How to tell an 8spd/9spd/shimano/campy freehub apart, height?

Triathlon Forum
1

A bit of help here please. Having never looked at my freehub body when it was 8spd, never taken apart a campy and only having 9/10spd wheels lying around how do you tell what type of freehub is on a wheel? Height, spline type?

I have a mystery wheel here, fits a Shimano cassette but is to short for a 9/10spd cassette. Tried an old 8spd and it looks like it fits. Can anyone confirm that the 8spd freehubs/cassette widths were shorter? Or if the splines are the same campy to shimano could I have a campy wheel (pretty sure this isn’t the case).

It’s an older Mavic Cosmos that I was hoping to use for my beater commuter bike.

Thanks!!!

2

A bit of help here please. Having never looked at my freehub body when it was 8spd, never taken apart a campy and only having 9/10spd wheels lying around how do you tell what type of freehub is on a wheel? Height, spline type?

I have a mystery wheel here, fits a Shimano cassette but is to short for a 9/10spd cassette. Tried an old 8spd and it looks like it fits. Can anyone confirm that the 8spd freehubs/cassette widths were shorter? Or if the splines are the same campy to shimano could I have a campy wheel (pretty sure this isn’t the case).

It’s an older Mavic Cosmos that I was hoping to use for my beater commuter bike.

Thanks!!!
The splines are definitely different between Campy and Shimano. And I think the freehubs are narrower on the 8 speeds, not because I’ve seen them, but rather because I’ve heard lots of comments about the 10 speed hubs creating weaker wheels because of having so little dish on the drive side.

3

awesome, thanks! that’s what I thought too but wasn’t really that sure, guessing it’s an 8 speed wheel, darn now I still need to find a beater rear wheel for my bike:(

4

If it fits an 8 speed shimano cassette, it should also fit a 9/10 spd shimano cassette. Shimano cassette bodies didn’t change from 8 to 9 speed, and are only different for 10 speed on the Shimano Dura Ace wheels. If it doesn’t fit, something is wrong. Mavic also had a an M-series cassette body out for a while, but I don’t think it was ever used on the Cosmos.

The splines are very different on a Campy cassette. They are a lot deeper than Shimano splines.

5

All you questions are answered here: http://sheldonbrown.com/k7.html

Sheldon says:

Any Shimano Hyperglide cassette will fit any Shimano Hyperglide hub with the following exceptions:

7-speed hubs only accept 7-speed cassettes.*

2004-2006, 2007 Dura-Ace 7800 10 speed hubs only accept Dura-Ace 10 speed cassettes.

Many older hubs have a problem with 11 tooth sprockets.

Capreo hubs and cassettes (special models with 9-tooth sprocket capability) are not interchangeable with anything else.