Corn Cob Freewheels
 

Is it possible to purchase a modern straight-block freewheel in 6 or 7 speed. Ideally i'd like something that had an 11 tooth small and was 7 speed but i'd settle for just about anything. Shimano still makes great freewheels (surprising) but I've only found them in alpine gearing. The prices for used freewheels on e-bay are outrageous even if i were willing to take a worn out piece of junk, and the NOS offerings are even more jaw-dropping. I'm not a cheapskate, but money is tight and it's hard to justify spending more than say $30 on a freewheel for a bike i bought for a hundred. Am i SOL?

I am going to go out on a limb and say yes, you are SOL.

I would give Harris Cyclery a call and see what they can come up with.

Aaron:)

I'm pretty familiar with harris's website, in fact i ordered my first Alpine "C" freewheel from them for one of my other bikes. It's a great freewheel but not what i am looking for on this particular bike. They don't have anything like what i want in shimano listings and the prices for NOS Suntours are just as high or higher than on ebay. Are you suggesting they may have something available that isn't listed?


I'm beginning to agree with Moose and think that yes i am out of luck. I guess there are no current manufacturers of freewheels that can imagine anyone wanting to go fast on an older bike. I was hoping soemone might suggest a source i hadn't found. I guess the ebay search will continue but the prices are so inflated i can't imagine it will be terribly fruitful. Thanks for the comments guys.

If you can acquire 2 or 3 different freewheels with different cogs there's a chance you may be able to build your own straight block...or something pretty close. Before you do this get a schematic of a Shimano 6 or 7 speed freewheel so you can see which cogs are interchangable.

Jim

If I recall correctly, Regina America made a freewheel that was a straight block. I had one on my Tesch. It was 7 speed. You might want to keep an eye on that auction site.

Edit: I just remember where I saw one. Check Jim Cunningham's Cyclart site. There's a 12-17 corncob Regina ORO there for $60.

I read you're looking for a price around $30, guess it's all in how bad you want it and how long you want to wait...good luck.

So you would like an 11-17 7-speed freewheel in spacing that you can fit into a 126 mm frame?

I could see having such a thing built back in the Golden Age IF 11s and 12s were common, but now?

Yellow Jersey is one possibility, but ??? Loose Screws had a build-it-your-way option not too long ago as well.

Actually I have an aluminum Regina America 13-19 7-speed without the tin can, and barely used. I tried it out on a bike, but could not pull the gearing.

Edit: Sorry, my Regina is 13-14-15-16-17-19-21, not a real corncob.

Road Fan

PM sent

To the OP:

Find a Shimano Dura Ace or 600 freehub. Then you have interchangeability for any condition.

I frequently see corncobs with 12, 13, or 14T high gears on eBay. I have trouble finding 5, 6, or 7-speed freewheels in my preferred range of 13-26 or 14-26.

Same here! I've found the Megarange 14-28 to be pretty good, but a bit big for some setups, i.e. Nuovo Record in my experience.

Me, too; I've got a couple. Reading the OP's criteria, the biggest problem will be finding one that starts at 11t or even 12t. I've never seen eleven teeth in a vintage freewheel, and 12t is unusual.

Noob question in an interesting thread, what's a corncob or straight block freewheel?

One tooth difference between each cog and because of the small difference it takes on the appearance of a corn cob. Roger

This link is an auction for a 13-18 Shimano 600 6-speed; BIN for $14 plus shipping. This is about the best you'll do:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Shimano-...QQcmdZViewItem

And no, the auction ain't mine ...:D

11's are ultra rare. IIRC they threaed to the inside of the second cog versus onto the outside

I've actually already thought of this and checked into the viability sometime ago. I feel like i determined the cost and compatibility issues would make it a pointless endeavour but i may check again.


To be honest i find the fact that shimano still makes very decent freewheels to be mind-boggling in itself. It makes sense for them to keep churning out bottom of the barrel units for the awful shimano-equipped department store bikes that still use a freewheel, but the megarange hyperglides are really pretty nice units. I thought there might be something out there i was missing. Also i mentioned in the first post i am willing to compromise the highest gear, starting at a 13 would be fine. Chainrings are much more readily available in different sizes.

is it for sale? PM me.

Prolly should have PM'ed that one, as helpful as people in classic and vintage are unfortunately there is a lot of overlap in the items we are searching for. ;) Ah well, it's not my style to get in a hurry.

I think you'll find that most of the C&V crowd are very considerate when it comes to
auctions for items that another C&Ver is looking for/at. I don't think we snipe each
other, I for one would never bid on an item that I knew someone here was bidding on.

marty

Searching is so easy ...............

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Regina-Extra-7-sp...QQcmdZViewItem

I was only kidding, i had the item in my watched list before he sent the link. I'm weighing my options at the moment and wanted to hear what other people had to say.

If we're going to turn to sarcasm reading an OP is even easier..............

That particular freewheel fails to meet the criteria in several ways. That said it is a beautiful part (it even has the high 12!) and like the above freewheel i had already seen it. If i could justify the expense i would certainly own it already, however i can't, and that isn't going to change unless i happen to stumble upon a dirt cheap vintage time trial bike or something.

I'm not sure what i did to prompt this response but i assure you my research into this subject has been thorough not only do i know how to search ebay i scour it.

Plenty of Regina close ratio (scalare) go by on eBay as time passes. The Regina Extra goes for less than the Regina Oro, so perhaps the Extra is more realistic for your price point; the Oro has polished races whereas the Extra doesn't. Make sure you are searching eBay "worldwide" to get Italy, and not just the US eBay. Bid on each one for your maximum amount, and you will win every now and then. I have done exactly that for Reginas.

Almost a 'corncob' but it is Suntour.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Suntour-cog-12-1...QQcmdZViewItem

I probably have some 5-speed ones, but only down to 13 or 14 if you want one. Recently there were quite a few new Suntour 5-speed 14/28s on ebay, my favorite, so I bought 4 or 5...

I've got a 13-18 tooth Shimano 600 freewheel (MF-6208) with a 126mm Shimano hub (HB-6207). They're both used but in excellent condition. They've been sitting in my desk drawer for a long time. If you want them, they're yours.