Bigbus

Okay, I'm still shopping for a new bike, but wondering if this old Giant might not be around a while longer if I can get the little things tweaked up on it. I want a taller high gear than the 14T it now has and I can't find anything. Old Sheldon site suggests switching up to a 7Spd Freewheel to get the wider range of gearing, but with the indexed shifter, I'm not sure I want to mess with that, unless I just tune it to use the top 6 gears and leave granny out of play. Any thoughts or suggestions either on finding a 6 Spd with a taller gear or switching up to a 7 Spd? I'm all ears. Thanks in advance,

Yelbom15

It's not likely to get a six speed freewheel in a bigger range. Most are just going to be up to 14-28. Your best bet and even a huge improvement is going to be crank chain rings or upgrade the crank entirely.

rccardr 

Shimano 13-28 six speed UG freewheels are out there. Hard to get a smaller than a 13 tooth cog on a freewheel.

Bigbus

I already have a 52T up front. Not sure I'd have much more luck with finding anything larger. but will look into it. Thanks

Bigbus

Hard to find one of them unless you want to buy used 'vintage' and pay almost as much for a complete drivetrain upgrade. New rims, Cassette, etc But I will keep looking. I might at some point learn to increase my cadence and then I won't need a taller range haha

dsbrantjr

Spin faster. 52-14 gets you 93-97 gear-inches depending upon whether you have 26 inch or 700c wheels.

rccardr 

You don't say whether you need up to a 28 large cog, only that you want higher gearing than a 14. Here are just a few examples of what you can find out there with a 13 tooth small cog in a six speed freewheel.
No other expense involved, but depending on the size of your current large cog you may want to clip a pair of links out of your current chain.

$35: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Shi...8AAOSwUDFfkFPC
$31: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Shi...oAAOSw5d9fYRb5
$25: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Shimano-600...8AAOSwY0BfdN2t

Bigbus

Good Day, My math comes up with 86" on my 27" tires. But yeah, I need to relearn how to ride haha

Bigbus

A 21 might be a hard ride on the hills around here. Heck, the 28 has me huffing at times. But I am considering that 13-28 because that would give me an almost 8% increase in gearing. Amazing what a difference 1 tooth makes on small gears. Thanks for your efforts, Have a Great Day

hsuBM

IRD does 13-32

I have one in 13-24 that functions okay enough with 7400 indexed.

It’s not cheap if you’re used to paying 1/10 of what things cost to make, but it is cheaper than NOS and definitely has taken more abusive shifts than NOS freewheels.

3alarmer 

...if this is Shimano indexing, most Shimano cranks have 130BCD , and there are a plethora of old 53 tooth Shimano chainrings out there. I run a few of them myself. I used to see them here at the co-op all the time, so they are not hard to find.

Phil_gretz

52 x 14T is 100 gear inches on a 27" wheel. That's ~30 mph at 100 rpms. At what speed do you want to pedal, and what rpm maximum can you sustain. 100 gear inches would be plenty for my needs. On a non-race bike, I'm happy at 90-95 gear inches at the top end.

Phil_gretz

Vintage SR 5 bolt 130 BCD 54T chainring now on eBay for ~$30 delivered. Item #283677013517

Bigbus

I don't think going from a 52 to a 53 will give me what I want. But thanks for that info. I found an old 48T and swapped it with a 42T on my MTB and love the higher range.

Bigbus

Yeah, but you guys are spinning. I maintain 64 RPM for most cruising and can maintain that all day, which is just too slow at my current gearing. If I speed up, I get winded really fast. I'm researching the 7 speed option. There are a lot of those out there in Freewheels with some very sweet gearing. Now I just have to figure out how to swap the 6 speed indexed shifter. Thanks

Bigbus

Okay, here's a pic of what I have for a shifter. Suntour, indexed 6 speed on an old Giant Quasar. If I upgrade to a 7 speed, what will I have to do here and is it even possible? Thanks in advance,

Thomas15

I'm curious to know why the conversation hasn't pointed in the direction of a 7 speed until now. Anyway if you go 7 speed and want to use all 7 you need either new 7speed shifters or use friction shifters. I would think that old suntour friction shifters stem mounted should be easy to obtain on ebay. I converted an old 6 speed into 7 speed using the Micro New brifters on amazon they were about $50 and work well.

SJX426 

If you go for 7V, check that the rear DO/Stay will provide the clearance. Some frames will required changing the spacers on the axle and dishing the wheel to get the clearance. There is also the overall stack length of the block that may make a difference. If you have a dork disk, removing it will give you a very small addition to the clearance.

6V
P9161254N on Flickr

7V No adjustments
PA121374 on Flickr

Bigbus

Somebody did mention it earlier and that's what got me thinking now. Thanks for the info, I'm thinking that will give me the best of all worlds high and low.

Bigbus

After doing some research it looks like I can do a complete upgrade to a 7 spd for about $50 US. It's just a matter of how long I want to wait on China shipping haha. I might have the parts by next spring (if they ship) But I'm in no hurry. the bike is ridable asis and I'm enjoying it. I replaced a funky Kenda tire yesterday with a Bell Air defender and I have to admit, I like the narrower profile of the Bell as well as the ride. But it might just be psychological because the tire was available without having to go far haha or wait .