cocoabeachcrab 

14-30t cassette (not freewheel) in nice condition. prefer 5 speed... employing a suntour Vx-S RD with single ring in front. i have a 28t in the ebay cart, but looking to see if i can get a 30t from someone first.

Kontact 

For what kind of cassette hub?

nlerner

I've heard of 6-speed Uniglide cassettes, but 5 speed? Do those exist?

icemilkcoffee 

They did make Dura Ace freehubs with 5 speeds:
https://si.shimano.com/en/pdfs/ev/FH...7260-0335D.pdf
Is this what the OP is looking for?

cocoabeachcrab 

it's going on a cheapo fat bike 8 speed freehub, so i'm assuming shimano/sram type. i'll just spacer it out to fit. i don't remember back to the old days if 5 speed was a cassette option... pretty sure 6 speed was.

Kontact 

So buy a 13 something 6 speed and toss the first cog

cocoabeachcrab 

probably what i'll end up doing... was more interested in the 30t end of the cassette and the shifting range for my RD.

bboy314

The lowest you’ll find to fit a modern hub will be 7 speed. I’d use that, or whichever cogs you want from it, with the appropriate spacers. Do you have a shifter in mind already?

cocoabeachcrab 

i think i have some handlebar mount friction suntour and shimano thumbies somewhere in stash. can a cassette be dismantled by drilling out the rivets? maybe i'll make me a custom one. there is a 7 speed hyperglide on ebay that covers my range.

Looks like once again, youtube is my friend...

droppedandlost 

SRAM 12-32 7sp for $17
https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...&category=6976

bboy314

Some need to be drilled or ground, others use bolts instead of rivets and can just be unscrewed. Avoid cassettes with a carrier holding several cogs together, like in this image, because those can’t be separated.

cocoabeachcrab 

thanks! i think 32t is a stretch for the RD i'm going to use, but i found a 7 Speed Hyperglide Cassette 13-30 Tooth for that price, so i grabbed it.

cocoabeachcrab 

this is what i love about this hobby... always something new to learn (and fiddle with).

Bianchigirll 

That's a Hyperglide so your stuck with 7 speed and you a 4.5 spacer behind it to take up the extra space from the 8th cog.

sd5782 

Just for added info, I got a Uniglide cog box at a swap. It is listed as 5 and 6 speed. I believe one of the couple bodies in it is extra short and 5 speed. It is missing the hub interface IIRC. The standard 6 speed uniglide has a stack height of about 29mm and the other one is shorter I think. Uniglide sprockets only of course which still shift nicely.

Edit; I just checked, and the bodies are the same stack height. The one with missing internals matches the pic and it seems that the ratchet parts and bearings stay with the hub and/or are loose on disassembly.



Newer Uniglide on top, older bottom



Older on left, common hub interface center, Uniglide/Hyperglide right

The board diagram lists both as 5 or 6 speeds. The body on the right is the ticket as it fits Uniglide or Hyperglide sprockets and has a stack height of 31mm and fits nicely on 126 spacing. The 7 speed Hyperglide is about 35mm stack height. I assembled a 15-30 seven speed using Uniglide sprockets and spacers from an 8 speed and have it spaced 125 to match the bike.

pastorbobnlnh 

FYI, I have 30T (and other sized) Uniglide cassette sprockets, as well as UG spacers available for purchase. Just PM me if needed.

sd5782 

I also have some NOS pawls that came with that parts box as well as some of the wire pawl retainer “springs”, if someone has one of these Uniglide hubs they are trying to revive.

nlerner

This thread prompted me to pull off the peg a tubular rear wheel with a Shimano Uniglide hub that I've had forever. According to VeloBase, this is a Shimano 600EX hub.




I tried it both with a 6-speed and a 7-speed Uniglide cassettes that I had in the bin, and both worked fine. I suppose I could run it as a five speed with a spacer behind the largest cog.

cocoabeachcrab 

Uniglide ®

The oldest Shimano cassette sprockets used a "twist-tooth" design, called "Uniglide." They had 9 identical splines (tabs) that would slide into matching grooves on the Freehub body. Spacer washers would fit between each pair of sprockets. 5- and 6-speeds used 3.65 mm spacers, 7-speed generally 3.15 mm, 8-speed 3.0 mm.Sprockets smaller than 14 teeth used a built-in spacer, but the other splined sprockets were reversible, so that if you wore out one side, you could flip them over and the other side was just like new! Sprockets with a built-in spacer were available in 5- 6-speed or 7- 8-speed (narrower) versions.

The smallest sprocket on a Uniglide cassette was not splined, it was threaded. The threads of this sprocket would hold everything else together. Dura-Ace Freehubs used a different, smaller thread, which worked only with Dura-Ace threaded sprockets. (Formerly, you could get an 11-tooth threaded cog for Dura-Ace, but this has been discontinued.)

To remove a Uniglide cassette, you use two chain whips, one to hold the cassette, the other to unscrew the smallest sprocket. Turn the smallest sprocket counterclockwise with a chain whip, while holding the cluster from turning backwards with another chain whip.

A neat trick: it is also possible in an emergency to remove the smallest Uniglide sprocket without any special tools. This is covered in our article on repair tricks.

Uniglide cassettes are no longer available. If you have a hub that only uses Uniglide cassettes, the best thing to do is to upgrade the hub by transplanting a Hyperglide body onto it.

Alternatively, you can fit Hyperglide sprockets onto a Uniglide body by grinding or filing off the one wide spline. You'll still need a threaded Uniglide sprocket for the top-gear position. Supplies of these are getting scanty, though it is possible to grind a worn sprocket so it will work with a new chain, or use a 3/32" track sprocket -- the threading is the same, though you may have to grind down the flange or install the sprocket backward and use a spacer.

Uniglide ® Hyperglide ®
Early Hyperglide hubs had both external and internal threads, so they would work with either style of cassette.

Hyperglide ®

With conventional derailer systems, the shift is accomplished by moving the chain sideways until it can no longer mesh with the sprocket that it is on. It then disengages, and falls on to the next sprocket that is closest to being in line with it.In the late '80's, Shimano introduced "Hyperglide", a new sprocket design that allows the chain to engage two adjacent sprockets simultaneously. It meshes with the new sprocket before it disengages from the old one. This results in smoother, quieter, faster shifting.

This is accomplished by shaping individual teeth differently on the same sprocket, and by forming ramps into the sides of the sprockets to facilitate downshifting.

To make this work, the rotational position of each sprocket tooth must be aligned to that of the adjacent sprockets. The older "Uniglide" sprockets could be installed on the body in 9 different orientations (18 if you count the flipped-over positions!) Hyperglide sprockets only go on one way, because one of the splines (tabs) in the sprockets is wider than the others. This wide spline fits only into a matching wide groove on the Hyperglide body. There is a "^" stamped into the sprocket to help find this wide spline.

Since the rotational position of the sprocket is critical to making Hyperglide work, threaded sprockets cannot be used. All sprockets in a Hyperglide cassette are splined, and a special lockring screws into internal threads on the Freehub body to hold the set together. This lockring can use the same splined tool as is used to remove Shimano and Sachs/SRAM conventional freewheels.

A threaded Hyperglide body (or Uniglide body) can, however, be useful to avoid excessive dishing of the rear wheel on a bicycle with narrow overlocknut spacing. You install an outermost, threaded sprocket backwards (with the flange at the outside), use a spacer at its inside, and rearrange the axle spacers. There will be one fewer sprocket than usual. This is not particularly difficult, and can make good sense with a non-steel frame with a narrow overlocknut dimension that can't be changed.

People like to complain about Shimano's making things obsolete for "no reason" but that is not justified in this case. Older Uniglide splined sprockets can be used with no problem on the new bodies. Many older Hyperglide bodies also have the external threads that let you screw a Uniglide small sprocket on.

But also, most Uniglide Freehubs can be updated by installing a Hyperglide ratchet body. This is an easy and inexpensive modification (see below.)

To provide the Hyperglide functionality, each sprocket must be designed with regard to the adjacent sprockets. For instance, there are 3 different 15 tooth sprockets for 7-speed systems: one version works between a 13 and a 17; another works between a 14 and a 17; another works between a 14 and a 16.

Hyperglide cassettes are commonly sold as a unit There are dozens of different cassette combinations available. Most cassettes are designated by a one- or two-letter code.

Also, hubs marked "8-speed", "9-speed" or "10-speed" will work with any number of sprockets up to 10! (Add a 4.5 mm spacer before installing a 7-speed cassette on an 8-, 9-, or 10-speed hub, and the included 1-mm spacer before installing a 10-speed cassettes on an 8- or 9- speed hub.) Any of these cassettes will work with an 11-speed hub with the addition of another 0.85 mm spacer. 1.85 mm spacers are available so a 10-speed cassette will work on an 11-speed hub. Mavic's Shimano-compatible hubs will work with any number of sprockets up to 11, if you use the necessary spacers.

Any Shimano Hyperglide cassette with 7 through 10 sprockets will fit any Shimano Hyperglide hub with the following exceptions:

• 7-speed hubs only accept 7-speed cassettes --though 8 or 9 sprockets can be installed on a 7-speed hub, using 9- or 10-speed spacing. It is also possible to transplant an 8- 9- 10-speed cassette body onto most 7-speed Freehubs.
• Dura-Ace 7800 and 7801 10-speed hubs (and Ultegra wheelsets) with the aluminum Freehub body and tall splines accept only Dura-Ace, Ultegra and 105 10-speed cassettes.
• Many older hubs have a problem with 11 tooth sprockets.
• Capreo hubs and cassettes (special models with 9-tooth sprocket capability) are not interchangeable with anything else, though the 5 inner sprockets are interchangeable individually.
• 11-speed cassettes will fit only 11-speed bodies, or Mavic's Shimano-compatible bodies.

cocoabeachcrab 

i ordered a 7 speed hyperglide cassette from ebay to tinker with. i would reveal what my project is going to be, but i'm out of any alcoholic beverages in my house to overcome the trauma of revealing such information to this august group of fellow mad scientists.