How to determine if wheel is 5 or 7 speed freewheel?

[retrobiker273891]

I think your probably goingbto start wasting money buying expensive freewheel to graft to a very cheap quando hub. I would junk the wheel and buy a cassette hub pair of wheels.

It will save you loads of heartache in the long run. Plus you will have better, lighter wheels if you shop well.

Put up wanted advert on here for some 8+ speed wheels with kinda lx level or better hubs and see what people offer. Or go to your local bike charity/ shop/ tip and see what's second hand there.

Its far more future proof and cheaper. To give you an idea, I got a few 8 speed cassettes hg50 shimano from wiggle for £6.99 each in the sale...With sram chains the same!

Failing that, take it to a shop to get them to take a look and sell you a freewheel. Im pretty savvy, but would be in educated guess territory ordering one of those bigger freewheels for that hub! Im sure it would work, but your into fiddling and dishing territory!

All the best.

I didn't know quando is 'bad' I just ride it and it works! I would certainly do research if buying other gear but at the time I just took what the bike shop gave me and presumed it was ok.

Not so much about price, if I see nothing wrong with current stuff I don't see any cause to get better and have what is working fine for me scrapped on the tip. Throwaway society. Sure if something was causing me nothing but problems but I have no complaints - except high gearing, and yes I do want a rigid frame sooner or later.

I mean I get the idea of not throwing good money after bad but I will set a limit of around £100 to buy this freewheel and the granny crankset discussed earlier elsewhere and that should keep me just under.

My plan is just to replace parts as they break and sooner or later transfer over the new stuff I bought to a new frame so don't think the new gear will be wasted: freewheel, crankset and such.

Why would redishing be required though? I thought as long as you have 135mm dropouts then that is the standard even for the higher modern day speeds so should fit? I just read this chart from his lordship: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/cribsheet-spacing.html

Looks like even the biggest of contemporary ones come to 40.1 for the campagnolo 11 speed at the time of writing the article.

This one states 40mm.

With the buying parts, I could just buy it and try it and return it if it didn't work and get the 7 speed. It would still be in resalable condition so should be a simple swap within 30 days of purchase return allowances for online buying.

 

[retrobiker273891]

Interesting idea!

Didn’t know they did freewheels beyond 8speed. I may be wrong but I think that the industry stopped back in the day at 8 speed as the freehub was developed. The largest freewheel I have of that period is a Sachs 8 speed. I think the ones you’ve found on SJS may be more recent attempts to plug a gap that didn’t really need filling hence them no longer stocking any suitable hubs.

They do look like they would screw on to a freewheel type hub, would need both hub and freewheel in hand to be sure. Best/only place you can do that without parting with the cash is wherever you are going to buy it. I think that’s what @bikeworkshop is eluding to. You’re in to the realms of some tinkering, trial and error. All fine if you’re already sat on said parts at no further cost. From my own experience it’s a costly road to go down. If you know the thread type on your own hub and the seller description specified the thread then maybe you could order with some confidence. I’m sure it can be done, but I suspect you’ll need new shifters, rear mech and chain if you went for 10 or 11 speed.

I converted a 1990s Marin to 1 x 11 for my brother. Even with that solid starting point the parts list kept growing, he wanted all new parts, I made it work but it was very costly (certainly relative to the bikes value and the cost of a new equivalent). From top of my head needed new rear wheel for a compatible hub, chain, mech, shifter, cables, chain wheel, bottom bracket to change the chain line. It did change the bike, in my opinion not enough for the better to have been worth doing. He ended up just buying modern, he only had the Marin as it was one of my surplus not because it was retro.

Your hub width/spacing can be measured by the OLN measurement. It’s not perfect as people can add/remove spacers on the axle. It’s basically the measurement from the outside of the locknuts to each other.

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Thanks, see my reply before.

I agree they seem a recent invention and certainly not going to be much of a market for most but it is available for whoever may want to try and I see no reason why not given that I can return it if it doesn't work and just get the standard 7 megarange one.

The question is whether they are considerably thicker than the more traditional offerings or if they just made them tighter together. Regardless, given that I measured the space on my own axle from wheel to dropout, and it comes up just a couple mm over the width of this freewheel as 42mm or so, it seems worth a shot.

Marin rings a bell from the 'good old days'. Reading up on retro bikes is certainly giving my nostalgia from my youth!

 

[retrobiker273891]

Maybe i will hold off on the purchase of that odd 10 speed freewheel due to price and not knowing of compatibility if getting another bike, but a new crankset I can use on that bike and transfer over to whatever can't I?