BBRBIKE

Anyone have a suggestion for 6 speed free wheel period with 80's italian steel bike? RD/ FD are campy. Regina oro? America Regina? Sachs?

John E

My 1981 Bianchi came with Campag. Record low-flange hubs and a 13-23 6-speed Regina America freewheel. Regina should probably be your first choice for Italian correctness, although I currently have a SunTour freewheel on my Bianchi (don't tell the purists!).

monogodo

I've got a SunTour 6s fw on my Colnago, so your secret is safe with me.

Old Fat Guy

A 6 speed with a ratio you can use is much more important than the brand.

monogodo

And when you're riding it, no one can tell what brand it is, anyway.

Gary Fountain

I used to like the old Suntour Winner 6 speed blocks too. Old Fat Guy is on to something when he suggests the ratio spread is more important. I live in a flat area and I loved the old 'corn-cob' blocks (steps of one tooth).

cyclotoine

I have a regina BX-extra 6 speed if you're looking. It would be correct for your bike. PM if interested.

rmwkokomo

The Regina is the Italian solution but they shifted pretty poorly for anything over about a 2 tooth jump. Unless you are using a corn cob or want complete authenticity, the Sun Tour is a much better choice.

cyclotoine

And in my opinion a shimano twist tooth is the best choice for ultimate friction performance.

Road Fan

I find Reginas don't shift too well unless you have a very well-calibrated wrist, to overshift just the right amount and zip the handle back to align the cage quickly. Same for Maillard and Suntour. I think Shimano and Sachs cogs are very good at grabbing the chain as you try to shift, so in many cases shifting can be so clean you wonder why indexing ever existed.

if you need correctness to original, I can't say what you should look for. If you need compatibility with a 120 mm frame, the only choice pretty much is to look for an ultra-spaced SunTour 6-speed. If you want the best possible shifting and riding performance, look for Shimano 600/6207 or DuraAce, or for Sachs/Maillard. If your hub requires the odd Maillard Helicomatic, you need a Helicomatic (good luck!).

As Old Fat Guy said, none of this matters if can't find the tooth sizes and spans you need.

For the minimum in weight, there were some aluminum ones, from Regina and Maillard. Certianly lighter, but durability is questionable.

another twist in this is that by the mid-80s (perhaps the mid-70s) Japanese components were making inroads with Euro bike makers starting with the low end and filtering up to the higher ends, as the quality of Japanese products became recognized and even improvedl, representing better OEM value than Campy in some cases. Plus Campy was in transition from the Tullio era to the Valentino era, affording an opportunity (just my theorizing here). But my main point is that unlike some of the early'70s and late '60s, there probably wasn't a "standard" parts choice coming out of Italy in those days. Correctness depends on what the bike is.

Road Fan

John E

I use SRAM PC-58 chains exclusively. They work exceedingly well on my various SunTour freewheels, but if I shift carelessly, I can skate the chain across the tops of the teeth on my Regina America freewheel, which is also my slowest downshifting freewheel. I attribute the Regina's inferior performance to the square cross-section of its cog teeth -- in contrast, SunTour (and most Shimano) teeth are highly asymmetrical, with a steep outer face and a more gradually sloping inner face.

caterham

pretty much agree with all the above but would like to say that there were several "camps" back in the 80's in regards to equipment selection.

You'd see a few folks that would only put italian parts on their italian bikes- those guys would have had an oro in the late 70's/ early 80's, an america or CX from about 82 on and CX-S & BX by 83/84, with the well-heeled TT & weight obsessed guys using everest & later regina alloys and only the occassional rare & truey wealthy guy using a campagnolo fw.

Almost all of the hardcore and more practical guys invariably used the Suntour winner and new winner freewheels (with sedisport chain), as they shifted better,faster & more consistantly than the squared & grooved tooth european designs, were easier & less costly to swap cogs and the suntours were more mechanically durable & reliable as both pawls in the suntours engage at the same time rather than alternating between single pawls as in the regina's, everests, maillards,etc.

honestly, i never saw a shimano freewheel being used on ANY campy equipped racing bike until the second half of the 80's.

Shimano guys were a very small minority and would tend to have full shimano drivetrains or sometimes shimano/suntour pairings but never shimano with reginas, maillards, etc.- largely due to shimano's own marketing strategies and frequent parts incompatibilities, both real and commercially driven (eg- Shimano's fast wearing Uniglides were the only factory approved chain for use with Shimano twist tooth freewheels even tho other narrow chains would work as well).

There was almost no mix-n-match going on with campy & shimano as there was between campy and suntour gear. ime, there was too much animosity and a general mistrust of shimano's *trendy* gear thruout the late 70's up until the latter half of the 80's for campy/shimano pairings to be common.

John E

Interesting observation, caterham. SunTour cranks, but not Shimanos, were compatible with Campagnolo and other European spindles. Of course, early SunTour cranks and chainrings also looked a lot like Campagnolos, and used the same bolt circle diameter. If my OEM NR rear derailleur didn't look so beautiful and appropriate on my Bianchi, I would have replaced it with a Cyclone II long ago.

BBRBIKE

thanks for all of th inputs. I have the Regina CX-S 13-26, I'll probably keep with it.