I've never ridden a bike that wasn't equipped with anything other than a freewheel. Given that fact, I'd have to say if I was purchasing a new Rivendell, or whatever, today it would be fitted with a cassette hub.
The freewheels that I'm presently using are all either SunTour Winner Pro or Sachs and they've performed perfectly. I've never experienced any problems using (or removing) a freewheel with the exception of one crummy Regina freewheel which developed a fracture in the body of the freewheel (fortunately discovered before I had a breakdown on the road). Regina freewheels were, in my opinion, never very good and they're now appropriately relegated to period correct restorations of collector bikes made until the late 1970's. I do think that "bottom feeding" is a totally sensible activity. I've also got boxes of NOS freewheels and other parts that I've accumulated over the years. I'll continue using them for the foreseeable future. Jim Cloud Tucson, AZ On Jun 7, 2:15 pm, james black <[email protected]> wrote: > On Tue, Jun 7, 2011 at 13:52, Steve Palincsar <[email protected]> wrote: > > If gearing choices don't matter to you, fine; and if you happen to be a > > real genuine fan of 14-28 Alpine, then God bless you - some long > > winter's evening maybe you can explain to me how the shifting pattern > > works, and who knows, long about the 4th or 5th hot toddy I might > > actually get it. Otherwise, you are so out of luck. > > You have outlined a pretty weird drinking game there. > > Actually I do like the 14-28 five-speed - you can make a nice halfstep > with it and it has a good range, but I also have found from my recent > experience with half-step that I don't need the fine steps between > gears that halfstep provides. I would rather have more substantial > jumps between gears, especially after riding fixed gear for a long > time, the fine gear steps seem irrelevant as I am willing and able to > pedal at different cadences. > > Also, bottom feeding - by that I mean that I have boxes of take-off > bike parts from the several UJBs I have purchased over the years, > including old wheelsets and various barely used 14-28 five-speed > freewheels. They aren't garbage, they work fine. > > But on my last wheelbuild, I messed around with freewheels because it > was a direct way to get a multi-gear drivetrain with some elegant high > flange hubs on a bike with 126mm dropout spacing. And I would do it > again! > > When I put that rSogn together, on the other hand, I will use NOS > Shimano Deore DX freehubs with a 7-speed hyperglide cassette. > > James Black > Los Angeles, CA -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
