On Saturday, September 22, 2018 at 11:40:39 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-09-21 23:57, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Friday, September 21, 2018 at 5:34:11 PM UTC-4, Joerg wrote:
Snipped
He is a machinist and tool & die maker by trade, has a fully
equipped garage with lathe, mill and so on. He is building stuff
for his various vehicles all the time and made a couple of parts
for my MTB so I could build a sturdy rack.

120mm is a pain though, 10mm is a lot of widening. Looks like this
one can be shortened by grinding off the outer cog:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Shimano-TZ3...4/322007138705


Snipped

Is he going to grind down the body too?

He should read Sheldon Brown:
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/speeds.html and
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/freewheels.html

"The freewheel threading on these older hubs is generally
interchangeable except for some very old French units. If you go from
a 5-speed freewheel to a 6- or 7-speed freewheel, you will usually
need to add some spacers to the right end of the axle between the
cone and the locknut. Once you have done this, you'll also need to
re-dish the wheel to bring the rim back to the centerline. You may
need to re-space the frame if you have added spacers to the axle. See
my Frame Spacing Article for details on this."


Right. I also had to re-dish my rear wheel after UG freehubs were no
longer available. It wasn't fun but I got it all done in under an hour
including replacing the freehub.


"How Many Speeds?


Doesn't matter. Actually, the less speeds the better.

Really? Wasn't the complaint that he needed more gears to get up and down the monster hills?

The olde tymie wide step 5sp freewheels weren't much fun with the big jumps.. but it's a better arrangement than the current corn-cob. Also check his crank. Some of the PX10s were spec'd with weird chainring sizes with big small rings. I think mine had a 45t inner or something like that. Again, he could make some good money selling the bike in the collector's market and then go out and buy a nice gravel bike with lots of gears, lighter and stiffer where it matters with even more tire clearance for the gnarly gravel riding that you have to do in the wilds of Cameron Park. There are some really good deals out there on aluminum frame gravel bikes with hydraulic discs.. I think updating a mid-fi French bike is a waste of money. If he can get by with throwing on a freewheel, then I would stop there -- otherwise, go shopping.

-- Jay Beattie.