Uniglide Freewheel Question
 

I've got a nice low mileage 13-24 Shimano Sante freewheel. This is quite similar to the Dura Ace freewheel except that the cogs are chromed.

Looking over it today, I noticed that several of the teeth on the three largest cogs are shortened. However, it sure doesn't look like they were broken off. The teeth are cleanly truncated about half length, don't appear to have the uniglide twist, occur at regular intervals around their cogs, and finally, have chrome plating across the top surface of the tooth, which wouldn't be the case if they were broken off.

I pulled out a 13-21 Dura Ace, it doesn't have this issue. So I'm just wondering about this. The chrome plating across the top of the short teeth seems to indicate that they were made this way.

Can anyone shed any light on this?

I ran into the same situation with my first 105 Uniglide cassette, as some teeth have the same profile you described. I had used Uniglide freewheels which didn't have this cog feature. But after receiving another cassette (600), I realized that this is a normal feature and not damage. So, not to worry, enjoy that shiny Sante.

I've seen this feature also (i.e. truncated teeth) on a TA chainring that I have. I assumed it has something to do with improving shifting (giving the chain a zone with less height to jump over when shifting off that particular cog/ring?)

Yeah, it definitely looks like it was made that way, but now my mind is definitely at ease... Thanks!