sykerocker 

I make a point of keeping any frames I get with 120mm spacing in the 5-speed configuration. I've got enough 126mm frames in the collection to take care of my 6-speed interest (which is almost totally subjugated to my obsession for Rossins), and I've found that the lack of one rear cog doesn't make all that much difference in a 20 mile ride. Besides, my coming back into the cycling hobby was almost completely predicated on reliving my 'glory days' in Erie, PA fifty years ago.

Come to think of it, my newest bike anymore (and the only one I own with brifters) is a 3x7 drivetrain.

john903

Wow a lot of use still ride ride a 10 speed. I actually quite enjoy only five in the back. I live in a great place for riding with lots of flat and rolling hills. I found myself in in 17,19,21 most of the time so I went to 14-24 with 34x46 in front. If I hit the hills or go climb the mountains in our area I throw on a 13-28, good to go.
Have a great day.

non-fixie 

I'll use whatever fits a given frame, and in case of an Eroica bike, whatever is sorta-kinda appropriate for the bike and still gets me up a modest hill. And 5-speed freewheels are readily available and affordable, so probably half of my bikes are equipped with them.

For Eroica-type events I want a short cage RD, and a 14-28 usually works with those. My legs prefer to combine it with a "vintage compact" crank set. In this case a 50/37 Stronglight:



For touring purposes I am less fussy and often combine them with a long cage derailleur and a triple crank set:

bikemig 

Beautiful bike. I'm thinking of doing something similar with a stronglight 93. Those are beautiful cranks. Still if I go with a stronglight 99, I can run a 48/34. Decisions, decisions. . . . That's the thing about 5 speed freewheels, you have to think about your gearing if you're running that bike anywhere with decent hills.

non-fixie 

Thanks. I love the look of those Stronglights, so I got me some of those 122 BCD 37T rings from jonwvara. The difference between 34T and 37T is not that big. In my case it means I dismount and walk just a few yards earlier.

The 99 (and its SR Apex copy) are nice cranks. The 86 BCD lets you go as low as 28T. With the right outer ring you can hide your baby inner nicely. This is a 50/30, IIRC, on one of mrs non-fixie's bikes:

Wildwood 

actually, I had to go check. The freewheels on bikes in the garage/house, not the bears in our forest who occasionally shat in my yard.

On road bikes with frames earlier than 1990:
5 speed = 6
6 speed = 8
7 speed = 3
9 speed = 1 Campy Ergo

of the 18, 4 are not road worthy.
All but 2 are friction shifters. I like easy.



Also have my 'modern' 4 roadies with Campy 10 Ergo. CF, Ti + 2 steel frames between '99 - '04.

Lenton58 

Nice lens you are are using! I may have the same freewheel in the bins. And the idea of slipping the chain to change cogs using the dropouts inspires me. (Love that colour on the frame!)

• Q: How many teeth are on the chain-wheel?

Deal4Fuji

Thanks ! It's the 50 T Sugino Maxy that also came with it new.

1989Pre 

The Barnard and the Grubb (I ride the Grubb more than any other bike) both have a 4-speed freewheel. The Grubb has a double crank, but the Barnard is a single. My Manufrance (I ride often) has a 5-speed with a triple up front. I agree with iab: More than three speeds is probably just an indulgence. As long as you have the gear range you need, the number of speeds really doesn't matter. You could get a 3-speed freewheel with 13-18-28T from Benelux in the 1940's-50's.

VintageRide

Kind of amusing asking if members on a vintage bike forum still ride a 10 speed though I can understand wanting to know. My early '60's French Peschi runs a 14 - 26T Regina freewheel ( though I should check, it could be 28 T ) and for the most part I can still ride hills where I live using the 42 T inner chainring though perhaps I just might look for say a 36 or 38 T if they are out there.

bikemig 

Great looking bike. You can get a 37 tooth inner for that 122 bcd crank . . .

USAZorro

I still have 8 of them Granted, a few have gearing that limits where I ride a bit, but they aren't dead yet.

Lenton58 

My boyhood Raleigh Lenton Sports had a 3 speed Sturmey Archer hub. My 19'70's Knight had a 5 Spd FW as did the Miyata that followed. Since then everything has had a 6 Spd FW except my Simplon 4 Star that I built up as a single speed (not a fixie).

I wish my dad was still round to ask him stuff. I'm sure he'd agree with you. He was a Canadian attached to the RAF for the duration. He spent many of his off-duty hours riding around the countryside in Worcestershire on a racing Bates. He joined a local cycling club. He said the members road fast and furiously as if racing, and one could hear them changing gears almost in unison. The first glimpse my WAAF mother had of her future husband was when he flashed by her hut on his Bates. Mum had a heavy RAF issue bike, so Dad built up a lightweight machine so they could get around together. After they were married, they lived in an old coaching inn off base and commuted to RAF Defford rain or shine on their bikes, They recounted how they would ride to countryside pubs to drink the local cider. But, they never told me about their drive trains. I doubt it was "luxury". ))))

Lenton58 

Yah ... I guess it appears rather amusing. But, I didn't follow these forums for number off years (kinda busy).And I've lived in Northern Japan for nearly 30 years, and the only vintage bikes I ever see are hanging from the ceilings of a couple of old bike shops. I think the last time I saw a bonafide vintage machine was years ago — an old guy on a Zullo. I stopped him and had a short chat. Well, there was one other a couple of years ago — a middle age guy at the 7-11 on a nice old Panasonic in Shimano 600 group. He was surprised anyone would take an interest. It's a lonely vintage bike world here.

Now, Tokyo is a different story — especially around Shibuya where walking around the streets is like visiting a cycling museum! And there are clubs doing weekend rides on really quite ancient machines. (C.F. "Dawesman" in the archives.)

Anyway, I'm sure enjoying this thread and finding out and learning the details of exactly how members have set up their bikes.

BTW: love that blue hue on your frame. I think it's easy for dark blues to look sort of dead.

madpogue 

My "his & hers" (well, used to be) '75 Raleigh Gran Sports are 2x5, haven't ridden mine in way too long. I just bought a Nishiki touring bike, an '87 Cresta, but it came stock with a 5-speed freewhel (guessing they opted for 5-speed so the 40-spoke rear wheel would have less dish, for loaded touring strength) But it was a 15-speed, came stock with a 28-38-48 triple. And I just couldn't resist taking advantage of the fact that the first-gen Suntour indexed dowtube shifters (before they even called them "Accushift") was made for 6-speed, so I swapped in a new axle and used 6-speed freewheel.

The 14-30 5-speed was just fine, I just wanted to try the 6-speed shifting, and the 6-speed is 13-30 and I use that 48/13 at times.

Some of my older boom-ish bikes (World Sport, Centurion Omega, a coupla Suburbans) are 5-speed, but they're just waiting to be flipped. Rest of my roadies are 6 and 7.

streetsurfer

Improved my shifts by swapping a suntour onto this regular 5x2 ride. Seemed like the stocker had been twisted. So improved, I have a Suntour Honor r/d ordered for another Schwinn 10 speed with taller gearing-maybe its a SuperSport (?), and then I have a Nishiki Competition, as the few ten speeds I ride.

gaucho777 

I've got few:
1. Cilo Pacer, my commuter, the bike I ride most frequently.
2. Gitane Gran Tourisme, if triples are allowed.
3. Speedwell Titalite
4. Peugeot PR10

Trakhak

The illustration was from the earliest era of two-chainring derailleur-equipped bikes---probably the mid-'40s or thereabouts. The smallest sprocket available for derailleur-equipped bikes would have had 14 teeth. So a 4-speed cluster (for a racing bike) would have had a total range of 14 for the smallest sprocket to 18 or so for the largest.

Remember, derailleur-equipped bikes weren't allowed in the Tour de France until 1937, and for the first several years thereafter, bikes with multiple sprockets would have had single chainrings. A rider with a 49/14 gear combination (and a 46/18 on the low end) would have had a big advantage over a rider with a single-speed bike. And that 49/14 gear combination would have felt plenty high back when the racing took place almost entirely on roads covered in gravel or mud.

Kilroy1988 

At the moment the 1979 Mercian Campionissimo is my only 10-speed, and since it seems on topic I'll mention that the SR Apex crankset with the 86 BCD started life as a triple, and I will soon be replacing what was the middle chainring (42) with the old inner ring (34), to go for a 52-34 setup. However, I'll do a bit of a hilly ride with it like so this Sunday to see whether the idea is justified or not.

-Gregory

sd5782 

On my Trek 700 I also used that crank that originally was a 34,47,52 triple. It now is a 34-47 double. Very flexible crank and beautiful too.

Fredo76

After buying four 5-speed freewheels from different ebay sellers, NOT ONE fit on my old five-speed wheels properly (I think they are all made up with 5 cogs on 6-speed bodies), and seeing the $100+ prices on NOS Reginas, etc., I said screw this, cold-set the dropouts to 126 mm, and went with 6-speeds (14-24) on my old wheels (re-spaced) and 7-speeds on a new set.

But, the Ellis-Briggs FAVORI is still a ten-speeder:



Chrome FAVORI by Ellis-Briggs

Lenton58 

• Recently in another thread, there were some quite strong opinions against cold-setting to change dropout spacing. But I faced the same sort of dilemma as you, but tangentially related. I had a 120 frame, and a legacy collection of 126mm wheels sets. I just couldn't afford the cost of another wheel set — possibly building from rims up. So I had a frame maker spread the stays.

• I'd never considered the possibility of 5 cogs being shimmed up to go on 6-spd bodies. Good point to remember, but how would we tell the pitfall in advance of a purchase? (I'm positive my small collection is OK though.)

• That Eliss-Briggs is one hell of a handsome machine! Congrats!

Nwvlvtnr 

Looks like I’m doing it backwards, built my 89 Trek using older components. The combination of the proprietary dropouts, 126mm spacing, hub shell width and Freewheel stack height enabled a dish-less rear wheel build.




The left bearing is few mm further inboard than the drive side but the flanges are centered, 45/47 chainline.

Not too obvious but there is no wheel dish

When I first purchased it.

daverup 

My 78 Super Le Tour 12.2 still has it's original 5 speed freewheel.
Most of my other bikes have 6 or more rear cogs.

Lenton58 

So you rear wheel is Centered? (edited) ... even though it doesn't look like it?

The frame looks a lot like my Trek 560 in Reynolds 501 — 'cept mine doesn't have braze-ons for fenders. What's the derailleur?