aharvey

Hi everyone, I'm planning a small 2-day camping tour with some friends. I'm gonna use this bike (see photo). I had to change the rear wheel's axle when I bought it since it was slightly bent. I'm now wondering if my freewheel and new axle are gonna make it with the basic gear needed for too days. Is this gonna be too much load? I might not be the one carrying the tent haha. What do you guys think?

indyfabz

How do you intend on carrying gear?

aharvey

I have a rear rack, trying to avoid a backpack

aharvey

My main concern is, to what extend can a freewheel axle carry load ?

indyfabz

Will it attach to that "v" seatstay setup?

In any event, it depends on how much of a load. Saying "two days" doesn't really tell us much. For example, will cooking gear be part of that load? If so, how much?

aharvey

I’m 140lb with maybe 20lb of gear I’d say?

aharvey

And yes, attached to that V seatstay

djb

dont worry about the axle, it will be fine.

you may find that you are hitting the back of your feet on the panniers, and the bike will handle differently from what you are used to, and you may have to walk up some hills cuz the gearing isnt suited to touring, but hey, it aint perfect but you should have fun.

ps, if you changed the axle personally, maybe have someone check to see if you did a proper job adjusting and locking the cones properly. And they can check the spoke tensions quickly also.
Better checked before thetrip, so you dont have to deal with any issues during it.

aharvey

I know how to tighten everything myself, but for this job it was super cheap to get it install by the LBS so i did! We’ll see what happens with the paniers ! Thanks

Tourist in MSN

I had a 1972 Raleigh Grand Prix which also had nutted axles like your rear axle. And mine was a five speed hub, so dropout spacing was 120mm, yours is probably 126mm. And I bent several axles from hitting bumps. In my case I often had to cross some railroad tracks and the road was poorly maintained at the railroad crossing so it had some big bumps, similar to a large pot hole.

My bike was a Nottingham bike, and they did not have the most robust components. But most of the Raleighs built in other factories (example, Carlton) had better parts. If yours was a Nottingham bike, I would not be surprised if it had pretty weak axles.

If I read your post correctly, you have replaced the axle with a new axle because the older axle was bent. I think newer axles are all much stronger than the old cheap nutted axles that Raleigh used. So, if that is a new axle, I think you could easily do a short trip on that wheel. But it would not be a bad idea to be careful to avoid the big potholes and other road shocks as much as practical.

Are those Weinmann concave rims? Cool. Many of those old rims were not hooked, so you had to be careful you did not pump up your tires too high. But otherwise, they were a great rim.

Have a great trip.

bark_eater 

Going on theory here, but if a 100lbs more of "I" was taking this bike camping, "I" would would try and get most of the luggage weight on the front wheel with Blackburn style low-rider racks, and put my sleeping bag on a rear rack.

aharvey

Hmm interesting! Are you suggesting that the quick release hollow axle is stronger since it’s shorter/ doesn’t have a huge unsupported length ?

djb

aharvey, I wouldnt stress too much about axle strength and all that, I weigh about the same and have done touring for about 30 years, on bikes with loads just on the back, loads front and back also, and never had an axle issue, even with bikes going back sort of ish of this vintage. My first bike tour in 89 was on a six speed 12 speed, similar to this bike, two rear panniers, and had probably 20-25lbs in them--no issues at all, and never since on various bikes.
At our weight, we just arent stressing stuff like real heavy guys.
Sort out the rack and panniers, and just have a fun time. Like I said, the gearing isnt that great, so you might have to walk a few times, not the end of the world,depending on where you ride.

Tourist in MSN

If you are referring to my comments, my main focus was on the nutted axles that Raleigh used, I thought that the steel in those axles was pretty weak since I bent several.

Quick release axles and nutted axles, both would have the bearings in the same place, the dropouts are in the same place, so any unsupported length of axle is the same regardless attachment method.

But quick release axles generically are usually used on wheels that cost more, have better quality. A friend of mine bought a used touring bike that I think was a 126mm freewheel wheel, had trouble adjusting brakes until he figured out that the rear axle had broken. It was a quick release wheel, the skewer was holding everything together after the axle broke. But it broke, not bent. Stronger steels often will break instead of bend.

But, as I noted above I think you could easily do a short trip on that wheel.