Upgrading a spoke protector

Since my freewheel has worn out I have been riding around with my shifter set on friction. I
notice that some of the inexpensive 7 speed Shimano freewheels have real nice close gearing for 6
of the 7 gears.

The Shimano HG37 appears to be about 3 millimeters wider than my current 6 speed freewheel. The
Schwinn frame is from around 1995 so the rear forks are probably wide enough for 7 speed systems.

Anybody who has tried this have any hints about spacing a 7 speed freewheel on the axle? I will be
using my old short cage derailleur with a 112 link chain so am not worried about the friction
setting getting my chain into the spokes.

Thanks for the help!

Works fine, no re-spacing necessary. Just lock out the shift on the low-side, so it won't shift into
your spokes. I ran this setup on an old Univega, for my winter ride, for a number of years.

-pete

<dsr@Florence.edu> wrote in message news:iscjuvs64asdbk7rde2f0dm2ie2u1tpots@4ax.com...
> Since my freewheel has worn out I have been riding around with my shifter set on friction. I
> notice that some of the inexpensive 7 speed Shimano freewheels have real nice close gearing for 6
> of the 7 gears.
>
> The Shimano HG37 appears to be about 3 millimeters wider than my current 6 speed freewheel. The
> Schwinn frame is from around 1995 so the rear forks are probably wide enough for 7 speed systems.
>
> Anybody who has tried this have any hints about spacing a 7 speed freewheel on the axle? I will be
> using my old short cage derailleur with a 112 link chain so am not worried about the friction
> setting getting my chain into the spokes.
>
> Thanks for the help!