we are being coerced and fleeced

[pliptrot]

I find that my favourite bike, with 126mm rear OLD with 753 stays, must be retired as all hubs that fit (and their corresponding freewheels) have been worn out. I cannot find 8 speed cassettes for my MTB. (Nor chainrings or BBs to fit, either). With a sensitive and important birthday apporaching, I was planning to spend some stupidly large amount of money on a new bike which would be sufficiently modern to be maintainable for the foreseeable future. I know now that this is not possible. It seems inevitable that we will forced into accépting disc brakes and -possibly-electronic gear changing as the norm, and no doubt back ends will get wider and the frenzy over sprocket numbers will increase. I guess a1x12 transmission will be fashionable in the not-too-distant future. (So much for chainline). I take small solace in the fact that I will not be buying that new bike, and will wait out to see how things change, as trawling ebay to find obsolescent bits and pieces is not my plan for the future. So, coerced and fleeced as we are by an industry which turned bicycles into fashion accessories (note the new narrative on "adventure" bikes and "gravel" bikes), is there justification in being indignant? Or have I become my father, who stuck with Sturmey Archer 5 speed IHG when they were not fit for purpose?

[[XAP]Bob]

SA5spd will get you most places, perfectly suitable

[reohn2]

The 126OLN can cold set easily or just sprung to 130mm cassette road hub width which should give you 10 years at least.
What make are the cassettes and what BCD are the chainrings?
I don't think it's quite as bad as you make out,unless you own obscure make kit,though I agree manipulation is taking place with no appreciable gain.I've no need for electronic gear shifting,and 1x9/10/11 or 12 is laughable when a 3x8 is far better.

[Mick F]

Am I right in saying that 753 can't be spread out to 130mm as it's too brittle, and any attempt is to be discouraged even squeezing in a 130mm without a cold set (which can't be done)?

For a few years, I was riding with a 130mm rear hub in my 126mm 531 frame. The wheel went in and out ok but it was a tight fit. I eventually had my frame cold set to 130mm. I suppose it could be cold set yet again to 135mm if required.

[531colin]

8 speed cassettes.....http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/products/bike-components/cassettes/8-speed/8-speed/
I expect Spa will have chainrings, and probably BB units too.
Brucey will be along soon to say fit a 7 speed hub body to a current 130mm road hub to reduce the width down to 126mm without stupidly increasing the dish.

.....there are worse things than becoming your father.....for example, I could have turned into my mother instead.......

edit....Spa have screw-on freewheels, and screw-on hubs can be bought, too. 130mm OLN hubs will reduce to 126mm as long as you don't put too many speeds on.

[beardy]

I cannot find 8 speed cassettes for my MTB.

Quite a choice of them on this page all at reasonably cheap prices.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/cass ... t=pricelow

Then Roseversand sell an enormous range but only worthwhile if buying other things to divide up the postal charge.

£6.95 here.

Occasionally people sell 126mm OLN hubs or wheels on the forum they are probably cassette type and in some cases those cassettes themselves are getting unobtainable. Yet we are far from beaten in this respect, no need to go scrapping any frames that dont cold set.

[PH]

A quick google for 126mm hubs came up with a few options, are none of them suitable?
Maybe Bigjim will be along to advise, he doesn’t seem to have much problem running older bikes.

[RogerThat]

Have successfully sprung 6 frames over the years. 4mm isn't much and you can get away with 3mm no problem. Use a car jack with no special modifications. Just gently as she goes!

[reohn2]

Have successfully sprung 6 frames over the years. 4mm isn't much and you can get away with 3mm no problem. Use a car jack with no special modifications. Just gently as she goes!

Better still,threaded rod in the d/outs with two bolts and penny washers on the inside faces,wind them out about 5 or 10mm past the desired 130,release and check,repeat until desired width is reached.

[Brucey]

I find that my favourite bike, with 126mm rear OLD with 753 stays, must be retired as all hubs that fit (and their corresponding freewheels) have been worn out. I cannot find 8 speed cassettes for my MTB. (Nor chainrings or BBs to fit, either).

Chainsets, chainrings, and BBs are consumables when all is said and done; eventually the cranks will fatigue and break, and everything else wears out anyway.

If you want a brand new 8s cassette, 'tis simple; just get a 9s one, strip it, and build it up using 8s spacers. The sprockets are the same thickness, apart from those with an integral spacer; if you are not using a 9s chain you can respace these with thin shims (e.g. cut from coke can, using scissors).

If you want a durable 126mm OLN hub (without buying secondhand which is of course another option), you can do it quite easily; just buy a shimano cassette hub that uses the original spline and bolt fitting for the freehub, then fit a 7s freehub body to it (yes they are still available) and then respace the hub to suit. If you look after it (i.e run the hub with regular doses of oil or use a grease fitting on it) it should last about 50000 miles. The 7s freehub body will also allow an 8-from-9 cassette to be fitted to it if you want, as well as various 7s and 6s options.

So don't despair!

....Or have I become my father, who stuck with Sturmey Archer 5 speed IHG when they were not fit for purpose?

whatever floats your boat.... nothing wrong with an SA 5s hub, come to that, mostly they do what they say on the tin (tin can, that is... ).

But overall... change is the price of progress....

I personally don't think that riding a bike is made immeasurably better by having more gears etc; when all is said and done you push the pedals, the bike goes along, and exactly how the brakes or the gears work, or whether the bike is 10% or 15% of the all-up weight doesn't change things very greatly; how could it?

So whether it is a rod-braked roadster that is built using essentially 19th century technology, or the latest 21st century shiny carbon-plastic zillion-geared contraption, I'd expect to be able to go for a nice bike ride on it, or get from A to B.

I wouldn't deny the manufacturers their 'manifesto for change' -who knows, they might even come up with something that is genuinely better, rather than just 'different'- because without the possibility of change there is no opportunity for genuine progress. But I don't exactly embrace every change with open arms either, because often it doesn't really constitute progress...

cheers

[Mick F]

Am I right in saying that 753 can't be spread out to 130mm as it's too brittle?

Am I right or wrong?

If I'm wrong about 753, what is the tubing that can't be spread?

[reohn2]

Am I right in saying that 753 can't be spread out to 130mm as it's too brittle?

Am I right or wrong?

If I'm wrong about 753, what is the tubing that can't be spread?

We talking 4mm,2mm either side.
I really can't see the frame falling apart at the seams for that much spread.

[Mick F]

Forgive me, but we had a long thread on here some time back which discussed the abilities of some tubesets to be cold set, and there were one (or two) (steel?) tubesets that are verboten to bend even a bit.

I seem to remember that it is 753, but I may be wrong.

[Brucey]

IIRC there is no such thing as '753 stays' in that the rear stays are not in the same temper condition as the main tubes. Thus only the main tubes cannot usually be cold-set. In reality the ease with which you can spread/cold set the stays varies with the way it has been put together, and so does the risk that you might break something.

If you run with a 130mm wheel sprung into a 126mm frame, the stresses in normal riding may be comparable to those you would normally see when (say) climbing out of the saddle. This isn't a very good idea... but the force required to fit such a wheel varies with the frame construction and how close to 126mm the rear end actually is.

Back in the day I used to run my 126mm OLN frames with 128mm OLN wheels in, because I could make the wheels noticeably stronger this way. Most of my 126mm frames were actually closer to 127mm when I measured them, so the stress in the frame was about three time less than it would have been had I used 130mm wheels in there.

cheers

[boblo]

Ah 'progress'. The manufacturers are in the business of selling things. They have to be competitive to stay in business. One way of doing that is by having 'better', more desirable products than the competition. That's the consumer world we live in. Without it we'd all still be using mk1 of everything that would perhaps last a long time but perhaps not be as 'good' as a modern equivalent. Mk1 Cortina vs current Mondeo anyone?

Doesn't necessarily make Cycling 'better' or 'worse' just different. I like using modern kit, it's a nice experience. I was certainly faster and more competitive on early 80's kit when I first started but I think I enjoy it just the same now as then.

Change? That's life Jim, that's just the way it is.