vanilla ice
1 MW
This is how I added some more gears without adding an FD.. Long axle, 9sp. chain, spread the drops from like 115mm to 175, fit a few spacer washers, moved the RD hanger inboard of the dropout. The RD and shifter are from a 1970 5 speed bike but after adjusting the stop screws it shifts through all nine speeds fine!
I used an automotive conical wheel nut on left side to even up the axle spacing with the wide freewheel. Also gives the wires some room and allows for easy adjustment. This bike has a stoker chain going to the front granny chain wheel, so a FD was not an option for more gearing. Looking at the thread with the freewheel widths, and the minor differences in 9 speed vs. 7 speed width I bet you could do 9sp. on a standard hub axle too. Especially on one of the newer bikes that come with 8 and 9 speed shifters I would defo give these 8/9 freewheels a shot to try retain the stock shifter/RD.
I tried a suntour 13-32, but here is the 11-34 mentioned in another thread that you could try..
http://store.comcycle-usa.com/ProductInfo.aspx?id=5904746
I used an automotive conical wheel nut on left side to even up the axle spacing with the wide freewheel. Also gives the wires some room and allows for easy adjustment. This bike has a stoker chain going to the front granny chain wheel, so a FD was not an option for more gearing. Looking at the thread with the freewheel widths, and the minor differences in 9 speed vs. 7 speed width I bet you could do 9sp. on a standard hub axle too. Especially on one of the newer bikes that come with 8 and 9 speed shifters I would defo give these 8/9 freewheels a shot to try retain the stock shifter/RD.
I tried a suntour 13-32, but here is the 11-34 mentioned in another thread that you could try..
http://store.comcycle-usa.com/ProductInfo.aspx?id=5904746
