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I found lots of space

Old 03-28-20, 02:37 PM
  #1  
Velo Mule
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I found lots of space

I picked up a 1983 Schwinn LeTour Luxe a while back. Determined that I liked it enough to keep it and put some effort into. All the components seemed to be good enough to work with. This is a bike built in Greenville, MS, so it has an interesting mix of parts in contrast to the National/Panasonic built LeTours.

I rebuilt the wheels with stainless spokes. Rebuilding the wheels also allowed me to clean up the hubs and rims. It has Schwinn Approved Normandy hubs. These, in my opinion have always been good hubs. And it had a Atom Compact 77 ultra 6 speed freewheel. In re-assembling the wheel, I left out the pie plate spoke protector.

After putting the freewheel back on, I was shocked to see how much space I had between the spokes and the largest cog. I removed the freewheel to be sure it was seated correctly, It was. Then I put a Shimano 5 speed freewheel on. Same spacing. I measured it at 14mm.




There seems to be too much space between the spoke flange and the surface that the freewheel block will seat on. The spacing is so big that when I set up the derailleur, I overshot the big cog and dropped the chain into the gap between the freewheel and the spokes. No problem, it didn't jam. I shifted it back and the chain popped right back out of the gap back on to the freewheel. That's a great safety, but not one that I wanted.

So, were these hubs made for that much clearance or is something here wrong?

By the way, there is no spacer on the hub. What you see there is a machined ring on the drive side.

If needed I will remove the freewheel and get a picture of the hub with the freewheel threading. It looks similar to the larger flange Schwinn/Normandy hub on VeloBase, shown below.

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Old 03-28-20, 03:08 PM
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Schwinn hub needs to have Schwinn spoke protector in there to fill that gap. You can get a smaller less dorkish one.
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Old 03-28-20, 03:42 PM
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This is one of several reasons I don't like Normandy hubs. Other reasons: The spoke holes are too large (making mating surface area too small), and the J-bend of spokes hits a sharp right angle on the flange. The cones are soft, and the axles are prone to bending and breaking.
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Old 03-28-20, 03:49 PM
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BF to the rescue, again.
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Old 03-28-20, 03:57 PM
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Originally Posted by noglider
This is one of several reasons I don't like Normandy hubs. Other reasons: The spoke holes are too large (making mating surface area too small), and the J-bend of spokes hits a sharp right angle on the flange. The cones are soft, and the axles are prone to bending and breaking.
Wow, I thought they were Ok, however, your points are valid, at least seem to be. Although, I thought the cones and races were Ok. So, this and that extra space may get me to rebuild the wheel again with a different hub.

Thanks, FBOATSB. That was the answer that I did not want to hear. Am I a Dork if I have a Dork Disk? I would think so.

Dork Disk Found>


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Old 03-28-20, 04:05 PM
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Is it just me, or are there only five cogs on your "ultra 6" freewheel?
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Old 03-28-20, 04:19 PM
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Originally Posted by madpogue
Is it just me, or are there only five cogs on your "ultra 6" freewheel?
Yes, you are correct, that is the 5 speed Shimano that was on there when the picture was taken.
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Old 03-28-20, 04:19 PM
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Dork Disk installed.

That looks better. Thanks again to FBOATSB for getting this to back to looking and feeling right.

The disk fills in the space between the largest cog and the spokes.


Last edited by Velo Mule; 03-28-20 at 04:26 PM.
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Old 03-28-20, 04:40 PM
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It is back together again, however, now I have another question. Which freewheel would be preferred:

5 speed Shimano made 14 - 28t
6 speed Atom Compact 77 14 - 28t
5 speed SunTour 14-27

All three are used and in good working order. The Atom was taken apart and regreased/oiled. The Shimano only got oils squirt into it and the SunTour has low miles and is like new.

I've heard some negative things about the Atom compared to the the Japanese freewheels. If I had a six speed SunTour or Shimano, this wouldn't be a question, but since the Atom is a six speed....

And now I have to rant. With the spoke protector in behind the the freewheel, things look better, however, it doesn't erase the fact that there is so much extra room that could have been better utilized by either less dish or more gears.

I have a Shimano Freehub that I will be measuring to see if I can use the same spokes. Unfortunately, it is 130mm O.L.D. spacing so, a little extra frame work would be required, in addition to rebuilding a wheel.
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Old 03-28-20, 05:24 PM
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Here is a picture from the same place as the first picture.

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Old 03-28-20, 05:34 PM
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A Shimano hub of the same vintage and price range is a nicer hub. The reason I'm so biased against the Normandy hub is that I was a shop mechanic from 1978-1984, and I saw more Normandy hubs than any other. Not only that, I had to overhaul a huge lot of them in the winter of 1980-1981 when my boss had a special rate on complete overhauls where I would repack hubs, headset, and crankset, do brakes and gears and true wheels, all for $35. And we stored the bike for the winter. It was like giving away the store, but it brought customers in. Anyway, I was intimately familiar with Normandy/Atom hubs. I didn't hate them, but I saw how nearly all other hubs were better. The bad dishing problem is a bad aspect of them. Campagnolo hubs of the same dimensions didn't break or bend as many axles. Even the cheap Shimano hubs didn't, either.
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Old 03-28-20, 06:30 PM
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Thanks, Noglider. I have a collection of Normandy hubs. I have picked up a lot of Schwinn's. I also worked in a Schwinn dealership during the same time frame, however, we didn't see that many problems with these hubs. Most of our customers were recreational or occasional riders. We did lots of brake and derailleur adjustments, but not much repacking of bearings. A tune-up would include adjusting the cones, if needed, but not repacking the bearings with grease. If the hub was bad, we would often sell the customer a new wheel rather than rebuild it.

So, our experiences are different, and that is the value of this forum.
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Old 03-28-20, 07:35 PM
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Just a recent experience with the Normandy Hubs: yuk. I hadn't rebuilt a pair since 1975 and between then and now I've not rebuilt any with such sloppy manufactureing. Just trying to get the cones and locknuts threaded was a chore on all four axle ends compared to any Tipo, Record , Sansin, 105, etc. I was so enamoured of my U-08 and those nice hubs back in the day. Maybe my Normandys were from a bad batch. But they were/are on my Grand Jubile!
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