RFC

Uniglide is an evolutionary dead end, however here is a use for the old wheels.

I know I have posted this bike before, however as I was making some modifications to the bike (now, even more ballastic) I realized I may never have let you in on the fact that I used an old set of Uniglide wheels plus a Performance conversion kit to turn it inot a single speed. The spacers do not have the Hyperglide wide tooth and fit perfectly.

fuzz2050

I'm pretty sure the threading on that little cog is the same as a bottom bracket lockring. If you want a cleaner look, that is...

champion city

The other thing you could easily do with most uniglide hubs is to modernize them by transplanting on a hyperglide freehub body. It's quite simple and sheldon brown offers good instructions as always. I have done a wheelset myself and it was a piece of cake!

pacifico

Isn't the tool for freehub swaps a pain to get ahold of? I've been looking off and on for a while with little luck.

cudak888 

IIRC, you can't do it on the earliest of freehubs. Some perhaps, but by then; chances are, one will find a combined UG/HG compatible unit.

-Kurt

P.S.: Of every Shimano goof ever made, UG cassettes are arguably the most irritatingly prolific. I have a shed full of wheels that need to be re-laced thanks to these things.

cudak888 

P.P.S.: One can make a decent freewheel-based SS wheel without having to re-dish as well: Take a Suntour Perfect freewheel, spin off the two outer cogs, pull out all the inboard cogs and spacers, and re-install one of the two threaded cogs. Chainline usually comes out pretty good.

-Kurt

WNG

I believe you're referring to the Shimano freehub disassembly tool (to access the pawls and bearing balls). To remove a freehub body simply requires a 10mm hex key.
Some models need a 12mm. But those may be the Joytech clones.

pacifico

Aha. Thanks.

champion city

While it is true that the early UG freehubs bodies aren't swappable, I have had luck with most 7-speed freehubs, and WNG is right, all you need for the swap is a 10mm Hex key in most cases. Dura ace Uniglide is different, and requires a special tool AND freehub body to do the transplant, neither of which seem to be readily available.

cudak888 

You say that you've been able to do it with 5-speed freehubs as well; what model were they?

-Kurt

champion city

Whoops I missed this post somehow. I haven't tried doing the swap with 5-speed freehubs, but I know that Sixty-Fiver has done a swap from 6 speed UG to 7 speed HG on a peugeot he has been working on. I'm not exactly sure where the limit is for doing the swap, but sheldon brown makes a distinction in his article about freehub swapping, although he describes the non-swappable hubs by their physical characteristics, not by the shimano part numbers.

https://sheldonbrown.com/k7.html#transplant

cudak888 

What were the PN's on the hubs that you and Sixty Fiver worked with?

Far as I'm concerned, Sheldon's advice is 1/10ths basic advice, the other 9/10th generalized hogwash; I've learned not to take his writings as gospel.

-Kurt