Why Fish for Coelacanths When There Are Salmon? Just Wondering!
I'm just wondering if I am alone in going so retro as to ride a 10-speed vintage bike. Has everyone upgraded to 6 or 7 speed freewheels with 126 mm spacing?
I've not had a bike running a 5 cog freewheel since the '80's. My
Simplon is single speed. My
Gazelle,
Vitus and
Dawes are on 6-cog freewheels. But, a couple of weeks ago I visited a friend who runs a bike shop here in Sendai. He went through his old bins and dug up
two 5-cog freewheels that he sold to me for $10. They are nearly mint!
Shimano 600 SG 5-speed, 2-prong removal: 16,17,19, 22, 24T
Shimano 600 SG 5-speed, 2 prong removal: 14,16,18, 21, 23T
The latter one interests me. I'm intending to mount it on my Vitus. The front end has an SR spider, 170mm cranks with 52-40T chainwheels. (Yes, 40T; I counted
twice.) Currently it's running on 14, 16, 18, 21, 24, 28T. I never use the 28T — not since I was climbing hills to go to work with a backpack full of stuff. No matter what I've done and changed, the Vitus likes to auto-change. I'm curious as to whether the spacing of the 5-cog FW will be a better match for the SunTour friction levers — which BTW are very nice. "The noodle", as the Vitus is sometimes called, flexes its 979 Al normal diameter (same as steel) frame. (Vitus' team racing machines were pinned in the BB and subliminally watermarked on the DT — hence stiffer.) IMHO, there may be no more a silky ride than a Vitus 979, but being unpinned, they flex — at least mine does. (And I'm no powerhouse of a rider.)
Anyway, just for fun, who among us is still riding on 5-cog freewheels? Well, I expect that
Randy Jawa has a shed that is heaving with them
))