Changers advice/bike advice?

Looking to update my old mountain bike for more road use, I have started
to upgrade bits. It needs some bits more urgently than others though, so
I have a priority list.

The bike in question is a 12 year old Townsend with a Reynolds 500
chrome moly frame. Obviously I can't easily replace this, and looking at
current bikes I can't see anything in my budget that will come anywhere
near it. So, mutton dressed as lamb it'll have to be - unless anyone
else know better?

It has some amazingly good wheels on it, I have no idea what they are
(apart from being aluminium), but they came on the bike, and are still a
straight as a die, despite my 100kg mass doing jumps and what not off
road.

So far I've replaced the brakes, from the old cantilver things to some
new Shimano Deore's (amazing difference I have to say).

It is fitted with Shimano SIS 18 speed gears, but they are the lowest
range jobbies, and are really very tired now. I'm looking for
suggestions to replace these.

I suspect it's fitted with the old screw on rear gear set (6 speed in
this case). If I get a newer 7 speed one, will it fit the wheel? I
remember back when I rode a Claud Butler tourer some 20 odd years ago,
that fitting a different gear set meant a different hub.

I already have some hybrid tyres fitted, and a slightly more curvy
handlbar, but I'm open to suggestions for making this more of a hybrid
bike, as I tend to do, and intend to carry on, riding in a fair mixture
of surfaces, but nothing extreme. In particular we have a lot of
prepared tracks around here (Durham), that offer a very pleasant offroad
route for many miles.

Finally, as Mr Chapman has got some kind of lurgy, I won't be able to
look around at York for something of a bargain, so any suggestions for
good places to buy these bits appreciated.

Cheer.

--
Andy Hewitt ** FAF#1, (Ex-OSOS#5) - FJ1200 ABS
Honda Concerto 16v: Windows free zone (Mac G5 Dual Processor)
http://www.thehewitts.plus.com - now online

"Andy Hewitt" wrote in message
...
Looking to update my old mountain bike for more road use, I have started
to upgrade bits. It needs some bits more urgently than others though, so
I have a priority list.

The bike in question is a 12 year old Townsend with a Reynolds 500
chrome moly frame. Obviously I can't easily replace this, and looking at
current bikes I can't see anything in my budget that will come anywhere
near it. So, mutton dressed as lamb it'll have to be - unless anyone
else know better?

It has some amazingly good wheels on it, I have no idea what they are
(apart from being aluminium), but they came on the bike, and are still a
straight as a die, despite my 100kg mass doing jumps and what not off
road.

So far I've replaced the brakes, from the old cantilver things to some
new Shimano Deore's (amazing difference I have to say).

It is fitted with Shimano SIS 18 speed gears, but they are the lowest
range jobbies, and are really very tired now. I'm looking for
suggestions to replace these.

ISTR the back end will need widening (ie, bending) to fit a 7 or 8 speed
freewheel in there, and you'll need a new hub built into the rear wheel for
cassette type cogs. Finding decent 6 speed shifters is liable to be a pain
in the arse. Try ebay and the ad mag, and see if any bike shops have 6 speed
freewheels knocking around. IMO there's not much point in going from 6 to 7
speed, unless you can't get 6 speed parts anywhere.

Doki wrote:

Snipped Text
It is fitted with Shimano SIS 18 speed gears, but they are the lowest
range jobbies, and are really very tired now. I'm looking for
suggestions to replace these.

ISTR the back end will need widening (ie, bending) to fit a 7 or 8 speed
freewheel in there, and you'll need a new hub built into the rear wheel for
cassette type cogs. Finding decent 6 speed shifters is liable to be a pain
in the arse. Try ebay and the ad mag, and see if any bike shops have 6 speed
freewheels knocking around. IMO there's not much point in going from 6 to 7
speed, unless you can't get 6 speed parts anywhere.

FWIW I don't particularly want to have more than a 6 speed set on the
rear, any more to me would just be more gears I'd not use. However,
would it be possible to perhaps use a 7 speed changer and selector and
just set it to have a redundant position?

Of course getting a freewheel could be a PITA as well if 6 speed stuff
isn't so easily available. If I have to start thinking about bending the
frame, it does sound like it's time for a new bike anyway.

--
Andy Hewitt ** FAF#1, (Ex-OSOS#5) - FJ1200 ABS
Honda Concerto 16v: Windows free zone (Mac G5 Dual Processor)
http://www.thehewitts.plus.com - now online

On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 22:23:53 +0100, in
,
(Andy Hewitt) wrote:

FWIW I don't particularly want to have more than a 6 speed set on the
rear, any more to me would just be more gears I'd not use. However,
would it be possible to perhaps use a 7 speed changer and selector and
just set it to have a redundant position?

I think not.

As far as I remember
5 and 6 speed bits are interchangeable
5spd lever with 6 speed block will give 5 perfectly selectable gears
6spd lever with 5 speed block will give 5 gears and a spare "click"

6 and 7 are not interchangeable

7 and 8 are interchangeable following same rules as 5/6

You could probably use a 7 speed friction changer with a 6 speed block
but not a 7 speed indexed changer.

Of course getting a freewheel could be a PITA as well if 6 speed stuff
isn't so easily available. If I have to start thinking about bending the
frame, it does sound like it's time for a new bike anyway.

Regina make freewheels in 6 speed but I cannot for the life of me
remember where I saw them advertised. It was probably SJScycles. IIRC
they were advertised and non-index but I'm not sure why they are not.

HTH Rich x

--
DISCLAIMER: My email box is private property.Email which
appears in my inbox is mine to do what I like with.
Anything which is sent to me (whether intended or not)
may, if I so desire, form a legal and binding contract.

"Andy Hewitt" wrote in message
t...
Doki wrote:

Snipped Text
It is fitted with Shimano SIS 18 speed gears, but they are the lowest
range jobbies, and are really very tired now. I'm looking for
suggestions to replace these.

ISTR the back end will need widening (ie, bending) to fit a 7 or 8 speed
freewheel in there, and you'll need a new hub built into the rear wheel
for
cassette type cogs. Finding decent 6 speed shifters is liable to be a
pain
in the arse. Try ebay and the ad mag, and see if any bike shops have 6
speed
freewheels knocking around. IMO there's not much point in going from 6
to 7
speed, unless you can't get 6 speed parts anywhere.

FWIW I don't particularly want to have more than a 6 speed set on the
rear, any more to me would just be more gears I'd not use. However,
would it be possible to perhaps use a 7 speed changer and selector and
just set it to have a redundant position?

ISTR that all Shimano derailleurs move the same amount for the same amount
of cable pull. So a 7 speed's indexing would be all out of goose.

Of course getting a freewheel could be a PITA as well if 6 speed stuff
isn't so easily available. If I have to start thinking about bending the
frame, it does sound like it's time for a new bike anyway.

It's not a horrendous job as far as I know. I think it's something like
130mm for 6 speed, 136 for 7/8/9. Certainly bodgeable with a big bit of wood
as a lever IMO, or might be cheaper than you'd think at the local frame
builder. A second hand, more modern MTB in decent nick might be less than a
new cassette, chain, derailleur and shifters if you want to go 7 speed. You
could get second hand 6 speed bits and save there though.

Doki wrote:

Snipped Text
FWIW I don't particularly want to have more than a 6 speed set on the
rear, any more to me would just be more gears I'd not use. However,
would it be possible to perhaps use a 7 speed changer and selector and
just set it to have a redundant position?

ISTR that all Shimano derailleurs move the same amount for the same amount
of cable pull. So a 7 speed's indexing would be all out of goose.

Righto, wasn't sure of that.

Of course getting a freewheel could be a PITA as well if 6 speed stuff
isn't so easily available. If I have to start thinking about bending the
frame, it does sound like it's time for a new bike anyway.

It's not a horrendous job as far as I know. I think it's something like
130mm for 6 speed, 136 for 7/8/9. Certainly bodgeable with a big bit of wood
as a lever IMO, or might be cheaper than you'd think at the local frame
builder. A second hand, more modern MTB in decent nick might be less than a
new cassette, chain, derailleur and shifters if you want to go 7 speed. You
could get second hand 6 speed bits and save there though.

I don't particularly *want* 7 speed, but it might be the way to go if 6
speed is getting rare.

Perhaps a s/h bikes could be the answer, although it's a hybrid I'm
really after.

Thanks for the help. It's beginning to make mending the suspension on my
FJ1200 look easy now :-)

--
Andy Hewitt ** FAF#1, (Ex-OSOS#5) - FJ1200 ABS
Honda Concerto 16v: Windows free zone (Mac G5 Dual Processor)
http://www.thehewitts.plus.com - now online

Richard Bates wrote:

On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 22:23:53 +0100, in
,
(Andy Hewitt) wrote:

FWIW I don't particularly want to have more than a 6 speed set on the
rear, any more to me would just be more gears I'd not use. However,
would it be possible to perhaps use a 7 speed changer and selector and
just set it to have a redundant position?

I think not.

As far as I remember
5 and 6 speed bits are interchangeable
5spd lever with 6 speed block will give 5 perfectly selectable gears
6spd lever with 5 speed block will give 5 gears and a spare "click"

6 and 7 are not interchangeable

7 and 8 are interchangeable following same rules as 5/6

You could probably use a 7 speed friction changer with a 6 speed block
but not a 7 speed indexed changer.

Righto, might have guessed at that I suppose.

Of course getting a freewheel could be a PITA as well if 6 speed stuff
isn't so easily available. If I have to start thinking about bending the
frame, it does sound like it's time for a new bike anyway.

Regina make freewheels in 6 speed but I cannot for the life of me
remember where I saw them advertised. It was probably SJScycles. IIRC
they were advertised and non-index but I'm not sure why they are not.

Might be because they can't do a 6 speed index selector for them.

Thanks for the advice. Looks like this is going to be harder than I
thought.

--
Andy Hewitt ** FAF#1, (Ex-OSOS#5) - FJ1200 ABS
Honda Concerto 16v: Windows free zone (Mac G5 Dual Processor)
http://www.thehewitts.plus.com - now online

in message , Andy Hewitt
') wrote:

Doki wrote:

Snipped Text
It is fitted with Shimano SIS 18 speed gears, but they are the
lowest range jobbies, and are really very tired now. I'm looking
for suggestions to replace these.

ISTR the back end will need widening (ie, bending) to fit a 7 or 8
speed freewheel in there, and you'll need a new hub built into the
rear wheel for cassette type cogs. Finding decent 6 speed shifters is
liable to be a pain in the arse. Try ebay and the ad mag, and see if
any bike shops have 6 speed freewheels knocking around. IMO there's
not much point in going from 6 to 7 speed, unless you can't get 6
speed parts anywhere.

FWIW I don't particularly want to have more than a 6 speed set on the
rear, any more to me would just be more gears I'd not use. However,
would it be possible to perhaps use a 7 speed changer and selector and
just set it to have a redundant position?

When, last year, I replaced my much loved fifteen-year-old 18 speed
rigid mountain bike with a brand new 27 speed full suspension one, I at
first thought having so many gears was stupid and would make the gear
train unnecessarily fragile. I also thought the bottom gears were so
low as to be useless. I'm now of completely the opposite opinion. The
wide range of gears and in particular the very low bottom gears mean
you can spin up virtually anything - in fact, if you have to get out of
the saddle it's because you need to shift your weight forwards to stop
the bike toppling over backwards.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

Error 1109: There is no message for this error

"Andy Hewitt" wrote in message
t...
Doki wrote:

Snipped Text
FWIW I don't particularly want to have more than a 6 speed set on the
rear, any more to me would just be more gears I'd not use. However,
would it be possible to perhaps use a 7 speed changer and selector and
just set it to have a redundant position?

ISTR that all Shimano derailleurs move the same amount for the same
amount
of cable pull. So a 7 speed's indexing would be all out of goose.

Righto, wasn't sure of that.

Of course getting a freewheel could be a PITA as well if 6 speed stuff
isn't so easily available. If I have to start thinking about bending
the
frame, it does sound like it's time for a new bike anyway.

It's not a horrendous job as far as I know. I think it's something like
130mm for 6 speed, 136 for 7/8/9. Certainly bodgeable with a big bit of
wood
as a lever IMO, or might be cheaper than you'd think at the local frame
builder. A second hand, more modern MTB in decent nick might be less
than a
new cassette, chain, derailleur and shifters if you want to go 7 speed.
You
could get second hand 6 speed bits and save there though.

I don't particularly *want* 7 speed, but it might be the way to go if 6
speed is getting rare.

Perhaps a s/h bikes could be the answer, although it's a hybrid I'm
really after.


Not mine but I remember seeing this advertised, and there are usually many
other good bargains on this site if this particular one doesn't interest
you: http://www.singletrackworld.com/foru...57135&t=157135

Steve.

On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 10:35:03 GMT, Simon Brooke
wrote (more or less):
When, last year, I replaced my much loved fifteen-year-old 18 speed
rigid mountain bike with a brand new 27 speed full suspension one, I at
first thought having so many gears was stupid and would make the gear
train unnecessarily fragile. I also thought the bottom gears were so
low as to be useless. I'm now of completely the opposite opinion. The
wide range of gears and in particular the very low bottom gears mean
you can spin up virtually anything - in fact, if you have to get out of
the saddle it's because you need to shift your weight forwards to stop
the bike toppling over backwards.

And your knees will thank you in the long run!



--
Cheers,
Euan
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