What is it about 7 speeds?
 

Has anyone checked the price out on vintage 7 speed shifters? It isn’t so much the price but the popularity. In the world of supply and demand, 7 speed is still in demand in a big way. Any thoughts or opinions? Of course there’s going to be opinions.

I was also thinking about 7 speed supply recently (but more focused on Freewheels). Perhaps 7 speed was short lived compared to 6? And there are so many 6 speed bikes out there with owners who want to "upgrade" to 7 win a mega cogset.

I've noticed that too. I think a lot of it has to do with this year's bike shortage and the number of people having their old bikes fixed up and people fixing bikes to sell and 7 is possibly the most common freewheel out there as it has been in use so long. WalMart was still selling bikes with 7 speed freewheels as late as this past year I know so there's a gazillion 7 speed bikes out there. I have worked on several bikes for people and done a few to flip this year and almost all of them were 3 X 7 MTB's and hybrids or 1 X 7 cruisers and most of them had broken shifters. As the season progressed I found 7 speed shifters harder to find and more expensive when I found them. The same for freewheels, of course I didn't have a single 7 speed on hand but I had several 6 speed freewheels and 3 X 6 and 3 X 8 shifters and never needed any of them. I also noticed descriptions including freewheel in the description for 7 speed cassettes from a lot of the sellers so if you didn't watch closely you end up buying a 7 speed cassette. I had to do a lot of searching to find Shimano 7 speed freewheels at the "old" prices, the few mainstream US sellers that had them had doubled their prices. Even Sunrace, Sunlite and generic Chinese 7 speeds were getting scarce and pricey. Delivery times have been about twice as long too so my garage was jammed up with other people's 7 speed bikes waiting on me to find reasonably priced parts and then a couple weeks for them to come. I wonder what Spring will be like. Fortunately I've upgraded most of my index shift bikes to 8 or 9 speed with cassette hubs and those 7 speed I haven't already have new freewheels and shifters.

If you want to settle for something newer and less aesthetically pleasing than some of the vintage shifters, but with very good functionality, these are a decent option at low cost. They are a bit bulky, but they work great.

https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...s.php?id=62948

Lots of nos ones on eBay, but most not cheap.
Tim

Almost all of my "modern" "keepers" are 7 speeds. I noticed just in time when Shimano dropped its 7 speed HG-50 Cassettes and stocked up. I've bought a couple more since then, when the price was right. With the "new Normal" economy, it looks like a bunch of brick and mortar stores have been listing there inventory on Amazon. I just picked up a 7 speed hg-50 12-28 cassette for $20 shipped. I also picked up a bunch of nos 7 speed freehub body's, but I think that was from a bike shop selling on Ebay.

It's because the 126 mm OLD was standard for a really long time, and a gazillion bikes were made with it. 7 speed is the most speeds that will fit on 126, and more is better, right?

7 speed itself had a relatively short heyday. Was widely adopted in the late 80s, and was superseded by 8 speed in the early 90s.

Sheldon Browns archive has a lot of info for keeping bikes on the road.

I've picked up some 8 speed cassettes to harvest cogs from so I can have a 13-30 7 speed "century' special. I'm pretty comfortable friction shifting with 7 speeds, so its ok if the indexing isn't perfect.

I've seen some references about running "8 of 9 on 7" which would be a way to transfer an entire 9 speed group over to an 126mm 7 speed bike and use 9 speed indexing -1.

In general, I think I've stocked enough 7 speed consumables up to make it the next 25 years. At that point I'll probably give in and get a Velomobile with a cold fusion warp drive pedal assist.

I prefer 7-speed clusters with my 126mm old bikes and friction shifting, because they shift better and quicker for me than 6-speeds.

Seems like most people who are using Sunrace component's are doing piecemeal replacements of vintage component's as they fail.

I'd be interested to see how a "full Sunrace" groupo would work out on a classic frame.

That is exactly what I was referring to. Have you priced XT 7 speed shifters? Or 7 speed barcon shifters which are simply insanely priced. Granted I have a few sets of barcons. But I’m always looking for another set if I can find one reasonably priced. Sadly I can’t .

7-speed has been the default for any bike sold with a freewheel for a couple decades now, so there are lots and lots of inexpensive bikes out in the world that use 7-speed freewheels. So demand for 7-sp freewheels and shifters is way up this year since people have been interested in fixing up old/cheap bikes where previously they would have just gone to Walmart to get another cheap bike.

Yup, tons of affordable bikes being sold by major and minor brand names using 7-speed freewheels. An early 2000s model Globe Carmel comfort hybrid that I use as an errand bike came with a 7-speed freewheel. My early 1990s Univega came with 7-speed cassette. I've swapped wheels between the two, no problems. 7-speed freewheel wheels are usually interchangeable with 7-speed cassette wheels, maybe needing a couple of minor tweaks depending on indexed shifter.

I've squeezed 130 rear hubs into my steel frame bikes original intended for 126, no problem. I didn't cold set them or do anything special, just gentle pulled open the frame to insert or drop out the slightly wider hub.

With SunRace chromed 7-speed freewheels and cassettes I don't need to swap rear derailleurs/shifters. The SunRace teeth are cleverly shaped to work fine with both my Suntour Accushift and Shimano STI setups. I've swapped wheels between bikes with Suntour and Shimano groups, no problems.

And folks who know a thing or three about engineering say 7-speed is the maximum a freewheel hub can handle without straining the axle. Dunno, I weigh 150, so the only strain I've ever put on a bike was bending the shaft on a low quality QR for my Cycleops trainer, mostly because the threaded end cap wasn't adequately supported by the cup in the wheel bracket of the trainer.

When I was younger and stronger I couldn't imagine ever needing more than 7 speeds. The main problem with my old 5 speed freewheel was deciding on gear steps for smooth shifting between climbs, flat terrain and downhills. So a 13-24 or tighter 7-speed freewheel seemed perfect.

But now I lean toward 13-28 and sometimes up to 32 or 34T big cogs for my heavier bike. And that can make for some awkward jumps between some cogs. The 7-speed Shimano MegaRange is the worst, with a normally spaced 13-24 for the first six cogs, then a huge jump to the granny gear. I switched that wheel to a SunRace 14-28, with much better spacing.

I have 10-speed drivetrain components in a box but have never used 'em. But I can see the advantage to a closely spaced 10-speed 11-25 cassette. Although when I do use these components I'll probably get a 12-32 cassette.

While it can be argued, some consider the 80’s to be the golden era for road bikes. The typical 7 speed 13-28 pretty much was a universal gearing that offered very good gapping for the majority of riders.

As cogs were added they basically just had a higher 1st cog and filled in the gaps. If you didn’t really need the gaps filled in who wanted to make extra shifts. And a 52/13 was an easy 30mph if you could turn it, so there was less of a real need for an 11t or 12t for a lot of people.

I just never really needed to go to an 8 or 9 speed on my road bike. I still run a 7 speed, now a “3x”.

I will say that the wide range mountain bike gearing made more gears worth it. But even with that I’m running 13-40 8 speed.

John

I would agree, on my newer bike I'm using 13-29 and it covers all my bases with a triple.

Just go friction shift, either by buying nonindexed shifters or shifters that have a true non-indexed mode. Easy peasy, and very versatile and easy to maintain.

After looking at used shifters on eBay I just got some diacomp ene barcons that’ll shift 10 speed. When I run out of 7speed cassettes I’ll just switch to 10. For $85 I really can’t think of a better shifter and best of all they’re silver

I have just recently started riding 7 speed after riding 9 speed for over 15 years. I find that 7 has no drawbacks. With the exception, Hyperglide cassettes are very hard to find in anything other than 11-28+.
My old tricolor will not except an 11 and I refuse to concede that I need 28. Try finding a new 12- 23 or 13 -26.

If you have access to a bench grinder with a good, sharp squared edge on the wheel, you can quickly remove the 1-2mm from the ends of the splines and then use an 11t top cog and lockring. Did this many times back in the 90's.

If you have a Dremel then this wheel will do the job nicely.
https://www.grainger.com/product/41HR09?cm_mmc=PPC:+MSN+PLA&gucid=N:N:PS:Paid:MS:CSM-2295:TVRYAD:20501231&s_kwcid=AL!2966!10!78821373774310!4582420881766878&ef_id=54772aa4b8f01bb5e32075 2aab79b9ff:G:s

EDIT: Also the similar Dremel #85422 (green) wheel for harder materials. What I use around here for modifying or restoring cog teeth, or for removing heads from Shimano chain pins when a "connecting pin" link needs to be removed from an installed chain. Also useful for massaging axle-stop and claw-hanger hardware to gain chain clearance.

SHIMANO HG50 Cassette vernickelt

,,,these are constructed in such a way that you can leave out one of the smaller sprockets, and still get a usable close range 7 cog assembly that fits on a 7 speed freehub. But they are spaced at the 8 speed standard, so are a better choice for friction shifting than for indexed shifting. You can kind of work around the indexing issues, with adjusting for neutral in the middle cog, and sneaking up on the highest and lowest ones because of the built in slop in an indexing rear derailleur. I used to get them cheaper from someone else, but you are correct in that they are quickly vanishing.

If, like me, you are using older short cage derailleurs that will only accept a 25 or 26 largest cog, it's a painful existence in what was otherwise a carefree world. :(

Lots of 7spd freehubs out there. If you're looking to fix up an "old" bike and don't want to spend for a new wheel. That and the ubiquitousness of 7spd freewheels on low end bikes.

I shudder when I have to dip into my stash of "good" 7spd shifters to complete a flipping bike.

SRAM came up with a beautiful (chromed) and inexpensive 12-32t 7s cassette a few years back, and Shimano promptly copied it tooth-for-tooth, but with a black, printed-up largest cog (yuck). Both cassettes are still widely available and the ratios make sense though perhaps less so for sport-oriented riding (basically the mega-gap has been split between the three largest cogs).

7sp thumbies are a thing. This is half my spare stash. Not pictures are my Suntours, DX, and other XTs in other locales.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3396f57618.jpg

After this, there were no more thumbies from Shimano. The good thing is that they shift 8. 7sp parts also play well with 9sp and XT was top tier until XTR came out in 93 with 8 sp. Even then, M732 held its own.

7sp thumbies are a thing. This is half my spare stash. Not pictures are my Suntours, DX, and other XTs in other locales.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3396f57618.jpg

After this, there were no more thumbies from Shimano. The good thing is that they shift 8. 7sp parts also play well with 9sp and XT was top tier until XTR came out in 93 with 8 sp. Even then, M732 held its own.

Same goes for 32H hubs and rims......
Just the sweet spot stuff for mid to late 80's C&V bikes.....