In 30 years of riding and overhauling bikes I have never had to use a six foot bar to remove a freewheel and I have never stripped one out, or the hub it was attached to. Seven spd 13 -28 freewheels offer regularly spaced gears and when mated to a 50x40x28 or 26 offer a very wide range of useable gears. Freewheels with a 12 small cog are most often racing sets 12-24 or less., but a 9 speed cassette, 12x 27, can be mated with smaller rings to provide about the same high gear and a decent low gear, 34x 27 for most road riding situations. There is no need to widen the cog set out to 32 or 34, with the resulting wide gear jumps. It is better to go to smaller rings, or a triple crank if you want to get down below 30 gear inches. No the cranks don't know whether your using a freewheel or a cassette, but your legs know when the gears are spaced too far apart or have too small a range. As for servicing, it is more work to overhaul a cassette hub than a freewheel. The cassette requires disassembling all of the cogs, then pulling the freehub off to get to the bearings. Quite doable for sure, but still a longer process than simply removing a freewheel. Michael
On Dec 1, 7:14 pm, Steve Palincsar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Mon, 2008-12-01 at 15:17 -0800, MichaelH wrote: > > >From a technical pov - durability, shifting performance etc - there's > > not much difference. I've logged tens or perhaps hundreds of > > thousands of miles on each without much problem with either. I like > > the convenience of 7 spd hubs, available from IRD, with a triple > > crank; but with a double the Shimano 12 - 27 casette allows for a > > smaller outside ring, 48 or 46, and then an easier shift to a 34 or 32 > > on the inside. Freewheels are still cheaper and easier to service. > > 7 speed IRD freewheels are more expensive than 7 speed Shimano > cassettes. It's not much trouble removing and replacing a cassette: > I've never heard of anybody having to use a six foot cheater bar to > remove a cassette lockring, and I can't imagine ever stripping out the > removal slot on a cassette lockring. I doubt there are many old timers > who haven't stripped a freewheel when trying to get it off, and I don't > think there are many tandem owners with freewheels who haven't had > trouble unscrewing them. > > As for the advantages of compact cranks: cranks don't care whether the > sprockets in back are on a freewheel or a cassette. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
