I have access to an older 7 speed Specialized trispoke rear wheel. I read on Sheldon Brown’s website that you can change the free hub body. Has anyone ever done this before? How hard is it? Can the older Specialized trispokes be used as a front or rear wheel?
Thanks for any help you can give.
Scott
If it’s a freewheel the most it’ll take is an eight speed.
I don’t believe you can get it to use a freehub body,
however it can be used as a front if you change the axle.
-doubt it could be used as a front wheel, as it will be too wide for the fork;
-for the rear wheel, i’m curious about that myself. my understanding is that the 10 speed casette is a lot wider than the 7 speed, so it’s possible that it won’t fit.
i have a relatively new 7-speed wheel that’s got a spacer btwn the hub and the cassette, so i’m optimistic about that one. but not certain.
-charles
Swapping freehub bodies is fairly straight forward in most cases. But is the wheel freehub or freewheel?
Even if it is freehub, there is an issue if you are moving from 7-speed (126mm) to 8/9/10 (130mm) since you will be adding ~4mm to the OLD and it will all be on the drive side – the rim will be off center by ~2mm since you cannot redish tri-spoke wheels. You could also add 4mm to the non-drive side (you’d almost certainly need a longer axle for that) to keep the rim centered but then it would be 134mm OLD.
If it is a freewheel hub, it can be converted to front. Call HED about conversion kits.
Thanks everyone for you fast answers. I really appreciate all the help.
Scott