I have a new pinarello coming in the mail with fulll dura ace - currently it's equipped with a 6 speed freewheel. I live in the bay area and it's a very hilly place to ride so 12 speeds just isn't going to cut it. I'm going to upgrade to at least 7 speeds and i wonder if anyone has any recommendations for me.

Currently I'm thinking about this from Harris Cyclery

Shimano Hyperglide thread-on freewheel
11 - 13 - 15 - 18 - 21 - 24 - 34 "Megarange" "C" Type

any help is appreciated.

cheeers,
zac

Zac,
One thing you have to remember is 'Will your RD be able to handle the 34T cog" If it's a short cage RD it won't handle that 34T. To be honest, you'd probably have to find a Long Cage RD to handle that 34T. You also have to take into consider what you're crank is. Is it a triple? a Double? Chainwrap capacity is important. I also live in the Bay Area and I run a 13-28 and it's a 7-speed. Just a thought.

Zac,

You may want to be sure it is a freewheel, and not a freehub. 7400 DA came both ways.

i meant to say - the bike is new to me. The frame is an 85 with later 80's DA.

not sure what size the chainrings are yet.

Like I said, make sure it is a freewheel, not a freehub with cassettes..

Zac,

Depending on the range of your 6 speed, it might be a better idea to put a compact crank on the front and call it good. That'll give you a pretty favorable spread, especially if you're young and strong.

Otherwise, bite the bullet and go 10 speed Campy with a 13-29 cassette and a triple, like the rest of us old guys.

this pic give any indication?

https://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...oItalia006.jpg

also - do these look like index shifters from that period?

https://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...oItalia008.jpg

Can't be sure, but it looks like maybe a 12/26 maybe? Swap it to a 6 or 7 speed with a 28 tooth gear, and go compact up front. You should have enough climbing gears to work with then - maybe.

Looks like maybe they are, but it's hard to tell. What did the seller tell you? If you have indexed 6 speed shifting, fooling with the rear will not be as easy as with friction, unless you can set the shifters to friction to allow them to cover 7 speeds.

Zac,
Looks very sweet! Dura Ace short cage and Crank is probably 52/42. Shifters are from that same era also. To be honest if the bike is entirely Dura Ace, I'd keep it that way. It's worth a lot more as a complete group. BTW you never mentioned the cog config on your freewheel. What is it? Also if you're a young guy, you can always get stronger. Bossman and I are old, so we need those triples.

If I ever sell it I would put the 6 spd dura ace free back on it - but I bought this bike as a practical rider. I think my biggest inclination is to go with swapping out the freewheel.

i had one of these on my peugeot super competition and I had no problem climbing wildcat canyon - I like the idea of a faster 11 tooth cog on the bottom as well

https://harriscyclery.net/itemdetails.cfm?id=1724

You may want to ask the seller, he's on this forum. See this thread:
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/366989-help-reserve-price.html

I cant tell from the pictures, a freehub would have a bulge on the drive side, a freewheel would even across the hub.

Remember that more gears doesn't necessarily mean lower gears!

You can get 6 speed megarange freewheels just as easily as 7 speed megarange freewheels.

There would be a slightly bigger gap or two in a 6 speed, but the range from low to high would be exactly the same. In fact, I don't know of any cluster that offers a larger cog than 34... The jumps are smaller, and with some, the high gear is higher (11 tooth on a cassette versus 14 tooth on a freewhweel), but the lows are no lower than they have been since the first meagarange.

If I were riding in SF, I would need a triple, or a compact double, either one with a megarange cluster... Then I would probably walk up many of the hills anyway.

The shift levers are either 7 or 8 speed, the 6 speed was not gray.

I think you could go to a 28-40 combo with no problems.

Well, acoording to the other thread, it has Campagnolo hubs, so it's almost certainly a freewheel and does appear to be one.

The rear derailleur is a RD-7402, which means it's 7/8 speed compatible. Spec capacity and max. cog size are both 26T. The levers are SIS, but I can't tell if they are the 7 speed, SL-7401 or the 8 speed, SL-7402. As OFG states, they are not 6 speed.

I didn't bother to actually read the thread I linked to, but I can tell you that I have used a 28 tooth on a 7401 RD with no problems.

so a megarange freewheel would work with this derailleur - no need for long cage

I wouldn't push it past 28 tooth, that exceeds the specs, as T-mar pointed out. You may have to adjust the chain length. I have run a 28 tooth on my 7 speed DA freehub with a 7401 RD, YMMV.

wonder how this would work

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&ih=012

No, in fact the opposite. The 34 typically is only able to be used with a "mountain" rear derailleur.

The good news is that those derailleurs are available at pretty good prices (like a Deore LX) and Shimano rear derailleurs work the same as road derailleurs.

But, as I typed this I remember the disclaimer I almost always add... except for early Dura-Ace... Which applies to you. I think that you would need to change shifters and RD to go to a megarange cluster. But 7 speed downtube shifters are pretty cheap too. Or you can use the shifters you have in friction mode (if available)

wonder how this would work

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&ih=012

i think 28 will be fine for me - now if i can only find one with an 11 tooth small cog

Probably not, and I don't know if the Suntour would work indexed with the DA shifters.

seems like shimano stopped making the 11-28 version of their 7 spd freewheel.