removing stubborn five speed (screw on )

[Brucey]

FWIW it is worth keeping broken two-dog removers.

Why? Because they are often deep enough that they can be reground into 'a new remover'.

cheers

[mercalia]

ah yes Regina - the worst ever design and the 2 lugged tool made of soft metal that just strips off even worser. I think any wheel that needs that type of thing should be binned. who ever designed the regina 2 lugged thing should never be let near a bike ever again.

[Mick F]

As I said ..................
I had a stuck one once or twice ....................... but never again.

Remove them once a month. Maybe at the same time as you clean your chain?

Nowt wrong with the two-dog tool, so long as the freewheel isn't jammed on there for years ............... or at least in my experience.

[Brucey]

As I said ..................
I had a stuck one once or twice ....................... but never again.

Remove them once a month. Maybe at the same time as you clean your chain?

Nowt wrong with the two-dog tool, so long as the freewheel isn't jammed on there for years ............... or at least in my experience.

BITD (before freehubs were popular), most of my clubmates similarly didn't understand my angst over stuck freewheels either.

Not everyone pushes as hard on the pedals.... I realised this was the root of the problem when I noticed that nearly every time I rode someone else's bike, their freewheel tightened by 1/4 turn or so. In the end I stopped riding other people's bikes because I knew I was probably making their lives a misery too, freewheel-wise.

cheers

[JohnW]

I've been through this - years ago - with Regina blocks. I've put Regina blocks totally off my agenda (I didn't know that you could still get them), having found the final successful solution - take it to my local bike shop and pay him to remove the block . He'll have done it many times. I know that it's admitting defeat , and it really annoyed me because I like to do all work on the bike(s) myself (except wheelbuilding), but desperation set in!

That's part one solution. Part two solution is to use Shimano blocks , and buy a splined remover to fit - and I'll never use Regina again. I finally resolved on this solution 25+ years ago, and cycling colleagues have made the same discovery. The IRD blocks from SPA, which I consider to be better quality now than currently available Shimano, use the same remover .

One thing which makes block removal less painful is to liberally grease the threads with some waterproof assembly grease; another is not to have a big sprocket bigger that 28T, because a couple of climbs up dale-head to dale-head passes in the Yorkshire Dales will tighten the block so hellish hard.....................

I have to add that, in the days before splined fittings, Regina were not the only blocks that I found could destroy the remover .

[fastpedaller]

There was a Shimano (I think Dura Ace) remover that was a tube shape with 2 'ears' internally. If it was used on an undamaged Regina freewheel, utilising a clamping force such as quick release or nut on solid axle the freewheel could be removed without the usual fear of it 'slipping and stripping'

[JohnW]

There was a Shimano (I think Dura Ace) remover that was a tube shape with 2 'ears' internally. If it was used on an undamaged Regina freewheel, utilising a clamping force such as quick release or nut on solid axle the freewheel could be removed without the usual fear of it 'slipping and stripping'

You're a better man than me - I tried that - the Shimano (probably Dura-Ace) remover that I used didn't 100% perfectly fit the Regina, and I must have been a bit clumsy, using a steel pipe leverage extender on the (already long) adjustable wrench..........and chewed up the Regina. Well done for making it work! It was a long time ago though.

[fastpedaller]

There was a Shimano (I think Dura Ace) remover that was a tube shape with 2 'ears' internally. If it was used on an undamaged Regina freewheel, utilising a clamping force such as quick release or nut on solid axle the freewheel could be removed without the usual fear of it 'slipping and stripping'

You're a better man than me - I tried that - the Dura-Ace that I used didn't 100% perfectly fit the Regina, and I was a bit clumsy, using a steel pipe leverage extender on the (already long) adjustable wrench..........and chewed up the Regina. Well done for making it work!

Ah - I didn't know you'd tried the Shimano remover. I always used a vice and turned the wheel by the rim - after once using a wrench and finding the uneven torque tended to throw everything off centre. I still use a vice to remove freehub lockrings - I just don't trust a wrench!

[JohnW]

There was a Shimano (I think Dura Ace) remover that was a tube shape with 2 'ears' internally. If it was used on an undamaged Regina freewheel, utilising a clamping force such as quick release or nut on solid axle the freewheel could be removed without the usual fear of it 'slipping and stripping'

You're a better man than me - I tried that - the Dura-Ace that I used didn't 100% perfectly fit the Regina, and I was a bit clumsy, using a steel pipe leverage extender on the (already long) adjustable wrench..........and chewed up the Regina. Well done for making it work!

Ah - I didn't know you'd tried the Shimano remover. I always used a vice and turned the wheel by the rim - after once using a wrench and finding the uneven torque tended to throw everything off centre. I still use a vice to remove freehub lockrings - I just don't trust a wrench!

I think you're right - but I don't have easy access to a vice................they are handy though, aren't they? With the splined remover system I've just used a 10" adjustable wrench - or a 12" if necessary. Years ago my then LBS man warned that too much leverage could 'proing' the spokes, and twist the hub around in the rim. It never got so bad for me - and the splined remover system is one of the 'improvements' that has truly been an improvement. I find the cassette freehub to be another improvement, although compatibility problems start to raise their ugly heads now.

[rjb]

Picture of the my dura ace one here

BTW i wrecked a cast iron bench vice when i removed a freewheel from a tandem. It was a splined freewheel which i was removing by clamping the remover in a bench vise and turning the wheel capstan style. The shock when the freewheel came free broke the cast frame of the jaw holder.

I then started using a ring spanner and an extension tube (scaffold tube) with the wheel with tyre held up against a convenient wall edge to prevent it rotating.

[Mick F]

As I said ..................
I had a stuck one once or twice ....................... but never again.

Remove them once a month. Maybe at the same time as you clean your chain?

Nowt wrong with the two-dog tool, so long as the freewheel isn't jammed on there for years ............... or at least in my experience.

BITD (before freehubs were popular), most of my clubmates similarly didn't understand my angst over stuck freewheels either.

Not everyone pushes as hard on the pedals.... I realised this was the root of the problem when I noticed that nearly every time I rode someone else's bike, their freewheel tightened by 1/4 turn or so. In the end I stopped riding other people's bikes because I knew I was probably making their lives a misery too, freewheel-wise.

I remember mine tightening up. It's quite noticeable as it happens.

Mine never had a freewheel big cog bigger than 28t, so that may have been the issue here. Either way, by removing it regularly ........... even when I had a two-dog system .................. I never had a problem again.

I still have the two-dog tool, and it's been dressed up with a file on more than one occasion.

[pwa]

Freewheels becoming too tight to remove by the roadside on tour was the main reason I welcomed cassettes taking over. My wife once had a hub with a "helicomatic" (sp?) freewheel that was easy to remove. But standard screw on freewheels could take me half an hour to budge in order to replace a broken spoke at the side of a French lane. Fortunately I never had one that was truly stuck. You'd have thought someone would have invented something to make removal easier.

[pete75]

I had one on tandem that was on so tight it destroyed a park tools freewheel remover. Bought a better quality remover made by a proper tool company (Kamasa), got someone to hold the wheel put a 1/2" drive breaker bar on the remover and gave the end of the bar a tap with a 14lb sledgehammer. The freewheel then unscrewed easily. Admittedly it was Shimano spline type so the remover would have got a better grip than a Regina type. If I didn't want to use a freewheel again and it proved impossible to unscrew I'd use an angle grinder. Of course it all depends what tools you have at your disposal and rather than buy stuff you might only use once you could just take it to a bike shop.

[bigjim]

Been there done all this. Then some commonsense on my part kicked in and I walked down to the LBS with the flippin thing. He had a few removers attached to the back of the workshop door. Just held the wheel up and gave it a good tug. Off it came. two seconds and no charge. Take it to the LBS. Not worth the hassle IMO.

[Brucey]

Mine never had a freewheel big cog bigger than 28t, so that may have been the issue here....

Maybe. It will certainly make a difference. However I found I often tightened other people's freewheels by just pedalling on middling sized (eg 19T) sprockets....

BTW in the final days of using freewheels on my touring bike, I used large flange hubs and a freewheel that used mostly splined sprockets, captivated by a threaded top sprocket. I made sure I never pedalled 'full gas' on the final sprocket so that one would always come off, along with all the others, thus allowing spokes to changed OK without removing the freewheel.

This sort of scheme also works with UG cassettes too.

A good dodge with cassette hubs is to be prepared to remove the axle and freehub body if you want to fiddle with the spokes; if you are carrying cone spanners anyway, the additional short 10mm allen key that is required weighs little.

cheers