bikemig 

I recently picked up a pristine and almost completely original 1985 Cannondale ST 400. The catalog describes the freewheel as a shimano twist tooth, https://vintagecannondale.com/year/1985/1985.pdf

It's a 2 prong freewheel but neither of my 2 prong tools fit (one is a park tool for suntour freewheels, the other is a VAR tool for maillard).

This looks to be the right tool,

https://www.amazon.com/Freewheel-Rem.../dp/B004YJ39MY

I just wanted to double check before paying for the tool.

Here's a picture of the freewheel and paging @pastorbobninh who is our resident freewheel/'dale expert.

T-Mar

I've got a 1985 Shimano 600 freewheel with two notches. The notches are narrower than Maeda/SunTour and Maillard but the same as Regina. I'm not familiar with this VAR remover but an Ebay review says they work on the Shimano 600. For comparison, the notches on my Shimano 600 freewheel are 0.250" wide x 0.100" thick x 0.110 deep. The inner diameter of the notch ring is 0.800". Hopefully, this helps pending PB's arrival.

SteelCharlie

The Shimano 600 tool is also the best Regina puller ever made. And the 600 freewheels that I am using are just primo ! Every time I see one at the swap meet I buy it - JIC y'know

T-Mar

My tool is labelled Dura-Ace but I concur with it being great for Regina. The ring flange greatly reduced the probability of slippage and notch damage. Kingsbridge offered a less expensive version with a black finish.

pastorbobnlnh 

I have at least one 2 notch Shimano in my collection and IIRC I have the tool which fits. I'll do my best to post pictures. To me the VAR tool on Amazon doesn't seem correct.

P.S. Does anyone know how to post pictures from Google Photos into a BF post?

Salamandrine 

Apparently Google removed this capability a couple months ago. No more direct links to images, as far as I can tell. If anyone's found a workaround, I'd love to hear about it.

I'm switching to Flickr myself, since I already had a little used Yahoo account.

FBOATSB

I'm sure this is amateurish, but I have to email myself a pic from my phone to my pc and just copy - paste it directly to a thread.

top506

FWIW, the Bicycle Research Regina two-prong tool will work as well and might be easier to find.

Top

bikemig 

The VAR webpage doesn't give me a high degree of confidence. The tool is supposed to work for shimano, suntour, atom, and regina freewheels!

https://www.vartools.com/en/2-notch-...m-var-p444.php

I may have to ask for professional help from one of the old bike shops in town,

FBOATSB

Just got one of these recently.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-Shimano...oAAOSw-3FZClUU

Right after destroying the equivalent VAR

T-Mar

If the VAR was designed for Shimano & Regina, it will work with Maeda/SunTour and Mallaird, but the fit willbe slightly sloppy due to the smaller prongs. Not having a retaininer ring, it also has a higher probability of slipping off the Shimano and Regina freewheels,where the notches are cut into a raised flange.

pastorbobnlnh 

Dang Google! It is so seamless to take photos on your phone and have them accessible on any device. Why you can't share your own photos directly makes no sense.

I have the Bicycle Research Tool Top mentions above. As you can see the tool "cups" the top of the inner body. The person who last had this 600, apparently did not use the correct tool as we can see the notches are buggered.







In looking at @bikemig 's freewheel, I don't notice the inner body extending above the outer bearing race/retaining ring. So I'm not certain this tool would work.

bikemig 

This is the VAR you used?

https://www.vartools.com/en/2-notch-...m-var-p444.php

I'll see if a local shop has the right tool; if not, I guess I'll put a bid in the tool you linked to. The bidding has 7 days to go and I'm not willing to pay more than the initial asking price for the tool.

Thanks for the link!

bikemig 

Yeah that bicycle research tool isn't going to cut it because the splines do not extend beyond the freewheel body. I'll need a 2 prong tool that inserts into the freewheel body. Looks like the VAR tool will do the job but isn't the best fit.


It's funny when I picked up this '85 Cannondale ST 400, I thought this would be an easy peasy rebuild. The bike is in terrific shape and the parts clearly have very low mileage. I figured what could go wrong with a clean bike built up with a full shimano 600 ex group. Who knew that it could be this much of a pain to remove an old shimano freewheel

FBOATSB

Yup, but I don't blame the tool, just make sure it's secured as well as possible. In my case, I have never had a tighter freewheel on top of an unlaced hub. Sacrificed a lot, but saved the hub.
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...freewheel.html

Vintage_Cyclist

Although not optimal, another option would be to file down the prongs on a Suntour remover to fit the Shimano freewheel notches.

bikemig 

That's a great thread,

OK I learned something about shimano 2 splined freewheels today.

I'm ordering the VAR tool and I'll make the proper offerings to the cycle Gods before proceeding . . .

noglider 

I have a workaround, which I use, but it sucks.

Display the picture. Right-click on the picture and choose "Open Image in New Tab". I'm using the Chrome browser, so that menu choice might be differently worded. Then go to that new tab and copy the URL. To verify the world has permission, open an incognito tab with ctrl-shift-N (or command-shift-N) and paste the URL.

Salamandrine 

Thanks. I tried it and it does work, more or less, but only in Chrome. I normally use and prefer Firefox, which won't allow this trick anymore. I assumed it would be the same for other browsers. Maybe they are trying to get people to use Chrome?