A friend gave me a set of Dura-ace tubular wheels. The back has a 6-speed cassette on it. First thing I noticed is that I can’t take off the cassette with the normal tool that works on my 9 speed cassette. I assume that once I get the 6-speed cassette off, that my 9 speed cassette won’t fit on the freewheel. Is it possible to convert this wheel to a 9 speed freewheel hub? Will it be too narrow to fit on my bike?
This will not work .The wheel your buddy gave you is a freewheel style hub.The gears thread on to hub likr a BMX cog.The axle spacing is wrong to.
Cullen
Nope, this is an OOOOPs wheel- Outdated, Obsolete, Out Of Production wheel. Six speed was screw-on freewheel, and the dropout spacing was probably either 126 or even 120mm.
It will look great hanging from your garage.
1 - This is because you have to thread the freewheel off the hub, as opposed to removing the lock ring and sliding the cassette of the freehub body.
2 - No, your 9 speed cassette will NOT fit on the hub. There are threads there that you thread the freewheel onto.
3 - The only thing that I know that you can do is replace the hub.
4 - If you were able to get a 9 speed on there, you’d have to re-dish the wheel to get it to work properly.
You are better off selling that set of wheels to a track rider or someone building a fixed gear on ebay.
For a better explanation of the differences between what you have and current technology, try http://www.sheldonbrown.com/free-k7.html
Craig
Don’t bother trying to sell it, but rather build your own fixed gear road bike.You have a great start.
Cullen
Bunny, I have a friend with an old six speed wheel on an old steel bike he really likes. No accounting for taste.
Could he have the frame spread to accomodate a modern wheel and then upgrade the bike? I would trash it, but he is wondering.
“Six speed was screw-on freewheel,…”
Ummm, not exactly. Most 6 speed stuff is freewheel, but there were definitely 6 speed cassettes. See below.
http://www.thethirdhand.com/index.cgi?c=Cassette&sc=Complete%20Shimano&tc=6%20Speed&id=50785011351
If you’ve got 126mm spacing the wheel is upgradeable to at least 7 speed. If the wheel has 120 mm spacing (measured inside rear dropouts), the options are somewhat limited.
I just upgraded an old 6 speed Trek 560 steel frame on which I installed powercranks.
Just bought new Open Pro wheels with Ultegra hubs, and Ultegra STI shifters , cassette,chain , and front and rear derailleurs. You might need to get new cranks and chain ring, which I didn’t need because of Powercranks setup.
The difference in the ride was greater than I thought it would be. Steel frame is still heavy but with Powercranks whose worried about a little extra weight anyway. Very inexpensive way to get a good new bike.
The “new” bike works great. No problem getting the frame to hold the new 9 speed wheels.