Help me find the simple, reasonable solution
 

SITUATION: I have an old 12 speed for my commuter. The wheels are complete junk. Just broke 2 spokes in the rear and I'm unmotivated to replace them. The front seems to flex before my eyes. The spokes are rusted into the nipples. The bearing races are scored. Not even Phil's fancy grease makes them quiet.

The brakes have enough room where I can put 700c wheels on it.

OPTIONS (that I can think of):

1- Get wheels re-built. (Seems like a waste of money for single wall department store wheels).
2- Buy new wheels. (But I can't find new wheels with old-school freewheel. If I did I think they'd be pricey)
3- Have new wheels built with freewheel hub. (Can't find a freewheel hub. The one I have is junk).
4- Convert to contemporary freehub. (I have an extra 105 derailleur, but I think the chainring/crank would need replaced. This bike is 17 years old so I don't know if that's possible).
5- Make it a fixed-gear bike. (Yeah, not a great option, but I could).

Am I missing the best, simplest, cheapest options? Every one of these just doesn't seem worth it for this bike. Also, have I made some fatal assumptions? (i.e. didn't look hard enough for a new freewheel hub or wheel).

Thanks a bunch. I mean, a TON.
Brian

I do all my own work. Get shop to install new upgrades but routine maintenance I do myself. That is what your bike has been lacking some TLC and routine maintenance. Do a total disassembly. Wheels all the way down to bearings, cables stripped from housings and either both or one replaced. Spokes are not the hard to do. Clean, degrease and regrease/oil all components. Buy a book if you have to. If doing your own mech work don't strike you as practical go to Walmart and buy a new Huffy every year.

My vote's for option 5...fixxification, especially if your dropouts are near-horizontal. There are some really affordable fixed gear wheelsets out there with flip-flop hubs.

2. These are available, any decent LBS should have one or two, or at least can order them for you. Should be around $40 apiece for the el-cheapos (which is almost all you can find anyways)

6. Find bike at thrift store or garage sale or in dumpster that you can get the wheels off of.

Just buy new cassette wheels (they're a superior technology anyway!) and enjoy the extra gears. A 9-speed hub is 4 mm wider than a 6-speed hub, but you can easily fit it into the frame with a bit of squeezing. I've been doing this on my commuter bike for over a year and it works fabulously.

Nashbar has a sturdy commuter wheelset for $120, http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...nd:%20Velocity, which I've heard good things about on bikeforums. Get an 8-speed cassette for $20, an 8-speed chain for $8, and you should be all set :)

Or, buy a used wheelset on Ebay. There are tons, and you shouldn't pay much to get a decent set with a screw on freewheel.

Cheap 27" wheels with freewheel hubs may be had here:
http://www.bikepartsusa.com/view.asp...l&f_c2=27+inch

Never used 'em, so can't recommend for or against.

For $35 at my LBS I got a very nice looking alu 27" wheel for freewheels. It was either $20 to true my rusty steel wheel (plus respoking) or pay $15 more and get a brand new one. Those ones walter linked aren't as good quality metal, but for rebuilding an old bike I'd say that makes more economical sense.

Nashbar also sells 27" Velocity wheels with freewheel hub. There's no good reason to get a freewheel hub these days though, unless you get it used and cheap. Cassette hubs are cheap and better all around, and you can fit a new wheelset into a narrower spaced old steel frame just fine.

I'd personally buy a new rim and spokes and spend an evening with Sheldon Brown's newbie guide, lacing the wheels. Shopping around you can get decent double-wall rims and DT butted spokes for < $50 a wheel.
I currently have about 4500 miles on my first-ever wheel build, on the back of my hybrid, and it takes a beating. No problems. The stock wheel was crap and I broke almost every spoke on it over the course of the first year I had it.

You won't need to change chainrings or crank just to change to a freehub wheel.

A fixie still requires a new hub if you're going to do it right, and a wheel build.

Couple of 700C wheels with freewheel options here:
http://www.bikepartsusa.com/view.asp?f_c=Wheel&f_c2=700
They also have some 27" wheels if you perfer:
http://www.bikepartsusa.com/view.asp...l&f_c2=27+inch
If you perfer geared this is your cheapest option.
I perfer fixed so I would go with an inexpensive fixed wheelset.
Nashbar has thier fixed gear rear hub real cheap:
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...bs/Rear%20Hubs
Craig

My favorite bike shop had 2 wheels built up that had freewheels... I think he wanted $60 each for them.

So.. yes, you didn't look hard enough for wheels. I'm sure you could find some online, as well.

If the wheels are in bad shape I'm presuming the der's and shifters and other parts might also be pretty bad. I think I'd get some cheap wheels (dumpster, garage-sale, ebay), lose the shifters/ders, and go single speed. If you stiill really like the feel of the frame, then you can build it up from there --and learn bike mechanics while doing so.

i have 3 solutions for you in order of what i would do first...

1. fix it.
2. buy new wheels buy get them used.
3. get a whole new bike.

^
+1. You might get lucky and snag a pair of 27" wheels built with aluminum rims - you'll get considerably better braking out of 'em then steel (provided steel is what you have in there right now).

One other alternate idea would be to keep the original rims (provided they aren't toast either), and build up with a cheap pair of hubs and new galvinized spokes. It'll look ugly in half a year, but it'll hold togehter better then corroded spokes and rusty spoke nipples.

Take care,

-Kurt

I posted this message in the wrong forum. Nonetheless, the ideas and information you all provided are a huge help. I didn't realize there were 27" freewheel wheels being made.

I liked a lot of the ideas (except the "buy a new bike"- believe me, I would but I'm attached to this old bike and I'm a grad student).

Thanks Again,
Brian