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replacing 1980's rear wheel with a modern wheel



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 9th 05, 09:57 PM
Veggie
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Default replacing 1980's rear wheel with a modern wheel

I intercepted my in-law's bike on the way to a yard sale. It's
basically a clone mtb circa 1985.

The bike is in reasonable shape, except the rear wheel. It has seen its
share of abuse. There are 3 spots of zero treads on an otherwise good
tire (original?), and the wheel can't be trued. The rear bearings has a
bit of grind to it. It looks like someone took it out for some rough
riding and curb hopping.

I've been out of biking for a couple of decades. It seems that now
there are two types of gear clusters- the "freewheel" from the 80's, and
a newer cassette design. The mtb I inherited has a Shimano MF-HG20
cluster/freewheel.

Can I drop a modern wheel into the bike and expect it to work? Will
there be a gear tooth spacing that can cause problems?
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  #2  
Old September 9th 05, 11:19 PM
Derek Hodges
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Default replacing 1980's rear wheel with a modern wheel

Veggie wrote:
I intercepted my in-law's bike on the way to a yard sale. It's
basically a clone mtb circa 1985.


Can I drop a modern wheel into the bike and expect it to work? Will
there be a gear tooth spacing that can cause problems?


It' do-able. You can take the old freewheel off and put it on a new
freewheel hub wheel or get a new cassette type wheel. Only problem with
the latter option might be chain and chainwheel wear.

  #3  
Old September 9th 05, 11:23 PM
Veggie
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Default replacing 1980's rear wheel with a modern wheel

Derek Hodges wrote:

It' do-able. You can take the old freewheel off and put it on a new
freewheel hub wheel or get a new cassette type wheel. Only problem
with the latter option might be chain and chainwheel wear.

Does that mean that Shimano doesn't make a cassette that is compatible
with their old freewheels? (compatible from the chain's perspective)
  #4  
Old September 10th 05, 12:04 AM
maxo
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Default replacing 1980's rear wheel with a modern wheel

Is it index or friction shift? Even the early index is switchable to
friction fwiw.

I'd grab a new wheel, 8sp cassette, and a fresh chain, and it should
shift nicely.

  #5  
Old September 10th 05, 06:17 AM
Veggie
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Default replacing 1980's rear wheel with a modern wheel

Friction shift, Shimano SIS. Good advice, I plan to go cheap for a
while until I figure out what I want to do long term.


maxo wrote:

Is it index or friction shift? Even the early index is switchable to
friction fwiw.

I'd grab a new wheel, 8sp cassette, and a fresh chain, and it should
shift nicely.



  #6  
Old September 12th 05, 02:16 PM
dvt
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Default replacing 1980's rear wheel with a modern wheel

Veggie wrote:
I intercepted my in-law's bike on the way to a yard sale. It's
basically a clone mtb circa 1985.

The bike is in reasonable shape, except the rear wheel. It has seen its
share of abuse. There are 3 spots of zero treads on an otherwise good
tire (original?), and the wheel can't be trued. The rear bearings has a
bit of grind to it. It looks like someone took it out for some rough
riding and curb hopping.

I've been out of biking for a couple of decades. It seems that now
there are two types of gear clusters- the "freewheel" from the 80's, and
a newer cassette design. The mtb I inherited has a Shimano MF-HG20
cluster/freewheel.

Can I drop a modern wheel into the bike and expect it to work? Will
there be a gear tooth spacing that can cause problems?


How many cogs are on the old freewheel? Older MTBs had narrower back
hubs and the frame was spaced to match. Your frame might have to stretch
a bit to accept a new wheel. If the frame is steel, the stretching is no
problem. See http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_sp-ss.html#spacing for
details on rear hub width and
http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_cn-z.html#coldset for a few more words
about spreading your frame.

Other than that, I think Bob's your uncle.

--
Dave
dvt at psu dot edu
  #7  
Old September 13th 05, 10:40 PM
Veggie
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Default replacing 1980's rear wheel with a modern wheel

dvt wrote:

Veggie wrote:

I've been out of biking for a couple of decades. It seems that now
there are two types of gear clusters- the "freewheel" from the 80's,
and a newer cassette design. The mtb I inherited has a Shimano
MF-HG20 cluster/freewheel.

Can I drop a modern wheel into the bike and expect it to work? Will
there be a gear tooth spacing that can cause problems?



How many cogs are on the old freewheel? Older MTBs had narrower back
hubs and the frame was spaced to match. Your frame might have to
stretch a bit to accept a new wheel. If the frame is steel, the
stretching is no problem. See
http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_sp-ss.html#spacing for details on rear
hub width and http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_cn-z.html#coldset for a
few more words about spreading your frame.

Other than that, I think Bob's your uncle.

The old freewheel has six cogs in it. I'll try to put in a 7 cog
cassette to minimize the stretching, or maybe get a 9 cog and remove a
cog or two.
  #8  
Old September 14th 05, 01:13 PM
dvt
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Default replacing 1980's rear wheel with a modern wheel

Veggie wrote:
dvt wrote:
Veggie wrote:


Can I drop a modern wheel into the bike and expect it to work? Will
there be a gear tooth spacing that can cause problems?


How many cogs are on the old freewheel? Older MTBs had narrower back
hubs and the frame was spaced to match. Your frame might have to
stretch a bit to accept a new wheel. If the frame is steel, the
stretching is no problem. See
http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_sp-ss.html#spacing for details on rear
hub width and http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_cn-z.html#coldset for a
few more words about spreading your frame.


The old freewheel has six cogs in it. I'll try to put in a 7 cog
cassette to minimize the stretching, or maybe get a 9 cog and remove a
cog or two.


6-speed hubs are spaced 126 mm, 7-speed MTB hubs are spaced 130 mm. You
should be able to stuff a 7-speed wheel in there if the frame is steel.
It might be a pain to take the wheel in and out when you have a flat,
but it will work just fine once you get the wheel in.

You can't just take a couple of cogs off a 9-speed wheel and make it
fit. The hub will remain the same width (135 mm, too wide to stuff into
your frame comfortably). That's true of cassette and freewheel hubs;
your 6-speed is likely a freewheel hub, while a new 7-speed will
probably be a cassette hub (a.k.a. freehub).

My advice: find a decent bike shop and I'm sure they'll be able to round
up an inexpensive 6-speed wheel for you. Then you won't have to worry
about any of this.

--
Dave
dvt at psu dot edu
 




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