gitaneusa.com :: View topic - A rather nice Gitane Professional, and cheap

Barchettaman

Yep, you've seen those pictures on bikeforums - apologies!

verktyg

re:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/574249-10-speed-126mm-hub?highlight=swapping+freehub

The problem with a lot of these anecdotal reports is that they only deal with:

1. fitting mismatched cassettes and freehubs.

and/or

2. finding derailleur and shifter or brifter combinations that will work with the modifications.

What most of them don't take into consideration is how these modifications will fit on a specific bike!

Also, who knows what works and what works the way it was designed to work? Some folks are less particular about fine tuning than others! Rolling Eyes

Aside from the OLN (Over Lock Nut) measurements of the axle - 120mm, 126mm or 130mm, there are a lot of other variables.

For starters, most frames produced before 7 speed freewheels or freehubs became popular don't have enough clearance between the smallest sprocket and the inside of the seatstay and/or chainstay. Shifting up off of the smallest cog can cause the chain to catch on the frame.

Most later frames have flats formed on the insides of the rear triangle tubes where they join the dropouts for adequate chain clearance.

Next, Shimano through planned obsolescence had so many varieties of hubs and freehub bodies that it's almost impossible to keep track of them. For example, Shimano's first freehubs were available in both 5 speed and 6 speed versions. That was back in the late 70s.

Many people report that all of the freehubs are interchangeable - not true. There are a lot of minor differences from the size of the hole in the dust shield to how far they protrude from the hub body, also how they attach to the hub. Then there is UltraGlide vs. Hyperglide and how the cassettes are locked onto the freehubs.

This site shows 28 different styles of freehubs with pictures, mostly for 8-9-10 speeds plus I compiled a list of another 21 older freehubs with pictures.

http://tinyurl.com/49mjrnc

Another problem is that Shimano used dozens of different dimensions for their hub flange widths and locations. These can determine the distance from the locknut to the smallest flange which if insufficient can cause the chain to drag on the frame or even catch between the cog and the frame.

When I was researching the topic about 5 years ago, it seemed that 7 speed cassettes were only made for MTB hubs with 130mm axles.

Last, some derailleurs designed to work with 5 and 6 speed gearing don't have enough travel to shift 7-8-9-10 speed cassettes without modifications.

BTW, the feature that allows indexing to work smoothly is the floating top derailleur pulley. By moving a small amount side to side the pulley can compensate for inaccurate location of the derailleur body.

I'm index shifting an old SX410 Simplex derailleur with Sach-Huret Rival 8 speed levers. The derailleur has float on the top pulley. The Sachs-Huret are a knockoff of Shimano levers so Shimanos should work with that setup too.

logarto

I had one of these in a 60 cm for a few years. They were finished a little better than the Vitus 980/983 Gran Corsas and Tour De Frances even if the garish decal is an abomination. This was the only Trek Gitane that came with a number tag and 2nd water bottle braze on but as previously posted here it was not the Renault Team Bike at any point.

Too bad that you didn't end up with the 26.4 Victory seatpost?

This is probably the best of the 1980s Gitanes in a large frame size IMO. I had more twitchy bikes to ride Criteriums with but as time went by I sold them off one by one and kept the Professionnel. It just did everything well.

Traded it for a piano that never gets played.

logarto

verktyg

verktyg

Some new info that I came across...

7 of 9

7 on 6

This is the 7 sprocket Hyperglide cassette that I modified with 3mm 8 speed spacers to fit on a 29mm wide 6 speed freehub. I used a screw on 13T Ultraglide twist tooth small sprocket.

Here's a bit of information recently posted on another Forum. The poster was a mechanic who worked at the shop that handled the bikes for the Levi's Pro/Am US teams back in the mid 80s.

"If you wanted, you could substitute 7-speed DuraAce cogs/spacers and swap the shift lever guts and still fit within the rear 126mm rear spacing.

7-speed [Shimano Cassettes] came out in 1986 for sponsored teams and were still Uniglide cogs with 126mm rear freehubs. Later, 8-speed brought the move to 130mm spacing in rear hubs..."

These were 126mm wide freehubs probably the 30mm or 31mm wide 6 speed freehubs???

Uniglide vs Hyperglide from Sheldon (RIP) Brown's web site:

Uniglide sprockets had "twisted" teeth for easier shifting. They were reversible so you could use both sides of the sprockets.

Hyperglide sprockets had ramps stamped into the teeth for much easier shifting.

Uniglide vs Hyperglide freehubs.

logarto

Now you have me thinking that I could maybe build up a 6 dished for 5 Hyperglide for 126 over locknut spacing if I just took a full inventory of all the stuff I have laying around here? That's about the only reason that I run threaded stuff at all any longer and the SunTour Ultra 6s are distinctly inferior when it comes to shifting. I'd even settle for Uniglide.

I takes a monster allen wrench to get the freehubs off, right?

A former NORBA Pro also raved about the De Ore XT Hyperglide hub when I was trying to dump a cheap seven speed replacement MTB wheel on him. Fortunately he chose the DeOre LX because he liked the rim better. I thought it was just about the polish at the time but the service life that I'm getting out of first generation 8 speed Ultegra (aka "Shimano 600") leads me to believe that this era was a bit special in that regard.

verktyg