Freewheel to Cassette Changeover?
 

When did this take place? I have an early 1980's (I think) Motobecane that has a cassette, but all my other bikes have freewheels. These were all "rescues" and I was not the original buyer, so I don't know exactly how old they are. Questions:

1) Does it vary by price? Did more expensive bikes switch over earlier?
2) Are there still any new bikes sold that have freewheels?

There is a lot of info here.... https://www.sheldonbrown.com/k7.html

Take all the links. Interesting read.

I think "yes" is the answer to #1. Older bikes might have uniglide and that may or may not be a problem depending on what you want to do.

It's also common for people to upgrade wheels. I don't know about your Moto but it's a possibility.

Many, many new bikes come with freewheels still. Most of the ones I'm aware of are bottom rung (Walmart, dept store) brands. But there may be others.

I'd bet that the majority of new bikes sold in the First World use freewheel cogsets. Most bikes are sold through discount chain stores, not bike shops.

In the developing world, where overwhelmingly most bike sales occur, this number is likely close to 100%.

Modern 7-speed freewheels from Shimano and Sunrace are very good. They feature Hyperglide-type cogs that are capable of shifting as well as any current 10, 11-speed etc. cassette system. These freewheels shift better than all of the old systems from 30+ years ago, either freewheel or cassette. They are one of the great bargains in cycling.

So a $15 Shimano TZ21 freewheel will always shift better than any of the stacks of Dura-Ace or Shimano 600 freewheels that clutter my garage. Or any of the old Uniglide cassettes.

My 1979 Miyata 912 with the Shimano 600EX arabesque group had the first (6-speed) cassette I’d seen, and the catalog from that year shows all the other Miyatas with freewheels. The 1983 catalog, now including Aero and Pro Miyata race bikes, still had freewheels on all except the 912, still the only model with the 600EX group and cassette.

The first Schwinn with a cassette was the 1979 Super Le Tour II:

http://waterfordbikes.com/SchwinnCat...80/1979_03.jpg
http://waterfordbikes.com/SchwinnCat...80/1979_12.jpg

IIRC the transition took several years and it's hard to put a point on it, but offhand I'd say the corner was around '84 or '85, more or less. As noted, cassettes were around for some time before they really took off.

What Motobecane is it? I vaguely remember one model that came with 600 arabesque. Could have come with a cassette.

Cassettes have been around since the 70's perhaps earlier.

The big transition occurred in the late 80's...

i agree wholeheartedly on the quality of modern freewheels. just put a new sunrace 13-28 7 speed freewheel on a campy hub and it shifts like butter. makes nuovo record derailleurs almost good!

Jubilee Sport. It was an EBay aquisition indirectly. Don't know what year, but I will do some research.