Regina freewheel differences
 

Can someone tell me the differences among these different models of Regina freewheels? I'm looking for a 6spd CX 13-21 but prices on ebay tend to go through the roof at the auction end. Maybe and Oro or American will be a good substitute.
CX
America
Oro
Extra
BX

I will leave the others for the CX, BX, and America. The Oro is actually a term for a number of freewheels. Some are G.S. Corsa Oro, the best tolerances of the bunch, you will probably not win a auction for one of those unless it is mistitled. The Regina Oro is the last, better than the Extra Oro which is just an Extra body with Oro cogs. Splined bodies are later than the "two prong" units. I would suggest a Phil freewheel remover for the splined body, as removal of the axle locknuts and washers are not required. There are also two types of bodies throughout the range, one is designed to allow for a 13-17 five speed, basic difference is that the largest position unthreads on a single land, verses the last two positions. At the end there were some 12t cogs made, they will also fetch notable money.

It's great how you can place the generation of bikes by the size freewheel (6, 7, 8, 9, and now 10). My only Regina was a 5 spd (I think I still have the tool for it).

I've got a regina futura freewheel on my bike. haven't been able to find out much about it though. and i only have one of the gear sets. not sure which one. I need to count the cog teeth one of these days. would love to get the other gear sets.

Well, I just won a Regina Extra "America" off ebay for $10.49. Looks brand new in the pics. Where does the America rank among all the Regina freewheels? What makes the America unique? Anyone?

The only thing I know for sure about the "America" freewheel is that a 13-23 6-speed came on my 1981 Bianchi. Mine appears to be Italian-threaded, but I am not certain about this.

Can anyone else rank the different models by quality, price and date of manufacture? Regina chain info would be nice as well.

The America was Regina's first sealed freewheel. It also used higher tolerance, heat treated materials to increase smoothness and reliability. A neat little feature was that it was marketed in a metal "shoe polish" can, designed to be used for cleaning the freewheel. Arguably, it was the best selling freewheel of the late 1980s.

In the late 1980s, I beleive the Regina line-up was BX, Synchro, America, America Superleggera (heat treated alloy cogs).

T-Mar,
Thanks for the info. Sounds like I picked a good one appropriate for my '89 Pinarello project.

been trying to figure out the regina freewheels.... my understanding is that of the older ones the straight up Oros are better than oro extra and those are better than extra, extra being the cheeper body and oro being the better body and better cogs (the extra oro then is oro cogs on an extra body)... and the G.S. course ones are good too.

Past that I undestand BX, CX, and america are the good stuff but if there is an extra on there it means it has a cheeper body? What is the difference between BX and CX? Anyone?

thanks for you help.

Here's a link to a pretty thorough overview of 1990's vintage Regina freewheels.

http://www.bikepro.com/arch_products...s/aregina.html

Thanks, that's pretty cool. Still more interested in earlier freewheels if Anyone has any info.

Well, speaking from experience I HATE Regina freewheels.

In 35 years of messing with racing bikes, I bet I've successfully removed only 2 or 3 from wheels. The removal area is a small strip of metal, typically the strip just peels off with the tool, leaving no option but the disassemble and remove the body with a big pair of channel locks, throwing the whole thing in the trash (especially on older bikes where anti-seize wasn't used on the threads).

Give me a Suntour anyday! And use anti-seize on your hub and pedal threads or anywhere else where steel and aluminum join.

Note, the Extra Oro and all Oro type freewheels had specially ground bearing races, for supposedly smoother operation, not that it mattered when you were pedalling. :D

I've Never had a Regina Freewheel fail, but i do admit that the old two notch bodies are a royal PITA to remove.

But if you have a 70s or early 80s Campy bike, you can bet your bottom dollar that it originally came with a Regina Oro chain and freewheel or some type.

I'm sorry to say that I can't agree with you on Regina removal - at least, not for all of them. I've found the OROs to be quite easy to un-install; my pet peeve is that I must remove the drive-side axle nut and washers to slide the removal tool in.

I do agree that the two-prong Reginas are an absolute PITA to remove, but then again, so are the two-prong Suntours.

The Regina two-prongers are perhaps a bit worse, but then again, I wouldn't expect to find the cheap Reginas on anything but the low-end Italian trash - most all of the Reginas I have come across have been splined OROs. Only one two-prong Regina ever came my way, and it was on a p.o.s. Atala.

Take care,

-Kurt

Yeah I freakin' hate that. Oh well.

Well, it does help motivate lazy folks like me to re-adjust their axle cones if they're running a tad tight. :rolleyes:

-Kurt

I have a 14-30 G.S. Corse 5-speed freewheel (with drilled cogs) that appears to have something else stamped on it as well, but the years have taken their tool and I can't read it.

Splined Oros or any splined Reginas for that matter didn't come out until 1979. I bought my current and last road bike in 1978...

Nevertheless, splined Reginas do exist to the rest of the world. ;)

-Kurt

I've got one coming in and it's going on the bike as soon as I'm sure I have the proper removal tool.

Oros were the best there was back in the early 70s notched bodies or not, and it wasn't only italian trash that they went on - they threaded nicely on english trash as well. :D

Now boys, play nice. You know what they say...one man's trash yadda yadda.

I've only had splined freewheels. I need a project that dips into the 70's and earlier.

I have an NOS 2-notch 5s regina extra freewheel with something loose inside... arg! now I'm a gonna have to take it apart!

Having the same old conversation about Regina freewheels huh? I found this thread while searching.

Got to get my post count up one way or the other. ;)