Cycling UK Forum

Cyclothesist wrote: ↑31 May 2024, 1:59pm Good points. It's a neat looking job.

Thank you.

That's a clever solution for those who need more saddle layback. Point the tube behind.

this is quite good, but unfortunately it leaves you with all the angle adjustments offered by the steel clip, ie not many. I think an inline post will work for most folk here.

Strange things happen!....... I think it was 5 years ago when I said I'd bought a Rudge Montague and also been given one all in a couple of weeks after looking for one fo a couple of years. I sold the white one (maybe a pic on an earlier page). Fast forward 5 years to now, and the owner has 'finished with it' and offered it to me for free, It's in a sad state..... No rear mech or chain. a knackered freewheel, no brakes. Otherwise looks like it's lived outside, but it is salvageable and I had decided it would be good to have a cheap bike at my Daughter's place in case I needed transport, so the timing was good. I'll see what the bike shop did inside the BB shell (see earlier). Interestingly the freewheel (described by the donor as a freehub) was some sort of 'Hybrid freehub', and I'd be interested if anyone else has one of their Rudge Montague. It was very wobbly (not worth saving IMHO) so I set about getting it off so I could rebuild the rim into a Shimano MTB freehub I have. Upon removing the axle what looked like a freewheel but had no visible means of removal just fell off - behind was a spline which was part of the hub and similar to a shimano setup, but the sprockets looked to be screwed onto the freehub body like a traditional freewheel, with the centre part mating to the spline on the hub a la Shimano.
Looking for a cheap rear mech on Ebay brought up many called 'fit for Shimano Tourney' or similar, and clearly copies - I'll get one from Halford for £2 extra in the hope it's genuine!

Could have been an early Shimano freehub. Similar to this which may have been a single speed BMX model. Freehub held in place by the axle if I'm right.
Note the lack of the bulge behind the flange as no attachment screw was needed. Worth keeping for it's novelty value.

That's very similar I'm sure. I also pretty sure it wasn't identified as Shimano, but I'll have another look.
The owner had mentioned the original BB was getting badly worn and I offered to fix it with him (free labour) as I'd managed to fit a Shimano UN55 to my blue one without any problems. He took the bike it to the LBS, and sometime after said the guy had cut away some of the seat tube. Yesterday, fearing what I would see, I removed the (pretty lumpy UN300) bb. There was a hole through both seat tubes, and there were witness marks on the bb spacer tube where the inner seat tube had been clashing during the fold - this explained the 'lumpy' feel when folding, despite plenty of grease being present. The grease may not easily reach the lower extreme of the tubes now though, as it has an 'exit path' . I'll pull the bb out again some time and examine whilst adding grease. At least the LBS guy hadn't cut around 180 degrees of the inner seatube! More disturbing was how he'd mullered the thread on the driveside, either by getting the original bb out, or doing the 'seat tube work' - there was only about 2/3 rds of the thread intact, and what was there seemed to have the peaks removed. Careful insertion of an old bb cup was tried, then with a slot cut in the old bb cup, again inserted and as much of the thread recovered/cleaned as possible. I had an already used but good condition un23 (cheapo shimano) bottom bracket which is waisted like the UN55, so fitted that easily and called it a day. I think the logic of the LBS was 'I won't bother trying to find something that will fit, I have this UN300 so I'll make it fit'. IMHO a very poor 'repair' and I wouldn't let him anywhere near my bikes.
ETA - having looked at my previous note a couple of pages back, it appears the 'surgery' was done less than a year ago, so the UN300 bb hasn't lasted well. The previous owner appears to be very hard on his bikes though, and clearly ridden in all weathers with no 'guards.

I examined the rear hub a short while ago - it's got SUNTOUR stamped into the alloy and a 7S sticker on it The axle was the part holding it all together (though in this case not very well

Mine has a suntour group set, with a freewheel. Later versions may have gone with the suntour freehub. Someone on the forum was asking for suntour freehub sprockets recently as they had an unusual spline.

I put it in the bin yesterday, but I could probably retrieve it if someone was desperate - to be fair it was shot!

I pulled the bb out again and could only get grease to the lower part of the tube by folding the frame so the hole into the bb area was blocked by the inner seat tube. Some of the label of the used Shimano bb was missing (I thought I'd have seen it when I put it in a few days ago) IIRC it was a UN26 (but it was several years ago that I moved it from a bike to the cupboard). This bike is in a terrible state, and was pristine when I sold it 5 years ago. The original owner would be horrified if he was alive to see it. Today I decided to clean the frame, and after trying 'dirty bike' detergent I resorted to white spirit! I decided to lace the spare Shimano Acera X hub into the rim - when I tried the hub in the frame one of the dropouts was too tight (the Suntour axle was a slightly small diameter), and it was clear the frame had been dropped and closed the front of the dropout slightly. Careful use of an adjustable spanner returned it to shape.
Good therapy followed....... lacing the wheel with the original spokes onto the Shimano hub and dropping the wrecked Suntour hub into the bin!

rjb wrote:..... Someone on the forum was asking for suntour freehub sprockets recently as they had an unusual spline.

I think people need to get creative if they want to run obscure/obsolete equipment. I can think of two ways of overcoming the sprocket dilemma; both involve welding.

1) cut the centres out of a set of suntour cogs and weld on a set of shimano sprockets. It will be very difficult (but not impossible) to maintain concentricity.

2) correct 'the wrong kind of wear' by using weld build-up on the sprockets, regrinding the profile as required. This route offers the opportunity to selectively deposit a much more wear-resistant material, so the net result could be 'better than new'.

I thought it would be easier to fit another hub into the back wheel

fastpedaller wrote: ↑15 Sep 2024, 11:33am I thought it would be easier to fit another hub into the back wheel

it is, no doubt about it. However, I cut my teeth riding suntour 'new winner' freewheels and I still have a soft spot for them. Modern gear systems exploit the fact that there is (relatively speaking) a huge gap between the spokes and the RD, by having dished sprockets. Needless to say, if dishing is used with fewer sprockets, stronger, less dished rear wheels are possible. Since the larger sprockets tend not to wear badly, it is unlikely that any that you have gone to the trouble of dishing would ever wear out. Also there has been a general trend towards lower shift ratios. All of which means that (for example) if you connect a sett of standard 6s index levers to a shimano 11s RD it will shift perfectly on a 6s freewheel which is easily made using a Sun Race 5s freewheel, revised spacers, and an additional (dished) sprocket. Because the spacing is similar to 9s and the #1 sprocket is so heavily dished, these six cogs require much less space than normal, less space than a 5s freewheel, even.
The wheel can be nigh-on dishless (and far stronger) at 126mm. Also this can make use of the latest advances in chain technology.

I have figured out that you can take a 7s new winner freewheel and revise it so that it becomes a 9s unit. For touring, it should be possible to have 13,15,17,19, 21, 24, 28, 32, 36. The 24, 28, 32, 36, are all on the splined fitting, with the 32 and 36 being a dished and welded pair on a special carrier. The other cogs would be standard suntour stuff, perhaps with some machining to the #6 sprocket, but otherwise just with revised spacers. This would all fit into the same space on the hub as 7s normally occupies. Needless to say, but something similar is possible with a 7s freehub. Since shimano seem determined that you should only be able to buy something longer, you may be forced to use a shortened 8s freehub body. A conversion is not only possible, but it is also arguably an upgrade, because the converted hub is somewhat stronger and often, better sealed.