Modern wheels for old frame

el tel

I have a frame which I still use, it’s a Carlton from the 1980s with 513c tubing and 7 speed gearing. Over the years I’ve put STI levers on it an a set of 700c FIR wheels from the 1990s (still 7 speed). The wheels are on the heavy side nowadays and so I want to get some new ones on it. But I wish to retain its 7 speed-ness as I don’t want to have to spread the rear out to take anything bigger, nor to similarly upgrade the shifters and chainset etc.

Trouble is, I can’t find somewhere that sells new wheels, with the correct dish, that will take a 7 speed cassette straight on, and that will go straight onto my frame without having to use spacers or changing free hubs or jazz like that.

Question is, can you still get good, light, off-the-shelf wheels that will do the job?

Thanks

feck sake lads

have you actually tried a 9 speed rear wheel as yet,if its to hard to get on you may need to widen the stayes a bit as the block on the new wheel will be wider spacing. no idea who might do this for you maybe LBS .i have new wheels on my 28 year old raleigh no problem.;)

Tonyandthewhale

As far as I know the vast majority of 7 speed wheels use screw on cassettes with a freewheel rather than the modern freehub and slide-on/lockring cassettes set up. If you can find a 7 speed cassette (they're very rare and getting rarer) then you should be able to use a normal modern 8/9/10 speed freehub (it'll be 130mm rather than the original 126mm but this isn't a problem for the vast majority of steel frames) - you'll need a spacer but just slide it on and bob's your uncle.

You can buy modern wheels with screw on freewheels (although screw on freewheel cassettes are getting harder and harder to buy) but a lot of them are 130mm spacing as well and they tend to be cheaper/heavier options for keeping budget bikes on the road. SJS have some weinmanns for instance but I wouldn't rate them as much as an upgrade over anything.

You could also do as feck sake lads said and just upgrade the whole thing to 9 speed or whatever. This would mean new shifters though as well as a new chain and cassette as you know (you could get away with keeping the original derailleurs and chainset depending on what you class as 'good enough').

Finally you can scour ebay for some NOS beauties and possibly pay a bomb for something retrochic (or maybe pick up a great bargain, who knows!).

el tel

el tel wrote: »

Question is, can you still get good, light, off-the-shelf wheels that will do the job?

Thanks

No. There is no market for such things anymore.
Basically you can fit 7 sprockets on a modern cassette wheel by using an extra plastic spacer beside the spokes no problem there. You will run into problems with the frame being built for narrow hubs. Two options. Get frame widened by a good bike repair shop or get a wheel built up using a good hub purchased on the internet with modern rim and light spokes. I saw a screw on hub going cheap on chain reaction cycles recently, no idea of weight. Nice old hubs turn up on flea bay quite often too. Widening frame would give you access to current technology so maybe that's way to go. I once used a 7 shimano hub with 8 sprockets of a 9 cassette shifted by campag 10 levers.
Gears can be made to work.

RobFowl

Fratello wrote: »

I once used a 7 shimano hub with 8 sprockets of a 9 cassette shifted by campag 10 levers.

Single speed bikes can be fun

clog

I got wheels built up for the old bike. I have with mavic open pro rims on miche monolithic hubs. I used a sun race 7 speed screw on freewheel (sun race own the old suntour patents).
I could have upgraded to newer specs etc but tbh I have other bikes for that.

el tel

Thanks guys for the ultra helpful replies! Is very much appreciated. I will experiment over the weekend and see how far I get before having to splash the cash.

studiorat

Off the shelf? I seriously doubt it.

IRD make 7 speed screw-on freewheels.
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/ird-defiant-mkiii-7-speed-freewheel-shimano-compatible-prod22876/

Sizes are a bit odd I think. But they are good quality and better than the Sunrace and certainly better than the Shimano ones.

Planet - X have some Miche hubs in their vintage section. Not 100% sure if they are 126 or 130 mm.

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/c/q/vintage_bike_components/vintage_hubs

I've a bike with 126mm stays. One set of wheels have Durace hubs which are 7 speed screw-on. The other have an Exchage Sport 126mm Hubs.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-Shimano-Exage-Sport-Freehub-36H-and-126mm-Spacing-/271017974435