Ronsonic 

So there I am building up (rebuilding up) this nice early 80s frame I bought here last year. Decided to put all my modern 11s 130mm stuff on a 90s bike where it would all fit better. Am building up the early 80s Mikkelsen with mostly Shimano 105 7s and DT shifters that I've had for decades.

As it's going together I realize that I've got a 13-23 cassette and a 53-39 crank. I'm an old-school tough guy and there's no chance I'll be on the return leg from a ride hitting a brutal headwind at 95 degrees here in Florida .... Or maybe that's how it usually happens. So, hop on-line to shop me a cassette that will be gentler and kinder. This just isn't a part that's much available anymore. Small number of hideous cheap MTB / Cruiser parts out there like 12-34 and such.

Start looking around more. There's a lot of stuff that's weirdly hard to find now.

That 7s cassette and a reasonably priced road helmet are the two things I've shopped lately that are strangely scarce, what's everybody else running into?

Chuck M 

I don't regularly need to look for parts, but when I do it is to bring something back to an original equipment type situation. The main problem I run into, as I'm sure most people do, is the eBay and Craigslist appraisals of worth. It seems everyone is looking online and seeing a rare or upper tier derailleur and pricing their rusty Suntour the same.

70sSanO

The pandemic has really impacted the availability of parts. Sunrace nickle played cassettes are actually pretty nice, but even they are hard to find.

All wide range cassettes are mtb cassettes. Unfortunately even Shimano has abandon the 13t which means 7 speed cassettes with a 34t have horribly bad gaps. One of the best that is long gone was the HG50 13-34 (13-15-17-20-24-29-34). If you find one, get it.

I’ve built my own by using an 11-34 Sunrace 8 speed, taking it apart and spacing it as a 13-34 7 speed. I’m now running 8 speed and I built a 14-36 by mixing cogs from different cassettes. It is a bit of a pain, and it costs more, but it is the only way to get what I want.

John

thook

man, that sucks!!! i have one with 70-80% life left in it.

so, what are you using for outer 13t or 14t cogs?

70sSanO

I’ve picked up a few 13t 1st position 7 speed cogs here and there. But I’ve used 2nd position 13t and 14t and just make sure I torque the locknut enough.

I’ve even used a threaded Uniglide 13t and 14t with a hyperglide cassette if you have a UG/HG freehub body. Sometimes the shifting is a little finicky with the UG cog and index shifting.

Junior cassettes start with 14t. On one of my freehub bodies that is HG only, I’m using an 11 speed 14t cog. As odd as it sounds, I actually had to sand the built in spacer thinner to work with my 8 speed cassette.

John

3speedslow

I was told by the bike shops in town that they don’t stock or can’t get regular 5 speed chains.

thook

thanks, john. are you saying, then, you're tightening the lockring against (normally) second position cogs you've placed in the first position?

i have three or four of those UG/HG freehub bodies. i've done the same with HG cassettes and 13t UG thread on to lock it in

i've never heard of "junior" cassettes. would those be apparent in a google search under that term?

dddd

There's no "ratchet teeth" on the 2nd-smallest cog in most cases, but by using Loctite on the lockring threads, it holds reliably.

Same as using a "compact" 11t lockring against a complete (non-compact) 10s cassette on a 7s freehub, where the lockring nests into the 12 or 13t last cog and so allows for an extra turn of threading to engage. The lockring teeth in this case also end up facing a smooth surface inward of the retaining teeth on the smallest 12/13t cog.

Loctite has a #243 product that works on greasy/oily threads, it's one of the "blue" grades, i.e. medium strength.

Both Shimano and SRAM offer 12-32t 7s cassettes.
The SRAM version came first and is a really nice-looking part! Gaps are bigger between the three largest cogs, but not nearly as bad as MegaRange.

70sSanO

I’ve never used loctite to hold a lockring, but it is a good idea. I will max the lockring torque on a non-serrated 2nd position cog. The range for Shimano is around 22 ft/lbs to 36 ft/lbs.

I think junior cassettes can be found using that term. Generally they start with a 14t, but it is more complex than that. I’m not involved in USA Juniors, but basically there is a maximum roll-out of 26ft using gear inches. I think the reason why 14t is popular is because a standard 50/34 compact crank can be used.

John

ThermionicScott 

It seems to me that Shimano started discontinuing their best 7-speed cassettes before the pandemic, like in 2018ish. At the time, I wondered I wasn't seeing them because Shimano was pushing to sell parts through dealers only in the US, but I think they just didn't see the profit in a 30-year-old road standard anymore.

nlerner

I’ve heard of this really large store on the internet’s where you can buy lots of old bike parts, some never used. Hmm, what’s it called? Rhymes with freeway?

Classtime 

I thought that IRD made a 7 speed cassette but NOPE. I don't know how 8 speed spacing differs from 7.

thook

spacing is only very slightly narrower on 8spd.

i figure the work around is just use 7spd spacers for any available cassette you can buy these days...whether they're 8 or 9spd, etc. that is if one is staying with 7spd....ie. on a vintage gearset. having said that, i just pulled apart a rather high geared 8spd cassette and use it's spacers on a 7spd wide range because all i had were 8spd shifters for the bike build...lol. so, 7 gears on 8spd spacing because of the 7spd freehub. i didn't even have to use a spacer behind the cassette. it filled the hub body just fine

thook

rhyming on the freeway? of love? in a pink cadillac?

thook

makes sense, and coincides with the regulations i've just read about. honestly never heard of "junior" cassettes before. i didn't see any "cheap" ones when i just looked them up, but i did run across some inexpensive 9spds on amazon....

https://www.amazon.com/CYSKY-Cassett...531145428&th=1

70sSanO

I tend to look on eBay for stragglers.

John

icemilkcoffee 

You can find 7 speed 11-28 cassettes on Ebay all day long.

SurferRosa

My favorite freewheel is getting really hard to find, the all-chrome Sunrace 7-speeds.

mountaindave 

The hardest part is finding freewheels and cassettes that don’t use spiders to group sprockets. Sunrace’s 8s cassettes are all individual. I’ve found junior cassettes the same way in 10s.

It’s terribly annoying that road racing drives everything yet applies to only 10% of what real human beings want to do with their bikes.

John Valuk

I woke up my 1995 Trek hybrid last summer after a long slumber, and have been riding it regularly since then. Because it is the only bike I currently have on the road, I have developed some interest in 7-speed cassettes (and a few other things, e.g., derailleurs and cranksets of similar vintage as my bike).

I still see the Shimano CS-HG41-7 available in the "ac" 11-28 configuration - which happens to be what my bike came with originally - from some of the usual on-line bike part vendors.

I got it into my head somewhere along the line that I might want to try a 13-28. I have a few "saved searches" set up in eBay, with various search terms, all of them using eBay's advanced search options to limit it to listings that were started within the past 24 hours. So, I fairly often get emails from them with search results.

I see 7-speed cassettes turn up there often, but 13-28 only very rarely. I watch some of these listings to see how they play out; some of the new old stock mountain bike cassettes fetch $100+.

The "saved searches" approach can be a good way to find some of this stuff if you don't need it in a hurry.

John E

That's what either drills or small screwdrivers are for. I routinely separate spiders so that I can mix and match sprockets. I have been custom-gearing my bicycles for at least 50 years. My biggest gripe is that 26T sprockets have become so rare -- it is the perfect low gear size for many old school short cage derailleurs.

70sSanO

If you are running a UG/HG freehub body, Loose Screws has UG cassette 26t cogs. You’ll forfeit the ramps for better shifting, but you’ll double the life of the cog.

John

mountaindave 

Agreed. I may have found the last few in a 7s cluster right before covid. Bought up a couple cassettes for the future. Turns out they are still available, but at nearly twice what I paid for them (clearance on Jenson): SRAM Cassette PG 730 7-Speed 12-32 (12-14-16-18-21-26-32). Coincidentally, by swapping out the 16 & 18 tooth sprockets for a 17 tooth from another cassette, I get my perfect half-step gearing with a downhill high gear.

DaveReading

Hmmm. Try finding a 36t steel middle chainring on there ...

dddd

I think that the torque should be much less when tightening the lockring onto a smooth surface, since the teeth are taking up a good bit of the torque normally and you don't want too much torque going into the threads alone.

But yeah, this is why I use Loctite when no teeth are gripping the face of the lock ring.