6 speed spacing

I busted my shifter on my UK bike that gets about 3 weeks of use per
year, it's got a shimano 600 derailleur with a 6 speed uniglide
block. All my LBS has in the "old bits" box is 7s downtube shifters
(plenty of them, mind). From Sheldon's webpage
http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_sp-ss.html#spacingk7, is it reasonable
to expect the cassette to be 5.3mm C-C spacing? Or will it be 5mm
like 7s ones are - in short, is the 7s shifter going to give me good
shifting?

Since it's a 105 rear freehub, I suppose I could go get a new freehub
body and put a 7s cassette on there, perhaps even go for STIs, but
really, this bike's not worth the effort, even if it does ride really
nicely.

On 21 Aug, 16:11, Simon Cooper wrote:
I busted my shifter on my UK bike that gets about 3 weeks of use per
year, it's got a shimano 600 derailleur with a 6 speed uniglide
block. *All my LBS has in the "old bits" box is 7s downtube shifters
(plenty of them, mind). *From Sheldon's webpagehttp://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_sp-ss.html#spacingk7, is it reasonable
to expect the cassette to be 5.3mm C-C spacing? *Or will it be 5mm
like 7s ones are - in short, is the 7s shifter going to give me good
shifting?

Since it's a 105 rear freehub, I suppose I could go get a new freehub
body and put a 7s cassette on there, perhaps even go for STIs, but
really, this bike's not worth the effort, even if it does ride really
nicely.

stiff yet compliant. mmmmmm

On Aug 21, 10:11 am, Simon Cooper wrote:
I busted my shifter on my UK bike that gets about 3 weeks of use per
year, it's got a shimano 600 derailleur with a 6 speed uniglide
block. All my LBS has in the "old bits" box is 7s downtube shifters
(plenty of them, mind). From Sheldon's webpagehttp://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_sp-ss.html#spacingk7, is it reasonable
to expect the cassette to be 5.3mm C-C spacing? Or will it be 5mm
like 7s ones are - in short, is the 7s shifter going to give me good
shifting?

Since it's a 105 rear freehub, I suppose I could go get a new freehub
body and put a 7s cassette on there, perhaps even go for STIs, but
really, this bike's not worth the effort, even if it does ride really
nicely.

One possibility: I have put 6 HG sprockets from an 8sp HG cassette +
the 'screw on' smallest sprocket from a 7sp UG cassette on a ca. 1980
Shimano freehub originally intended for a 6sp UG cassette. (Of course,
the HG sprockets must be modified to fit the UG-only freehub -quick
work with a Dremel tool). I shift this with a Shimano 7sp DT shifter
(mounted on Kelly Takeoffs). Works perfectly!

On Aug 21, 12:25*pm, RonSonic wrote:
On Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:11:52 -0700 (PDT), Simon Cooper

wrote:
I busted my shifter on my UK bike that gets about 3 weeks of use per
year, it's got a shimano 600 derailleur with a 6 speed uniglide
block. *All my LBS has in the "old bits" box is 7s downtube shifters
(plenty of them, mind). *From Sheldon's webpage
http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_sp-ss.html#spacingk7, is it reasonable
to expect the cassette to be 5.3mm C-C spacing?

Just turn the little D-ring on the right shifter to friction mode and it'll
shift perfectly. Well as perfectly as you can shift. Which should be pretty well
with Shimano 6 and 7 speed kit. Everybody's forgotten how good that stuff was.


Well, I spared some detail to begin with, I've actually had the thing
setup to friction shift from the original top (left) shifter, since
the front derailleur collapsed on itself back in 1999, and I replaced
the double chainset with a single 46T. But I hate having to trim.
And when you ride it as infrequently as this, it's just not easy to
hit the gears by feel properly.

Still, thanks for the link, looks like at 5.5mm spacing, it's not a
good fit for just a 7s shifter. Will have a look for some old scrap
bikes instead...after all, I've got 2 months before I'm back in the UK
anyway.

On Aug 21, 11:11*am, Simon Cooper wrote:
I busted my shifter on my UK bike that gets about 3 weeks of use per
year, it's got a shimano 600 derailleur with a 6 speed uniglide
block. *All my LBS has in the "old bits" box is 7s downtube shifters
(plenty of them, mind). *From Sheldon's webpagehttp://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_sp-ss.html#spacingk7, is it reasonable
to expect the cassette to be 5.3mm C-C spacing? *Or will it be 5mm
like 7s ones are - in short, is the 7s shifter going to give me good
shifting?

Since it's a 105 rear freehub, I suppose I could go get a new freehub
body and put a 7s cassette on there, perhaps even go for STIs, but
really, this bike's not worth the effort, even if it does ride really
nicely.

Hi tghere.

I can send you a pair of 6 Speed Exage Sport downtube shifters if you
want them. Just email me your address and I'll send them off to you.

I hope that will help.

Cheers from Peter

On Aug 21, 8:11*am, Simon Cooper wrote:
I busted my shifter on my UK bike that gets about 3 weeks of use per
year, it's got a shimano 600 derailleur with a 6 speed uniglide
block. *All my LBS has in the "old bits" box is 7s downtube shifters
(plenty of them, mind). *From Sheldon's webpagehttp://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_sp-ss.html#spacingk7, is it reasonable
to expect the cassette to be 5.3mm C-C spacing? *Or will it be 5mm
like 7s ones are - in short, is the 7s shifter going to give me good
shifting?

Since it's a 105 rear freehub, I suppose I could go get a new freehub
body and put a 7s cassette on there, perhaps even go for STIs, but
really, this bike's not worth the effort, even if it does ride really
nicely.

If it is really a 105 rear freehub, then it might be a 7 speed
compatible hub. I don't know if there ever was 6 speed
105. Furthermore, the width of 6 speed and 7 speed
cassettes are pretty similar, so you might be able
to just slide a 7 speed cassette on. The big question
is, is it a Uniglide or Hyperglide freehub? If Uniglide,
you are going to have annoying problems if you ever
need to replace the cogs, although for 3 weeks riding/year,
maybe that doesn't matter. There were many hubs
that accepted both Uniglide and Hyperglide cassettes
and if you're lucky you have one of those.

7-sp shifters in friction mode work great.

You could try trolling ebay or bike swaps for a set
of 6-sp shifters, or a cheap 7-sp hub to serve as a
freehub body donor (if your freehub is attached the
same way as modern ones).

Ben

On Aug 21, 2:15*pm, "
wrote:
On Aug 21, 8:11*am, Simon Cooper wrote:

I busted my shifter on my UK bike that gets about 3 weeks of use per
year, it's got a shimano 600 derailleur with a 6 speed uniglide
block. *All my LBS has in the "old bits" box is 7s downtube shifters
(plenty of them, mind). *From Sheldon's webpagehttp://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_sp-ss.html#spacingk7, is it reasonable
to expect the cassette to be 5.3mm C-C spacing? *Or will it be 5mm
like 7s ones are - in short, is the 7s shifter going to give me good
shifting?

Since it's a 105 rear freehub, I suppose I could go get a new freehub
body and put a 7s cassette on there, perhaps even go for STIs, but
really, this bike's not worth the effort, even if it does ride really
nicely.

If it is really a 105 rear freehub, then it might be a 7 speed
compatible hub. *I don't know if there ever was 6 speed
105. *Furthermore, the width of 6 speed and 7 speed
cassettes are pretty similar, so you might be able
to just slide a 7 speed cassette on. *The big question
is, is it a Uniglide or Hyperglide freehub? *If Uniglide,
you are going to have annoying problems if you ever
need to replace the cogs, although for 3 weeks riding/year,
maybe that doesn't matter. *There were many hubs
that accepted both Uniglide and Hyperglide cassettes
and if you're lucky you have one of those.


It's a DA hub, so it's likely very early 6s. Definitely not going to
take HG as is. Existing block is OK, I had to reverse one of the
sprockets last year when I had a new chain (UG has the asset that the
sprockets are symmetrical, and you can just take them off, turn them
around and have them good as new)

Having done so on an early 105 hub, it's pretty easy to swap out the
freehub body, and my LBS usually has some old scrap hubs that one can
scavenge such parts from (7s HG freehub), but cassetts in this case is
fairly good. I think I'm out of spare 7s blocks though. I'm figuring
that all in all, a used 6s shifter should be easy enough to come by.
Like the offer above, which I'll probably end up taking up when I've
exhausted a few possibilities here to avoid inconveniencing anyone.

On Aug 21, 12:07*pm, Simon Cooper wrote:

It's a DA hub, so it's likely very early 6s. *Definitely not going to
take HG as is. *Existing block is OK, I had to reverse one of the
sprockets last year when I had a new chain (UG has the asset that the
sprockets are symmetrical, and you can just take them off, turn them
around and have them good as new)

Having done so on an early 105 hub, it's pretty easy to swap out the
freehub body, and my LBS usually has some old scrap hubs that one can
scavenge such parts from (7s HG freehub), but cassetts in this case is
fairly good. *I think I'm out of spare 7s blocks though. *I'm figuring
that all in all, a used 6s shifter should be easy enough to come by.
Like the offer above, which I'll probably end up taking up when I've
exhausted a few possibilities here to avoid inconveniencing anyone.

Unfortunately, if it's really early Dura-Ace and not 105,
swapping the freehub would probably be a royal pain.
Early DA used a freehub that screws on in some
mysterious way rather than the usual 10mm hollow bolt.
This persists if you have a 7sp uniglide DA hub - there's
only one (expensive) HG freehub that fits and you need
a special tool to install it - the 7403 in this table
http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/k7.html#bodies

I think grinding the tabs off a Hyperglide cog set is
not that difficult (never done it) so that's an eventual
replacement route. However, never throw away your
screw-on top cog. If you have a DA UG hub, the top
cog is a special small diameter thread that is not
easy to replace. (Reason for the small thread was
so they could make a screw on 11 or 12t cog, can't
recall which now.)

Anyway, yeah, it shouldn't be too hard to find a
6sp shifter if you keep looking.

Ben

In article ,
RonSonic wrote:


Just turn the little D-ring on the right shifter to friction mode and it'll
shift perfectly. Well as perfectly as you can shift. Which should be pretty well
with Shimano 6 and 7 speed kit. Everybody's forgotten how good that stuff was.

For certain values of everybody. I am running a
Deore XT rear derailleur of this model

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg94/velomania2003/SHIMANODEOREXTRD.jpg

on a seven speed free hub with down tube shifters.
It all work so well that I despair of ever having
an excuse to `upgrade'.

--
Michael Press

On Aug 22, 12:30*am, RonSonic wrote:
On Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:08:22 -0700 (PDT), someone wrote:
On 21 Aug, 16:11, Simon Cooper wrote:
I busted my shifter on my UK bike that gets about 3 weeks of use per
year, it's got a shimano 600 derailleur with a 6 speed uniglide
block. *All my LBS has in the "old bits" box is 7s downtube shifters
(plenty of them, mind). *From Sheldon's webpagehttp://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_sp-ss.html#spacingk7, is it reasonable
to expect the cassette to be 5.3mm C-C spacing? *Or will it be 5mm
like 7s ones are - in short, is the 7s shifter going to give me good
shifting?

Since it's a 105 rear freehub, I suppose I could go get a new freehub
body and put a 7s cassette on there, perhaps even go for STIs, but
really, this bike's not worth the effort, even if it does ride really
nicely.

stiff yet compliant. * mmmmmm

This frame was built before stiff-yet-compliant was invented.

so "lively, responsive and resilient" then?