jimhens714

I have a 1984 Centurion road bike that I'm using for a foul weather commuter and eventual touring bike. It fits me well and rides great and saves my more modern Bianchi for nicer weather/faster rides, etc. Here's the dilemma. Decent 27" tires are getting hard to find. This bike does have long reach brakes (old single pivot though) and I've had 700C wheels on it after adjusting brake pad position. I just discovered that the rear hub is completely worn out...races, balls, and cones too. It is a Suzue sealed hub, 126 mm threaded. Here's the questions. Does any manufacturer make a decent quality replacement hub that is not REALLY expensive? The Phil Wood one looks really nice but at $139 it is worth more than the whole bike. Also if I'm going to replace the hub should I switch to 700C rims now? I'd really like to have long reach dual pivot brakes too. Are they compatible with old levers? The problem is the upgrades cost could quickly exceed the value of the bike. Other than the rear hub everthing else is in really good condition including the new freewheel. Thoughts?

Retro Grouch 

This might be a good time to consider widening the rear triangle on your Centurion. My first idea was to respace a modern hub to 126mm, but virtually all of the modern hubs are cassette which means you'd have to take all of the space out of the left side. I think that you'll run into problems with excessive dish if you do that. If you don't want to spread the rear triangle, your best bet might be to haunt swap meets or thrift shops and the like for a suitable donor bike.

If the brakes that you have now will allow you to fit 700c wheels, carefully measure the vertical distance between the mounting bolt and the center of the brake pad. That's the amount of brake reach that you need. Be sure to measure both front and rear because they might be different. Good luck on finding dual pivot brakes that will work.

sydney

Shimano ultegra and Tektro list longer reach dual pivots. Don't know that I would waste my money. Better pads,clean rims and attention to cables and casing have done more to fix my weak brakes than any upgrae to DPs.

jimhens714

I've given this some thought since I did it to my Bianchi. That bike has a nice CroMo lugged frame though and turned out really nice. The Centurion is not as nice a frame to start with although it rides good and fits me well. If I did that I'd want to keep the cost down. The real goal is serviceability with reasonable parts availability (especially if I decide to do a multi day self supported tour). Where I start to cringe is if I update the rear hob and spread the rear triangle I'd probably go 9 speed which means shifters, cranks, 9 speed chain...etc.

sydney

If the rear dropouts are 126, you can just spread by hand and drop the wider hub in and ride it. In most cases you don't even need the hanger to be realigned for index shifting. You can go with the wider rear without changing anything else, other than using a 4.5mm spacer on the hub before a 7 speed casette. Even if you go to 9 speed, you don't need a crank.

Berodesign

Why dont u just take a look around at ebay for a resonable NOS rear hub? I found a Shimano 600, never used, and payed 16 bucks. Just make sure it is the correct number of holes for spokes. If your bike is old then you dont have to buy new (or rebuild the new hub) sprockets for hyperglide. Just use your old uniglide sprockets with your NOS uniglide hub. I will do that on my bike.

jimhens714

I'm already doing the eBay search for NOS stuff...good suggestion. I'll just have to be patient and wait for one to come along : )

Regarding going to 9 speed on the back, if I use a 9 speed chain will it be too narrow for the old 6 speed front chainrings? I would think so but haven't personally checked this yet.

I usually keep a supply of spare parts on hand for the hard to get stuff but this rear hub caught me by suprise.

jimhens714

Any thoughts on the tires? 27" is getting a bit more scarce. Seems like some of the tire manufacturers are continuing to produce them including IRC, Continental, etc. I don't mind having to buy them in bulk when I can find them but they don't seem to be readily available at the LBS.

sydney

No.All deralier chains are the same 3/32" inside width.

Berodesign

Sorry I "stole" the Shimano 600 rear hub on ebay I think you can go to 7 sprockets in the back with a ordinary 126 mm freehub, and if you find a old freewheel then you can go up to 8 sprockets. Personally I think 6 is enough on a racer, 7 is good for a commuter, 8 is for people with no stamina
As the founder of Tour de France said, "Gears are for people over 40."