Does anyone know of a chart available which matches particular freewheels with the right tool?

Thanks

Here's a start:

https://www.parktool.com/products/category.asp?cat=4

And here's more:

https://www.biketoolsetc.com/index.cg...-and-Freewheel

This thread really belong in Bicycle Mechanics.

you don't need a chart. you just keep trying everyone in your toolbox, eventually one will fit LOL

Provided you have enough of them in your toolbox. Most people only have the few most popular in their tool boxes so that would be Shimano, 2 prong Suntour, and 4 Prong suntour.

I must have at least seven or eight different adapters, all easy enough to get and one that is near impossible. I have to grind a Suntour two prong to get it to fit the freewheel in question and must take great care to not break the modified tool.

My collection grew with need. Every time I needed a new one, I added it to the collection. That, and now and again, some tools get thrown in with a vintage road bicycle I find. Got some nice Campy tools that way and still use the almost daily.

Unless you are lucky to have those big Maillard freewheels that are bigger in diameter than what the FR-1 can take care and the tools that used to remove them were made of only a couple of years and now cost as much as a wheel set... You got to love the french sometimes...

very true I picked up alot of obscure ones while working.

These come up on ebay every now and then in groups from 8-20+ and usually bring a good price. I have been runner-up at least a half a dozen times.

I got lucky one day and happened to wander into a shop that was going out of business. A lot of the tools I needed were already gone, but one of these and a graduated seat-post sizer post were still up for grabs - so I grabbed them.

I got a pretty good pile o's stuff that day, but those two items were among the great scores - even though I hardly ever use them.

For vintage stuff, almost all you need are the two Suntour ones, the Shimano one, and maybe the Regina/Falcon ones. Anything else is scarce enough to just bring to the LBS once in a while - along with a six-pack.

For the modern stuff, it's easy - Campy, Shimano, and a chain whip covers everything.

I am still looking for a reasonably-priced (read: $10 or so) seat post sizer, and I have almost given up. I think that I can probably make the darn thing out of wood (all I would need is a largish diameter 99 cent Home Depot wood rod (or a broom handle thing), a vernier, a jigsaw and sandpaper.) Hmmmmmm. I can make about 8 of those from a single broom stick at about a quarter plus time cost, sell them on the 'bay for $30 a piece (undercutting the competition for $70+ and being all natural and organic and recyclable and all that good stuff...) methinks that this might beat flipping bikes

Mine is really two - it is a set of graduated circumference steel "dowels" with the sizes clearly marked at the gradations. The first one starts at 25.4 and goes to 27.4, and the second one starts at 28.4 and goes to 31.6 (I have never used the second one). Both posts are solid and very heavy, with knurled tops that have a large diameter hole through them. Might be Park, but the label is partially obliterated and all I can make out is "seat post sizer" and "USA".

I can't see you having much success finding something like this for $10.

Anyway - your wood dowel idea bears further investigation, although after using mine several times I don't think wood would hold up well. It would compress with use, and become unreliable (I would think). Plus, you can use the solid metal sizer to "re-round" a buggered up hole a bit, and you would not be able to do that with wood.

They are made by J.A. Stein model number SZ-1. The older original version was made of steel and now the current ones are made of aluminum. I first used them at the bike shop I work at. I eventually ordered a set for my own personal use, but they are not cheap (i.e. retail of $70+).

I have done well from shop closing sales as well. My first start of my bike tool collection was from a shop closing down. At the time I didn't know what a lot of the tools were used for, but do now. I bought a few of the basic freewheel removers and have added the ones I needed when needed. I know probably have 20+ various freewheels removers. I have yet to come across a freewheel I don't have the tool for.

Part of the problem with working on vintage bikes is sometimes the tools are not made anymore, very hard to find, and/or expensive. I am mainly thinking of the T.A. or stronglight crank pullers.

You are probably, certainly, correct about wood not lasting... but I am pretty close to plan B: get seat posts from 27.2- 26.2 in .2 mm graduations and try them to see if they fit. Among my keepers and the various transients, i think that I have pretty much more than covered the gamut (other than a 27.0... and one can figure that by deduction)

That's exactly how I did it, until I stumbled across this tool. Sometimes you get fooled, though, because the seat post hole is out of round. But you know that.

You've been looking in my tool box ???

OMG I SO wish I could find a remover for those! I must have six r seven rear wheels with those freewheels stuck on them..................

Here's one and heres another.

$21.50? If I didn't already have one......

+1 I am slowly doing the same thing. But then I just ran into a bike with a 25.8 seat post.

I manage to acquire one of those Maillard freewheel removers many years ago, so long ago I have no idea where it came from. Not long ago, I actually lent it to an LBS so they could remove a freewheel. I didn't realize it was that obscure!

Neal

Are these functionally the same as the Bicycle Research Normandy remover? I picked one up on ebay this summer, and it came in very handy for old Normandy FWs, as well as a bunch of dept store Asian freewheels I hadn't expected.

While reading through this thread I realized how confusing the topic of which freewheel puller to use can be. With this in mind, I just took a bunch of pictures of my pullers. Been looking for another item to address in a feature article on my website. For now, have a peek at the pullers that have, one way or another, found their way into my tool box over the years. I do have a spare of spares for some of these adapters and that includes the one for the Maillard I believe(top left corner of pic).

Tools_FW_Pullers_Bottom_All_1.jpg Tools_FW_Pullers_Top_All_1.jpg