seancmccann

Hi there

At the bike shop i work at there is an old specialized tri spoke composite wheel, in good shape, and i am currently riding an bianchi road bike, not sure what year it is. I am looking to replace the downtube shifters with shimano dura ace downtube shifters but the wheel has a threaded freewheel, so i was wondering what freewheels i could use with this as i want to use indexed shifting, ill also be replacing the rear derailleur.

I read that they dont make freewheels above 8 speed but if anyone knows of any 9 or even 10 speed it'd be much appreciated

escarpment

is the wheel a tubular or clincher? if its older it might be tubular and 127mm spacing, not the current 130/5 needed to run 8-9-10-11

why are you asking up if you work in a bike shop.??? ask the dudes you work for

I believe you can get a new hub for the wheel, I know you can convert it to a front wheel, but not bigger rear hub. no freewheels that Im aware of. I could be wrong.

Best bet is to leave the trispoke alone, looks cool but not really practical.

HillRider

As you noted, there are 8-speed freewheels but they are few and far between as the longer axles they require (130 mm dropout spacing) are even more vilnerable to bending and breaking than 6/7-speed hubs.

No one makes 9 or 10-speed freewheels since cassettes and freehubs had long since become the standard before 9 and 10-speed components were introduced.

FastJake

Yep

Kimmo 

Sunrace does a 13-32 9s...

Prolly look pretty goofy hanging off a trispoke.

Ex Pres 

Can't redish the trispoke so you're stuck with the OLD (& attendant freewheel size) it was built with.

Kimmo 

Actually, you can probably increase the OLD, but it has to be by the same amount on each side.

Although IIRC these have cartridge bearings and proprietary axles, which doesn't make it easy.

In fact, if you have a steel frame with horizontal dropouts, you can just pull the right dropout further from the centreline... obviously quite a kludge, but it does make for less dish for a given number of cogs at the expense of either chainline or a wider Q factor, not to mention symmetry and cross-compatibility. I guess the wheel would be vertically angled very slightly to the left, too... not so great. Although you could make it good with a file, which would also let this work on a bike with vertical dropouts.

seancmccann

thanks for the help, and to everyone saying ask the mechanics i work for, we are a very small bike shop, mainly a ski shop actually, we just service local bikes, nothing extravagant at all

hueyhoolihan

shimano makes a nice 7 speed 14-28 (? iirc) 7 speed freewheel. indexed shifting with all it has to offer must be compared to the complications inherent in matching freewheels/cassette cog spacing with shifters. and IME it ain't worth it. friction shifting is much nicer than it used to be, what with the newer chain technology and the ramped cogs in the freewheel. slide, click, slide, click

and the prices on these things is ridiculously low. it puts the "free" back in freewheel.

HillRider

Learn something new everyday. I wonder how well they sell.

Sci-Fi

Sunrace is making 9s freewheels for companies that want to sell bikes at a certain price point. Probably will see examples at your local Wal*Mart. The chrome plated Sunrace freewheels last a lot longer than the black coated ones. Also Sunrace upgraded their freewheel hubs to be more robust.
Suppose for the recreational rider, the 8 and 9-speed freewheels provide enough gearing and may last long enough for that kind of light use. Bent or worst, broken axles may increase with a 9-speed freewheel. Buying a new wheelset with a cassette will cost more than what was originally paid for the bike. And you probably have to look for a wheelset with 135mm spacing.
Pretty much stuck with the limited gearing options provided by Sunrace if you need a replacement freewheel. Pricewise its not going to break the bank whether you order one from a LBS or an online buy.

fietsbob

Number of "Speeds" is not the same as -Speed- ie going faster, its just a way of counting the hardware
Its a how many cogs count a number.

13-19t 7 speed is a race straight block ,not that long ago.. 53 42 on the cranks .. then you put the work into the pedals.

HillRider

Assuming they follow the conventions of cassettes, a 9-speed freewheel won't be any wider than an 8-speed freewheel so their axle-breaking ability should be the same.

HillRider

Right, but a 9-speed cassette allows you to have the same straight block and have a 13x23 gear range and a 10-speed allows a 13x26 or 13x27 with no sacrifice in the smaller cog spacing. That's the advantage of more "speeds".

Kimmo 

Not to mention the slicker shifting of a narrower chain.

fietsbob

Simple Math replacing 126 axle with a 135 axle and then you would add 4.5mm per side
to keep the wheel centered.

or shrink it, to 120 put on a single speed freewheel, and resell it to a Trustafarian Hipster,
for big Bucks..