I have an old Mongoose Hybrid, I am looking to replace the wheelset with a new set. I found a budget set of wheels at Bike Island ( https://bikeisland.com/cgi-bin/BKTK_S...ls&ProdID=1475) that say they use a "thread on freewheel". I don't know the ins and outs of this stuff. What am I looking for? My searches have not had conclusive results.

There are 2 basic types of gear clusters for rear wheels. Casette and freewheel. Freewheel threads onto a seciton of the hub, whereas casette type hub has a splines and the casette slides onto the sprines and is retained by a locking nut.

Casette hubs support the axle farther out by having a bearing placed outboard, under the end of the splines, and freewheels support the axle right at the hub. Much easier to bend or break a freewheel axle vs a casette.

do a search, there is a ton of information. Casette is better, but I do not know if you can get a 127mm rear spaced hub or not.


Tom

Thanks for the quick reply!

Had a very busy weekend and just now had a chance to check for response.

Bike Parts USA has them, done business with them, they are great to deal with.

https://www.bikepartsusa.com/bikepart...ttes-freewheel

How to tell a cassette from a freewheel: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/free-k7.html

Friction shifting or indexed? If friction, I'd say just replace it with a 7-speed cassette freehub wheel. Then get yourself a 7-speed cassette and a new chain.

However, if you want to do this on a budget and re-use all your old parts, then go ahead and buy the wheelset you linked. I'm pretty confident you have a freewheel, but look through the above link to be sure.

One other thing: you need to know the spacing of your frame: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_sp-ss.html#spacing This is very easy to measure. If your frame is steel you can bend it to accommodate a wider wheel, but you won't be able to bend it from, say, 126mm to 135mm. Your option then is to re-space the rear wheel and cut the axle short.

If it were a better road bike I'd suggest buying a 10speed wheel and chain and giving that combo a try. You'd be surprised at how well this works.

Thanks guys!
It is indexed shifting. The 6-speeds I was seeing pictures of online had a splined center, I didn't see the threaded part (maybe what I was seeing was a generic pic) I am looking to keep this low cost, spent a small fortune (to me) on the Giant earlier this year.
I will check the links provided.

The Sheldon Brown link cleared things up.