On Mon, 2008-12-01 at 14:38 -0800, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery wrote: > Picking a few nits. The "dishless" thing, the importance of which is > often overstated, can be approximated with just about any MTB cassette > hub and a o/c rim. IRD freewheels are available to shops through one > bay-area distributor, and, as far as I know, nowhere else. A small > niche, non-OEM product through a single quirky distributor on the far > end of the country is not what I would call "widely available" or > something that I'd bet the farm will still be around in five years. > Most of us (shops) get Shimano freewheels, the variety of which has > shrunk in the last couple years. I assume we'll be able to get a > limited selection of freewheels _somewhere_ for years to come, but I'd > prefer to have something I can find in some variety at any bike shop.
Piling on here, for a moment: Even if you discount concerns regarding future availability of freewheels, the current range of available gearing in 7 spd freewheels is limited compared to the range available with cassettes. My personal favorites, the 13-30, 13-34 and the 14-32 have no freewheel counterparts. And 7 is as far as it goes in the freewheel world. Should you wish to go to 8, 9 or beyond, you are simply out of luck. Modern cassette hubs, on the other hand, will accept 7, 8, 9 and 10 speed cassettes. I know it's easy to customize the gearing on a cassette. Is it even possible with the freewheels that are available today? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
