

if i replace the old 6 speed 13-28t freewheel on a bike and replace it with a 7 speed 13-28t freewheel will my old derailleur still work? they are both shimano

reptilezs

you got friction shifters?

Jackiemoon73

they are convertible between friction and index

TugaDude

Should work fine. You may need to adjust the spacing on the rear axle in order to have the RD travel smoothly to the smallest cog. I had this issue when replacing an old Suntour 6 speed freewheel with a new Shimano 6 speed. The new Shimano was a little wider and caused a minor issue. No big deal to fix it. You can run your shifters in friction mode and have no issues, or you might be able to squeeze out another shift with your shifters. I had Suntour Accushifters on a Schwinn and I was told that you can get the seventh shift, but there will be no click or detent.

cny-bikeman

If you add a spacer to the right side a small adjustment in wheel dish will also be necessary.

Jose Mandez

Most rear deraileurs sold in bike shops today start out at 8 speeds, so chances are your deraileur will accomodate the shift just fine (having a deraileur with a higher gearing range than you need is generally OK; as long as you don't have a 6 speed deraileur, in this case, you will be fine). Your shifters, however, may still be 6 speed and may or may not accomodate that 7th shift in indexing mode (as others have pointed out). If you have any urge at all to upgrade shifters at all (i.e. from downtube to bar-end, or from bar-end to brake lever shifters), now might be a good time to do that, since you are upgrading your gears, too. Generally, Shimano shifters will be compatible with Shimano freewheels, except when it comes to Dura-Ace (either all Dura Ace or none at all is the general rule). I would also try to get shifters that exactly match your gearing in the back (I just got 8 speed barend shifters for my 6 speed bicycle, and I'm having a heckuva time getting that indexing to work).

unterhausen

what width hub were 8 speed freewheels intended to work with?

fuzz2050

8 speed freewheels weren't really intended to work at all .The long unsupported length of axle inherent in the freewheel design is exacerbated in 8 speeds; they are notorious for axle breakage, even with relatively gentle riders. There is a reason Shimano never made one.

jforman

Jose,
1) Disconnect your rear derailleur by loosining the cable stop on the rear deralleur then set your bar ends to the smallest rear cog setting (highest rear gear)

2)Your rear derailleur should not be connected to it's control cable and in the highest gear position, with the chain on the smallest cog.

3) Screw the barrel adjustment on the rear derailleur all the way in and then unscrew it one and one half turns.

4) Connect the control cable back to the rear derailleur. (tighten the cable nut)

5) test the shifting of the rear derailleur by running through the gears. (Note that you may want to move the derailer to the 7 or 8 sprocket, the ones neares your rear wheel, but your inside limit on the rear deraiieur will not allow this.)

You now have a 6 speed freewheel controled by an 8 speed bar end.

You may have to fine tune, by unscrewing or screwing the rear deraileur barrel adjustment, so as to get the"perfect" non grinding position of the rear deraileur. Do not consider yourself with changing your 6 speed chain.

conspiratemus1

For 7-speed freewheels, add spacers to the axle till you reach the magic number of 37 mm from the shoulder on the hub flange where the freewheel body seats to the face of the locknut. This allows the locknut to protrude 3 mm beyond the outer face of the outer (smallest) cog. This in turn will give about 1 mm of clearance between the chain and the dropout. (When you shift off the smallest cog, the chain tilts out first, before it moves inboard to the next larger cog -- you need the millimetre to keep the outer plate from scraping the chainstay [Edit: seatsay I mean!] during that tilt.)

After assembling the axle, spacers, and locknut finger tight, screw the freewheel on gently and check for that crucial 3 mm before you tighten everything down.

Locating the freewheel as far to the right as possible allows for mininum asymmetry ("dish") which gives a stronger wheel.