Old 6-speed cassette issues

Paul Hobson wrote:
A while back, I fixed up an old Motobecane Mirage for my SO. She really
likes it even though it's way to big b/c she's a francophile and it's a
lovely bike. She had a very minor crash and dropped it a few times
recently and aside from the der. hanger being slightly bent, the
cassette/rear hub seems to be toast.

When the wheel is off of the frame, the cassette will hardly spin freely
(maybe, half a revolution) on its own when you give it a GOOD whirl by
hand. When the wheel is on the frame, the cassette tries to spin with
the hub while coasting -- giving really funky (ie, none at all) chain
tension. Obviously the lack of chain tension on top make the rear der.
do funky things as well.

My solution unbeknownst to her: I'm going to buy her a cheap Fuji road
bike that finally FITS her and actually has indexed shifting (she
"doesn't like to mess with that crap" so she currently leaves it in
38x20!!!)

My dilemma: I'm taking over the bike. It's totally retro right now
except for the pedals, I kind of want to keep it that way. Is the
cassette totally shot? the hub? I know I'll need to eBay a new
cassette if that's what I need, but is there any hope of servicing it?
Or, is this going to become my "nice fixie" that I take out not for
commuting but just for fun???

--
Paul M. Hobson
Georgia Institute of Technology
.:change the words to numbers
if you want to reply to me:.

No answers to your questions other than you probably have a Maillard 6
speed cassette. Not uncommon during the 1980s. Motobecane was a
common brand during the 1980s. A Maillard came on my brothers 1984
Schwinn "something" 11.4. Schwinn's top road bike at the time. There
was no Paramount during that time. 11.4 kilograms. Can't remember the
name at the moment. Brother still has the bike. Not sure if he put a
new hub in the wheel or if he is still using the Maillard.

Not sure why every other responder is so convinced you have a
freewheel. Most likely they are not aware of Maillard and its use
during the 1980s and assume all 6 speeds were freewheel and cassettes
began with 7 speed.

Jasper Janssen wrote:
On Sun, 02 Oct 2005 23:44:23 GMT, Bob wrote:


On Sun, 02 Oct 2005 17:43:39 -0400, Paul Hobson
wrote:


Thanks for the response. The current freewheel is a Shimano, so I feel
a lot better about that if she insists that she keeps riding this bike.

If you can post a photo somewhere, we can tell you for sure what it
is. Most likely it is a freewheel. Motobecane was using BSC thread
freewheels even back in the 70's so I doubt you have French thread.


Did Shimano ever even make french freewheels? If it says Shimano it's
presumably not original, but is likely to be ISO thread.

OK, I'll post a pic in a couple of hours to clear this up. I'm
confused, then I understand, then I think I'm confused, but I'm not sure...

You _could_ fix the bike with a freewheel from Nashbar.


Also, 6 speed indexed downtube shifters are under 20 bucks, esepcially on
ebay. However, that's not going to magically make the frame 11 cm shorter.
She really needs something in her own size.

That's tempting. my wallet is begging for that, but her back/shoulders
are starting to hurt from the reach. her knees are sore b/c the seats
too low because of said reach. she really wants to get into cycling and
become less dependant on her car, but the pain is really making her
think that it's *her* and *she* can't do it.

\\paul
--
Paul M. Hobson
Georgia Institute of Technology
..:change the words to numbers
if you want to reply to me:.

wrote:


Not sure why every other responder is so convinced you have a
freewheel. Most likely they are not aware of Maillard and its use
during the 1980s and assume all 6 speeds were freewheel and cassettes
began with 7 speed.

If you'd actually read the thread, you would have noticed that I asked
if it was a Shimano 6spd cassette.

These were uniglide, not hyperglide, and the last cog served as a
lockring and screwed onto outside threads on the freehub body.
Hyperglide cogs fit just fine on such bodies.

Those Shimano 6spd cassettes were fairly ubiquitous in the late 80s

On 3 Oct 2005 09:33:57 -0700, wrote:
Paul Hobson wrote:
A while back, I fixed up an old Motobecane Mirage for my SO. She really

No answers to your questions other than you probably have a Maillard 6
speed cassette. Not uncommon during the 1980s. Motobecane was a

Helicomatic you mean?

common brand during the 1980s. A Maillard came on my brothers 1984
Schwinn "something" 11.4. Schwinn's top road bike at the time. There
was no Paramount during that time. 11.4 kilograms. Can't remember the
name at the moment. Brother still has the bike. Not sure if he put a
new hub in the wheel or if he is still using the Maillard.

Not sure why every other responder is so convinced you have a
freewheel. Most likely they are not aware of Maillard and its use
during the 1980s and assume all 6 speeds were freewheel and cassettes
began with 7 speed.

Well, that was my primary, yes, but when the OP mentioned that the cogs
said "Shimano" that was pretty much confirmed. I'm pretty sure Shimano
never ever made 6 speed cassettes for Maillard splines. If this bike did
come with a Maillard cassette at one point, it was probably changed to a
different hub at some point when Maillard was no longer available, and
that is likely to have been a cheap freewheel-wheel with a 6sp freewheel
on it.


Jasper

Paul Hobson wrote:
A while back, I fixed up an old Motobecane Mirage for my SO. She really
likes it even though it's way to big b/c she's a francophile and it's a
lovely bike. She had a very minor crash and dropped it a few times
recently and aside from the der. hanger being slightly bent, the
cassette/rear hub seems to be toast.

When the wheel is off of the frame, the cassette will hardly spin freely
(maybe, half a revolution) on its own when you give it a GOOD whirl by
hand. When the wheel is on the frame, the cassette tries to spin with
the hub while coasting -- giving really funky (ie, none at all) chain
tension. Obviously the lack of chain tension on top make the rear der.
do funky things as well.

My solution unbeknownst to her: I'm going to buy her a cheap Fuji road
bike that finally FITS her and actually has indexed shifting (she
"doesn't like to mess with that crap" so she currently leaves it in
38x20!!!)

I gave her the bike yesterday. At first she was really hesitant about
me buying it for her. I told a couple of half-truths about the price
(half lies, I suppose) just so that she would try to ride it. It fit
her great and after shifting up and down a hill, she loved it! phew -
bullet dodged

now I have this extra bike (that fits me) laying around. hmm...
--
\\paul