ehcoplex 

With the wheels built I'm slowly nearing completion of the PX-10 rehab/build I've been tinkering with over the winter. Scored some Mafac Raids and VO had a sale so I went for a 650b build. I don't yet have a freewheel. The RD is a long-cage SLJ (5500 I think) and I understand it will handle a 32t cog, which is what I want for the hills around here. Hubs are 126 (frame spaced for it), English-thread. I'm wondering if there are any particular freewheels that a Simplex RD will play nice with? And also how many speeds I might be able to get away with (I can be happy with 6, but 7 would be nice). Seems like most of the Shimano/Sunrace/Sunlite freewheels that have a 32 or 34 large cog have a huge jump between the largest and the next cog down and I wonder if the SLJ can handle the jump (not to mention I'd prefer more evenly spaced ratios at the lower end). IRD is an option that pretty much gets me the range I want (though pricey), vintage Suntour also seems a possibility, though maybe even more $$...

Relatedly.... I was planning to keep the DT friction shifters for now, but saw a reference in a thread to someone successfully index-shifting a Simplex with (I believe) Shimano shifters and I'm kind of curious about that. My idea was to keep my eye out for some Retrofriction bar-end shifters, but if I could have the indexed option with Shimano shifters it might be something to consider....

thx

CV-6 

Simplex plays well with all freewheels. Using later Shimano and Sachs freewheels makes the shifts even better. The SLJs I have used handle 7 speed without any issue.

pastorbobnlnh 

As Lynn mentions, your best vintage option for a 7 speed would be the Sachs Aris. My only caution is that the original grease tends to degrade to a thick sticky peanut butter consistency. Also, Sachs flooded the interior with grease (instead of just the bearing races). This can cause a pawl or both pawls to stick in the closed position by the contaminated grease. Fortunately, a good cleaning and new synthetic grease can solve this issue.

ehcoplex 

I do like the idea of staying mostly French/Euro (though the new wheels have kinda blown that out of the water I guess...). How likely is finding a Sachs with a 32t large cog?

pastorbobnlnh 

Looking at what Sachs-Aris freewheels are running in price on ebay, I'd say "likely" if you are willing to spend the $$$.

Let's see:
$75 for a 7 speed NOS body shipped from Poland.
$175 for an 8 Speed 12-32 as a source for sprockets.

Inflation has really hit the vintage freewheel world. Unbelievable! Do they really sell at such inflated prices?

ehcoplex 

No kidding! The IRD isn't looking quite so expensive now, relatively-speaking.... And it would get me a good 1/2-step+granny setup...

John E

Why are they still called free wheels?

SurferRosa

$12 shipped???

https://www.ebay.com/itm/30441442290...QAAOSwsmdiPz-q

If you can live with 13-28t.

Not too long ago, these Sunrace chrome 7-speeds were really hard to find, so I bought a spare at $30.

If you end up buying one of these, make sure they're chromed. I think those are better quality. It's what I use ... even though they probably don't look as nice as a mint vintage one.

As always with new freewheels on eBay, you might want to message the seller just to make sure of the model number if it's not specifically listed.

ehcoplex 

Thanks for the tip/link.
Yeah- I think I paid $30+ for a Sunrace cassette for my Cannondale around a year ago (and had to really hunt for it- out of stock was the order of the day...). Chrome, and it has performed well for the 2k mi I've used it.
At that price I could replace my 30t small chainring with 26 or 28t chainring to get a Catskills-friendly low gear and still come out cheaper than a vintage Sachs or new IRD...

ehcoplex 

Well, I guess you get what you pay for.... Less than 100m on one of these freewheels and somethings already going wrong with it. Got stuck riding for a while in the rain yesterday, then about 10mi driving in the rain with the bike on the rack on the back of the car. Wiped it down when I got home, rode 15 or so miles this morning. Tinkering with the derailleur adjustments on the stand after the AM ride I noticed first there's a sort of grinding noise when the freewheel is freewheeling. Resonates in the wheel, so pretty noticeable on the stand. Then I saw the freewheel has a slight wobble. I'm 95% sure I would've noticed that before when I was getting the bike all set up. I checked the hub and the axle and they seem fine. There seems to be more 'play' in the freewheel than there ought to be. Could a piece of grit already have made it's way into the body and started doing damage? Bummer. And I don't have a second whip to get the thing apart to see what's going on... Drop the $ on an IRD, or hope there was just something wrong with this Sunrace and try another (though I notice the price has gone up on eBay since I got this one a couple weeks ago!)?

SurferRosa

Hmm... I've had chromed Sunrace 7-speeds on most all my bikes for over 5 years now. Never a single problem. I switched over from IRD due to price and two different pawls failures.

ehcoplex 

Yeah, the Sunrace on my Cannondale has been fine.

I guess it's possible the 'wobble' is the hub, but looking really closely at it rotating with the freewheel off it doesn't seem like there's anything wonky with it. Velo Orange isn't exactly 'high end', but they ain't cheap either, so I would hope their machining tolerances are good. The grinding sound makes me think the issue is in the freewheel, though. Here's a video clip showing the wobble....

SurferRosa

If you posted the video online like at Imgur, more folks would watch it. I'm on my phone, and can't open the file without downloading it, which is a no-go for me.

BFisher

I'm glad Sunrace produces freewheels, but they can sometimes have issues. Just really no high-end option left. The tech has moved on to cassettes.

I've had mostly good luck with Sunrace, but did have one that was defective. Reached out to them and after providing a short video of the issue, they sent me a new one.

When I disassembled the defective freewheel, I found that the dimensions of the pawls differed significantly. There were other issues that, when combined, it was easy to see why the thing was noisy and sloppy. Customer service was great.

ehcoplex 

I'm going to try to rig something up with an old chain as a second whip and take the FW apart to see what's going on. I'm really only disappointed that this means the PX-10 will be off the road until I get a new FW. At $11.99 delivered I can't complain too much about getting a bum one...

ehcoplex 

Hmm, I'm surprised it doesn't just play it in a browser window... But then, internets.....
Oy, another thing to create and account for...

Chombi1 

I always defaulted to Maillard's 6 and 7 speed FWs, but have also started to use the later Sachs/Maillard FWs after experiencing some chain skating at the rear cogs because of the grooved tooth ends on the older Maillards. So now, I only look for the Sachs/Maillard FWs for my French C&V builds....

ehcoplex 

Most of the Sachs I've seen are either $$$ or too small in the big cog for my environment!