Freewheel block manufacturer

[robert17]

People, this six speed block came off some wheels I purchased for the restoration job. Way too high for what I need (14-20) so will soon be up for sale. On the back is Compact Super and Made in France. On the front is 03 BSA 89. Can anyone shed some light on a maker? BSA? Seems unlikely to me. Thank you. Robert.

[Brucey]

Maillard. (if made later than a certain date could be sachs-maillard)

BSA refers to the screw thread type. Guessing here but 03 89 may indicate week 3 1989 manufacturing date.

FWIW if the hub is optimised for the current freewheel, unless you redish/respace the rear hub you can only expect to fit either

a) another compact 6 freewheel (which has about 5mm sprocket pitch, same sprocket spacing as 7s) or
b) a 5s freewheel.

For whatever reason compact 6 freewheels are (newly manufactured anyway) practically extinct. You might find it as easy to find a Maillard 5s or 6s freewheel that uses the same splined sprockets (but standard ~5.5mm spacing), and swap some sprockets over. You can buy standard spaced 6s freewheels new, but these required about 4mm more OLN (from 122 to 126mm for example) or a more dished wheel at 126mm (or wider) OLN.

cheers

[rogerzilla]

Once new race frames went to 126mm, that was it for compact 6 - racers don't keep frames long. 126mm only lasted until 8 speed came along with 130mm, but that has been surprisingly long-lived.

I suppose pushing it out further would give too large a Q-factor, although MTBers have happily used 135mm (to give stronger wheels) for 30 years. Disc hubs can be wider but the extra space afforded is eaten up by the disc.

[Brucey]

racers had the choice between 120mm 5s and 126mm 6s from some time in the 1960s; 6s was only slowly adopted. Compact 6s only appeared in the (late?) 1970s because folk wanted to keep using ~120mm stuff. It wasn't the same for all manufacturers but as late as ~1979 race frames such as SBDU were still standard at 120mm and optional at 126mm, rather than the other way round.

If the manufacturing date of 1989 is correct for the freewheel in question this rather demonstrates that compact 6s didn't disappear as soon as frames were mostly 126mm....?

Most freewheel manufacturers had by this time made 7s freewheels, often by attaching a sprocket pair on the end of a slim-ish body. They kept making compact 6s freewheels to serve the 120mm OLN market for quite a long time; it was easy for them too, because most of the parts were the same as those used in 7s freewheels.

cheers

[robert17]

Maillard. (if made later than a certain date could be sachs-maillard)

BSA refers to the screw thread type. Guessing here but 03 89 may indicate week 3 1989 manufacturing date.

FWIW if the hub is optimised for the current freewheel, unless you redish/respace the rear hub you can only expect to fit either

a) another compact 6 freewheel (which has about 5mm sprocket pitch, same sprocket spacing as 7s) or
b) a 5s freewheel.

For whatever reason compact 6 freewheels are (newly manufactured anyway) practically extinct. You might find it as easy to find a Maillard 5s or 6s freewheel that uses the same splined sprockets (but standard ~5.5mm spacing), and swap some sprockets over. You can buy standard spaced 6s freewheels new, but these required about 4mm more OLN (from 122 to 126mm for example) or a more dished wheel at 126mm (or wider) OLN.

cheers

In that case I may need some help choosing a new one. I'm looking at acquiring five or six speed to fit on with minimal fuss. Something like 14-28. Any knowledge of where I can source such a block?

Thanks.

[Brucey]

Sunrace do 14-28 5s and 14-28 6s (amongst others) but the 6s is standard spaced not compact. IME you can spend a lot more on a freewheel and if you spend double it won't be twice as good. However Sunrace freewheel bearings are not always well-adjusted, so you may need to attend to that. Other quirks include that the 5s freewheel is not uniformly spaced; the larger sprockets are spaced over 6mm apart, which is ridiculous, and means that even the 5s freewheel won't quite fit to 120mm OLN.

There are a few other cheap brands offering 5s freewheels new but they are not up to much. From there the cost steps up to IRD money, with very little inbetween.

Apart from that you have NOS stuff on ebay.

BTW current 7s freewheels are unlike older ones; in older ones you had a pretty fair chance of removing the 7th sprocket and getting a compact 6s freewheel that way. However current 7s freewheels are not so easily converted that way.

At odd moments I'm working on converting a sunrace freewheel to compact 6s specification; not completed that project yet though.

cheers

[robert17]

I see on SJS that IRD have a Cyclone and a Classica. Any thoughts on the difference? They are both a bit beyond what I would want to pay, but we'll see. eBay search has revealed a Classica for £40.

[Brucey]

I see on SJS that IRD have a Cyclone and a Classica. Any thoughts on the difference? They are both a bit beyond what I would want to pay, but we'll see. eBay search has revealed a Classica for £40.

The cyclone has labyrinth seals and the classica doesn't. IRD don't do a compact 6 freewheel.

IRD claim they are based on shimano 600 designs, but they look virtually identical inside (even the splined sprocket fittings) as SunRace and lots of others.

BTW it is only 'worth' buying an expensive freewheel if you get ratios/spacing you can't otherwise, it works/lasts better to start with, or you can repopulate the body with spare sprockets in a cost effective fashion

cheers

[Rod Goodfellow]

I have 2 Sun Tour Perfect 5 peed freewheels unused, a 14-14 and a 14-26 if these are of any interest,located in Blackburn or could post.

[robert17]

I have 2 Sun Tour Perfect 5 peed freewheels unused, a 14-14 and a 14-26 if these are of any interest,located in Blackburn or could post.

Rod, I would be interested in the 14-26. Thank you. Robert.

[Brucey]

sun tour perfect is (was ) a pretty good freewheel but shifting on those sprockets is not as slick as with more modern designs.

cheers

[rogerzilla]

Shimano make good-shifting Hyperglide 6-speed freewheels (i.e. will work with an indexed shifter, a 6-10 speed Shimano mech and SIS cabling but they tend to be wide-range. I put one on SO's bike with a new Sora mech and a Sunrace twistgrip, and it works impeccably.

You'd need to go to 126mm, though.

[Brucey]

Shimano make Hyperglide 6-speed freewheels ......
….You'd need to go to 126mm, though.

same as everyone else then; AFAICT all 6s freewheels currently available new are standard spaced not compact spaced.

FWIW the cheap sun race 6s freewheels are properly spaced for indexed operation too and shifting is basically flawless.

cheers