Moisture

I have a rear wheel with a 130mm hub fitted to my bike with dropouts designed for 126mm. Im using the original 6 speed freewheel. I can get the rear wheel to clear the dropouts without bending or coldsetting the rear of the bike etc.

- I want to adjust the chainline a little so that the freewheel sits further outwards to the right. I want to adjust the dish of the rear rim, for a start. How would I go about doing this? Apply more tension to each drive-side spoke?

- I have a thin metal washer which i can place onto the left side of the hub. Should I do that?

- Would i perhaps be best off using a wheel with a 126mm hub, like the frame was designed for?

- My final question; if I were to upgrade to a 7 speed freewheel, would this work fine with my current rim? Would this help reduce drivetrain wear if I get a new chain as well? It seems to be wearing quickly. My chainrings are still new.

Gresp15C

This will decenter the wheel in the frame. Are you sure that's what you want? It might be preferable to step back and ask what problem you're actually trying to solve.
No. The reason is that most hubs have locknuts that are designed to grip the dropout, to help prevent the wheel from working loose.
This would also let you switch to a freehub, and kill 2 birds with 1 stone.
Assuming you're wearing all of the cogs equally, it would reduce wear by just a small fraction, probably not noticeable compared to whatever else is going on.

blamester

You won't wear out the new chainrings by riding with the chain out of line. If that is the issue you want to solve.

Geepig

You need to dish the wheel in order to centre it between the seat/chain stays, which logically must be done after you have decided how the hub is going to be mounted in the frame etc.

If the frame is 126 and the hub 130, you must have opened the frame 4 mm to fit the hub in - so where is the space to fit a thin washer?

Once you have fitted the 7 speed, will there still be clearance for the chain to both miss the frame on the small and large cogs?

I have no idea what you are riding, of course, but many things are possible, but we really need for information - and pictures.

Moisture

Ive noticed that the wheel tends to loosen itself inside the dropouts occasionally even though i have the QR clamped down pretty tight. I didn't have this issue when trying out my other QR equipped wheel. I've noticed that the axle is a little bit bent when I had the wheel removed. Is this why? Should I maybe try using a different qr skewer?

I've managed to squeeze the 130mm hub into there, + a washer when using my other wheel with a 9 speed cassette without too much issues. The wheel isn't currently centered perfectly in the chainstays so I will mess around with wheel tension first and see how that goes. There seems to be space between the dropouts for another gear or two. Isn't 126mm hubs for both 6 or 7 speed?

I'm riding a Nishiki Olympic Tri-A.

Gresp15C

From what I've read, you're more prone to bending an axle on a bike with a freewheel hub. In fact this happened to one bike in our family fleet. Short of rebuilding the rear wheel, I replaced the QR axle with a solid axle and track nuts, since it was supporting a single speed freewheel anyway. That's not a great solution, but has worked so far. I suspect that making sure the long drive side locknut is good and tight will help support the axle, but that's a question for the experts. In any event, a bent axle has to be addressed before anything else happens, and since it seems like you're on the fence about the whole drivetrain, it's not worth throwing time and money at it until you figure out what you actually want. "The right wheel for the bike but with a freehub" would be my inclination. The Nishiki should be a nice bike.

Moisture

thanks gresp. My understanding is that the way the freehub distributes the weight of each cog on a cassette results in a stronger design.

In all honesty, I'm getting tired of throwing money at my bikes. One way or another ill always be tinkering with the bike or changing something on it. Im already buying a 130mm stem for it this week. The Nishiki is a fantastic bike and I really love riding it on what is practically a daily basis.

At this point my main question would be, how far off is the dish on a 130mm hub when used with a frame designed for 126mm spacing? My friend has a Norco Monterey SL which is practically the same bike. He has the original 126mm wheel installed. His chainline looked almost identical to mine.

I say this, because I really love the Damco rim on my bike. I will maybe look around the classifieds and see if I find a 126mm freehub wheel for sale, but most likely I will just keep using the current wheel. In the meantime I will get around to replacing the current axle and see if thst stops the hub from wiggling its way out of the dropouts.

Moisture

As for the freewheel, I'm not the biggest fan of the ratio spacing on my current one. I will probably replace it with a close ratio 7 speed freewheel down the road once its time to replace the chain. I say this because I've noticed that my chain is wearing very fast. I suspect this could only be because of the original freewheel possibly being worn, but then again the entire bike appears to have seen very little use until I took possession of it. No way to tell how worn the freewheel is..

Gresp15C

Ah, the joy of old bikes. It's always a bit of a gamble, hopefully worth it. You might not end up saving money compared to a new entry-level bike, but when the dust settles it will be exactly the way you want it.

dedhed

The strength is about where the bearings are located and unsupported axle length.

https://www.bikeforums.net/general-c...-question.html

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Geepig

I would avoid referring to the hub as 130 or 126, because these are frame dimensions - and while a hub may be narrow enough to fit a particular frame size it will automatically fit a larger frame size within reason - I would happily take a hub out of a 126mm frame and space it for a 130mm frame, but not the coaster brake hub out of my 112mm frame because then the bearings would then be a bit far from the frame to support it. I only mention this because a hub that has been set to fit a 130mm frame will not fit a 126mm frame without the removal of any spacers the axle might have or pulling on the frame to squeeze it in.

Have you measured your frame across the dropouts, as someone might have stretched your frame already.

From this viewpoint, 126mm frames should have enough space to fit 5 or 6 speed hubs, but as the number of sprockets rises the smaller sprockets tend to get closer and closer to the dropout, and then whether the hub fits depends on the dropout design and the size of the smallest sprocket - because the chain has to clear everything the frame maker has installed. Everything is in the trial fit

How much dish you need depends on the design/size of the hub. Essentially you build the wheel, pop it in your frame and then check how far the wheel is from being centred. As I do not have a truing stand, I centre and true my wheels in the frame.

mrrabbit 

https://www.mrrabbit.net/docs/freewhe...OLD_sizing.pdf

All the info you need...

=8-|

Moisture

Is it worth going through the effort of taking apart my rim and changing to a freehub?

Moisture

This is the second time I switched over to my Alex rim with the 9 speed cassette freehub on this bike. Initial impressions-

The rim itself is lighter and very stiff. Livelier response and very sharp handling.

maybe its because the rim is narrower than my Damco freewheel equipped rim? 24 versus 18mm wide at the rim braking surface. I guess its probably the tire. But I noticed a much more smooth and supple ride.

Freewheel versus freehub - the freehub feels noticeably more planted and stable when navigating rough surfaces, during hard corners and when riding with a 30-40lb backpack strapped to my back. The freewheel on my other rim seems to "flex" a little at the axle when loaded.

I have the limit screws on my rear derailleur set to stop before the smallest and largest cog, so I'm effectively riding a 13-30 7 speed cassette. The gearing is significantly better than my 6 speed 14-28 freewheel on the other rim. I never find like I'm caught in between a set of ideal ratios and there is much less energy loss when pedalling out of a shift. The newer cassette design seems to shift significantly smoother especially under power.

The only rear downside with using so many gears on such an old school drivetrain is when shifting closer towards the largest cogs In the rear. The chain will physically skip back and forth between two gears occasionally until you get the line tension just right with the friction shifters. Could be a bent hangar but I doubt it. The 6 speed freewheel shifting alot better in the bigger cogs.

Moisture

Also my short cage shimano derailleur comfortably clears up to 30, maybe 32t. It will shift into 34t, but the pulleys chatter against the cog. Playing around with the b limit screw didn't seem to do anything so I have it set almost all the way out as is.