Weeeeeelllllll...... The Park tool showed up today and the freewheel remnants came off pretty easily. Lo-and-behold, though it lacks the groove, it
is English threaded!! Seemed incredibly unlikely, but hey, I'll take it. So now I need and axle, cones, spacers, and a dust-cap.... Which leads to my next question for the collective brain.... I'd
like to use a 7sp freewheel (not least 'cause I've got a couple of them...). Realizing that I'm introducing a potential weakness (though the frame is 55cm, so unlikely to have an excessively heavy rider), can I source an axle (& spacers) for 126mm spacing and use it with this hub to give me what I want (I know I'll have to respect & realign the rear triangle of the frame too)?
And here's another "huh?" The bearings that came out of the front hub are 5.5mm... I thought 3/16" was pretty much the standard for front hubs. Is it possible Maillard 700 front hubs came with 5.5mm bearings? Or more likely someone repacked along the way and used the wrong size?
Maillard 700
Maillard 700
Maillard 700 dust cap