1980s Dave Yates Road Bike - Wheel Conundrum

[motor84]

Hi guys, newbie here. I have been lurking around, checking out the old bikes on here for a bit. Pulled the trigger on an old Dave Yates. Always wanted one back in the day. It came without wheels. Thats fine. But, I now realise getting new ones is not so straight forward. Rear dropouts take a 126mm rear wheel. Most on ebay are 130mm. To further compound the issue, older 126mm hubs take old Uniglide or thread on freewheels. I'm sure you all know this! But I just learnt it after buying the frame.

So, what to do. I can:

1, buy some Dura Ace hubs with a Uniglide on Ebay, and some older Mavic rims and and have the wheels built. There are some NOS DA Uniglides on Ebay. But I am forever reliant on NOS blocks being for sale if I need to change it.

2, Convert a Uniglide to Hyperglide? but I guess I will have issues finding 7 speed HG cassettes to fit my frame??

3, Hold out for some period correct, good condition Dura Ace/ Mavic wheels.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I read that Cold Setting 753 is not a good idea!

 

[Takingabreak]

It's very likely you will be able to simply pull / spring the rear triangle apart slightly by hand and slot a 130 oln wheel in just fine

 

[motor84]

It's very likely you will be able to simply pull / spring the rear triangle apart slightly by hand and slot a 130 oln wheel in just fine

Thanks for the reply! That won't stress the frame in any way? Would that be similar to Cold Setting? My instinct is, it will be fine as well! but I read on here that 753 needs to be treated a bit more carefully?

 

[Takingabreak]

I imagine it will be fine, it's only 2mm each side that the dropouts are being "sprung out" by. When you remove the wheel, the frame will spring back to 126 so it's not like cold setting where you pull the rear triangle apart so far that it stays in place and doesn't spring back, IE it's permanantly bent into place

 

[wiredfool]

I’ve got a duraace uniglide hub and a bunch of cogs for it (somewhere). The uniglide cassettes are actually separate cogs, with no ramps. They’re full tooth height old style steel cogs, not the cut down ramped ones that started with hyperglide, Hyperglide cassettes won’t fit, because the spline spacing is uniform on the freehub body, without the space for the wide tab.

So if you do get a uniglide cassette, it’s likely to last for 10k miles or more. You can replace individual cogs, but finding them is a trick. I got a bunch from recycled cycles, but that was in the early 2000s.

 

[ChromeChainstay]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1450602267.../OP/auEWFPs/lcX33Q0WmUhg==|tkp:Bk9SR86HuPjiZA

 

[ChromeChainstay]

 

[Fourbikes]

You could swap spacers on the non drive side to reduce the hub down to 126 mm and re-dish the wheel (quick and easy if you know what you're doing). Having said that, I have a bike with 126 mm drop outs (653 frame) and I just use a 130 mm wheel and I've had no problems with it so far (about 6 or 7 years now).

 

[motor84]

Thanks guys. Much appreciated. I love the idea of getting wheels built from eBay parts. But also good to know a 130mm is a possibility. I’ll be watching out for a decent set on EBay.

 

[motor84]

I’ve got a duraace uniglide hub and a bunch of cogs for it (somewhere). The uniglide cassettes are actually separate cogs, with no ramps. They’re full tooth height old style steel cogs, not the cut down ramped ones that started with hyperglide, Hyperglide cassettes won’t fit, because the spline spacing is uniform on the freehub body, without the space for the wide tab.

So if you do get a uniglide cassette, it’s likely to last for 10k miles or more. You can replace individual cogs, but finding them is a trick. I got a bunch from recycled cycles, but that was in the early 2000s.

Good point! I’ll be riding this one occasionally. 10k miles might take a good few years!