Freewheel for Shimano Sora 7-speed brifters



D

dcg

Guest
At Sheldon Brown's suggestion, I purchased a set of Shimano Sora
7-speed brifters from Harris Cyclery. I took my 80's Pinarello to my
local LBS and asked them to fit the brifters on the bike.

They told me that the freewheel wasn't correct for the brifters and
they didn't have the means to purchase one as the freewheels are now
obsolete.

Can anyone tell me where I might find a freewheel that is compatible
with the brifters?

David Griffith
 
"dcg" wrote:
> At Sheldon Brown's suggestion, I purchased a set of Shimano Sora
> 7-speed brifters from Harris Cyclery. I took my 80's Pinarello to my
> local LBS and asked them to fit the brifters on the bike.
>
> They told me that the freewheel wasn't correct for the brifters and
> they didn't have the means to purchase one as the freewheels are now
> obsolete.
>
> Can anyone tell me where I might find a freewheel that is compatible
> with the brifters?


Need more data. Do you have a 7-speed freewheel on the bike? Do the guys at
your LBS know what they're doing?

Art Harris
 
Shimano still makes 7-speed freewheels, and the spacing is the same as
for 7-speed cassettes (I believe) so you shouldn't have any trouble
there. The one thing you might need is a new front derailer, but
probably not even that, as Shimano has been careful to maintain
compatibility.

If you currently have a 7-speed freewheel in place, keep it and just
swap the brifters for your current brake levers and DT shifters. It
might take some adjusting, but you should be able to get things to work
just fine.
 
>"dcg" wrote:
>> At Sheldon Brown's suggestion, I purchased a set of Shimano Sora
>> 7-speed brifters from Harris Cyclery. I took my 80's Pinarello to my
>> local LBS and asked them to fit the brifters on the bike.
>>
>> They told me that the freewheel wasn't correct for the brifters and
>> they didn't have the means to purchase one as the freewheels are now
>> obsolete.
>>
>> Can anyone tell me where I might find a freewheel that is compatible
>> with the brifters?

>
>Need more data. Do you have a 7-speed freewheel on the bike? Do the guys at
>your LBS know what they're doing?
>


Yes, the bike has a 7-speed freewheel on it now. The guys at the LBS
say it isn't "just right" and I need a 7 speed freewheel that is
compatible with the brifters.
 
"dcg" wrote:
> >"dcg" wrote:
>>> At Sheldon Brown's suggestion, I purchased a set of Shimano Sora
>>> 7-speed brifters from Harris Cyclery. I took my 80's Pinarello to my
>>> local LBS and asked them to fit the brifters on the bike.
>>>
>>> They told me that the freewheel wasn't correct for the brifters and
>>> they didn't have the means to purchase one as the freewheels are now
>>> obsolete.
>>>
>>> Can anyone tell me where I might find a freewheel that is compatible
>>> with the brifters?

>>
>>Need more data. Do you have a 7-speed freewheel on the bike? Do the guys
>>at
>>your LBS know what they're doing?
>>

>
> Yes, the bike has a 7-speed freewheel on it now. The guys at the LBS
> say it isn't "just right" and I need a 7 speed freewheel that is
> compatible with the brifters.


Something sounds fishy. What are you using for a rear der? A vintage
Dura-Ace derailleur could be a problem. Any modern Shimano der should work
fine with those brifters on a 7-speed FW.

Art Harris
 
Arthur Harris said:
"dcg" wrote:
> At Sheldon Brown's suggestion, I purchased a set of Shimano Sora
> 7-speed brifters from Harris Cyclery. I took my 80's Pinarello to my
> local LBS and asked them to fit the brifters on the bike.
>
> They told me that the freewheel wasn't correct for the brifters and
> they didn't have the means to purchase one as the freewheels are now
> obsolete.
>
> Can anyone tell me where I might find a freewheel that is compatible
> with the brifters?


Need more data. Do you have a 7-speed freewheel on the bike? Do the guys at
your LBS know what they're doing?

Art Harris

A European bike of that vintage might not necessarily have used 5.0 mm between cogs even if 7 speed.
Also, OP has said nothing about rder. He needs a SIS compatible rder to make that work.
 
If it's a Sun Tour freewheel, it won't shift right with a Shimano
shifter. Both Shimano and Campy 7 speed systems had 5mm spacing, so
that wouldn't be a problem. You can pick up a Shimano or a Shimano
compatable freewheel just about anywhere.
 
Bill K. said:
If it's a Sun Tour freewheel, it won't shift right with a Shimano
shifter. Both Shimano and Campy 7 speed systems had 5mm spacing, so
that wouldn't be a problem. You can pick up a Shimano or a Shimano
compatable freewheel just about anywhere.

I've used a SunTour FW in an otherwise Shimano 7-speed indexed drivetrain. Yes, the spacing of Shimano and SunTour FW aren't exactly the same (IIRC, SunTour has 3 spacings at 4.8mm and 3 at 5.0mm whereas Shimano is 6 at 5.0mm), but there's enough "slop" in an indexed system such that you can usually mix and get reasonable performance.
 
>>>> At Sheldon Brown's suggestion, I purchased a set of Shimano Sora
>>>> 7-speed brifters from Harris Cyclery. I took my 80's Pinarello to my
>>>> local LBS and asked them to fit the brifters on the bike.
>>>>
>>>> They told me that the freewheel wasn't correct for the brifters and
>>>> they didn't have the means to purchase one as the freewheels are now
>>>> obsolete.
>>>>
>>>> Can anyone tell me where I might find a freewheel that is compatible
>>>> with the brifters?
>>>
>>>Need more data. Do you have a 7-speed freewheel on the bike? Do the guys
>>>at
>>>your LBS know what they're doing?
>>>

>>
>> Yes, the bike has a 7-speed freewheel on it now. The guys at the LBS
>> say it isn't "just right" and I need a 7 speed freewheel that is
>> compatible with the brifters.

>
>Something sounds fishy. What are you using for a rear der? A vintage
>Dura-Ace derailleur could be a problem. Any modern Shimano der should work
>fine with those brifters on a 7-speed FW.
>
>Art Harris
>


The rear derailleur is a Shimano Ultegra 600. I think the freewheel
may indeed be a dura-ace.

David Griffith
 
dcg-<< At Sheldon Brown's suggestion, I purchased a set of Shimano Sora
7-speed brifters from Harris Cyclery. I took my 80's Pinarello to my
local LBS and asked them to fit the brifters on the bike.

They told me that the freewheel wasn't correct for the brifters and
they didn't have the means to purchase one as the freewheels are now
obsolete.

Can anyone tell me where I might find a freewheel that is compatible
with the brifters?

David Griffith

I and others will say-need a new bike shop. Sunrace and shimano both make
pretty nice and not expensive freewheels that will work just fine with those
shifters. Freewheels are easy to find, like from Quality Bike Parts.

You can also find but are very expensive, DA 6 and 7s free wheels that will
also work great.



>><BR><BR>



Peter Chisholm
Vecchio's Bicicletteria
1833 Pearl St.
Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535
http://www.vecchios.com
"Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"
 
dcg wrote:
>
> The rear derailleur is a Shimano Ultegra 600. I think the freewheel
> may indeed be a dura-ace.
>
> David Griffith


Let me get this straight- Shimano freewheel, Shimano (not Dura-Ace)
derail-ing thingy, Shimano shift lever, all are 7-speed... and the bike
shop says it "won't work"???

Find a better bike shop.
Jeff

OT- For you Linux/Unix users out there: Happy Gnu Year!
 
dcg wrote:

> At Sheldon Brown's suggestion, I purchased a set of Shimano Sora
> 7-speed brifters from Harris Cyclery. I took my 80's Pinarello to my
> local LBS and asked them to fit the brifters on the bike.
>
> They told me that the freewheel wasn't correct for the brifters and
> they didn't have the means to purchase one as the freewheels are now
> obsolete.
>
> Can anyone tell me where I might find a freewheel that is compatible
> with the brifters?


There must be some misunderstanding here.
With Sora STi levers you will index properly with:
Any 7speed Shimano or SunRace freewheel.
SIS compatible chain , 7.3mm wide.
(Pull it around the big-big combination & add one link)
Any Shimano SIS compatible rear changer
It will shift best with new gear wires in SIS casing with
metal (not plastic) ferrules and do ensure your derailleur
tab is aligned correctly ( vertical and parallel to the
chainrings.
Because many modern bikes use that type of freewheel ( bikes
similar to Carl's Fury) 7 speed freewheels are very
available and dirt cheap.

http://www.yellowjersey.org/cgi-bin...id=106100&cust_cat_index=1&cust_cat=freewheel
or:
http://tinyurl.com/5wc6q

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971
 
My current configuration: Sora 7x2 brifters, 105 53x26 crankset, Shimano
14-34 freewheel, Deore LX rd. Kind of weird, yes, but it shifts perfectly.
Well, not perfectly -- big-big is a definite no-no, but of course that's
never a problem in actual road use.


"Qui si parla Campagnolo " <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> dcg-<< At Sheldon Brown's suggestion, I purchased a set of Shimano Sora
> 7-speed brifters from Harris Cyclery. I took my 80's Pinarello to my
> local LBS and asked them to fit the brifters on the bike.
>
> They told me that the freewheel wasn't correct for the brifters and
> they didn't have the means to purchase one as the freewheels are now
> obsolete.
>
> Can anyone tell me where I might find a freewheel that is compatible
> with the brifters?
>
> David Griffith
>
> I and others will say-need a new bike shop. Sunrace and shimano both make
> pretty nice and not expensive freewheels that will work just fine with
> those
> shifters. Freewheels are easy to find, like from Quality Bike Parts.
>
> You can also find but are very expensive, DA 6 and 7s free wheels that
> will
> also work great.
>
>
>
> >><BR><BR>

>
>
> Peter Chisholm
> Vecchio's Bicicletteria
> 1833 Pearl St.
> Boulder, CO, 80302
> (303)440-3535
> http://www.vecchios.com
> "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"
 
>> At Sheldon Brown's suggestion, I purchased a set of Shimano Sora
>> 7-speed brifters from Harris Cyclery. I took my 80's Pinarello to my
>> local LBS and asked them to fit the brifters on the bike.
>>
>> They told me that the freewheel wasn't correct for the brifters and
>> they didn't have the means to purchase one as the freewheels are now
>> obsolete.
>>
>> Can anyone tell me where I might find a freewheel that is compatible
>> with the brifters?

>
>There must be some misunderstanding here.
>With Sora STi levers you will index properly with:
>Any 7speed Shimano or SunRace freewheel.
>SIS compatible chain , 7.3mm wide.
>(Pull it around the big-big combination & add one link)
>Any Shimano SIS compatible rear changer
> It will shift best with new gear wires in SIS casing with
>metal (not plastic) ferrules and do ensure your derailleur
>tab is aligned correctly ( vertical and parallel to the
>chainrings.
>Because many modern bikes use that type of freewheel ( bikes
>similar to Carl's Fury) 7 speed freewheels are very
>available and dirt cheap.
>
>http://www.yellowjersey.org/cgi-bin...id=106100&cust_cat_index=1&cust_cat=freewheel
>or:
>http://tinyurl.com/5wc6q


Today I went back to the bike shop and tactfully told the owner that
newsgroup consensus suggested that I didn't need a different
freewheel. He took me back in his shop and showed the new Sora
brifters shifting through the gears. It wouldn't quite make the 3-4
shift regardless of how he adjusted the rd.

He insisted the chain was compatible with the rd and the brifters.

He also told me he had quite a bit of experience with indexed
shifting. As he's a real nice guy, I decided to leave the bike with
him and buy the freewheel myself - though it's a bit troubling that
this guy's in the bike business and can't (doesn't know how to) get
parts like this himself.

The current freewheel is a Dura-Ace and the teeth count on the
largest gear is 21.

I got the 14-28 Shimano freewheel from Harris Cyclery:

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/freewheels.html#7

will take it back and see if that fixes things.

Thanks everyone for your help.

dcg
 
>The current freewheel is a Dura-Ace and the teeth count on the
>largest gear is 21.


Ahhh..... back in the 7-sp days, DA was its own animal, with DA-specific
spacing. If it were a non-DA freewheel, it would work properly. Shimano 7-sp
shifters, ders, and freewheels must be consistently DA or non-DA.

By the way, as a digression, I've got a set of Shimano 600 parts on the bay,
which includes a cassette rear hub, 13-24. Would work well with your Sora, but
would require wheel building, not to mention, the purchase of a whole group.
:)

<http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQgotopageZ1QQsassZmaggiethespotteddog>

PB
 
An anonymous AOLer wrote:

> Ahhh..... back in the 7-sp days, DA was its own animal, with DA-specific
> spacing. If it were a non-DA freewheel, it would work properly. Shimano 7-sp
> shifters, ders, and freewheels must be consistently DA or non-DA.


That's not true. All Shimano indexable freewheels or cassettes with the
same number of sprockets have the same spacing. In the case of 7-speed
stuff, it's 5 mm.

There are genuine issues of Dura-Ace interchangeability for the
pre-9-speed (1996 and earlier) stuff, but not in terms of sprocket spacing.

It's true that the shifters and derailers must match, but the freewheels
aren't an issue.

I have an article that goes into great detail on this issue:

http://sheldonbrown.com/dura-ace

Sheldon "Fighting Folklore" Brown
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| Sometimes the only thing more dangerous than a question |
| is an answer. --Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #208 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com
 

>An anonymous AOLer wrote:
>
>> Ahhh..... back in the 7-sp days, DA was its own animal, with DA-specific
>> spacing. If it were a non-DA freewheel, it would work properly. Shimano 7-sp
>> shifters, ders, and freewheels must be consistently DA or non-DA.

>
>That's not true. All Shimano indexable freewheels or cassettes with the
>same number of sprockets have the same spacing. In the case of 7-speed
>stuff, it's 5 mm.
>
>There are genuine issues of Dura-Ace interchangeability for the
>pre-9-speed (1996 and earlier) stuff, but not in terms of sprocket spacing.
>
>It's true that the shifters and derailers must match, but the freewheels
>aren't an issue.
>
>I have an article that goes into great detail on this issue:
>
>http://sheldonbrown.com/dura-ace
>
>Sheldon "Fighting Folklore" Brown
>+-----------------------------------------------------------+
>| Sometimes the only thing more dangerous than a question |
>| is an answer. --Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #208 |
>+-----------------------------------------------------------+
> Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
> Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
> http://harriscyclery.com
> Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
>http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com


Sheldon,

Should I expect a Shimano 600 derailleur:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7108441609

a set of Shimano Sora 7-speed STI Brifters:

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/shifters.html

and a Shimano 14 - 16 - 18 - 20 - 22 - 24 - 28 freewheel

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/freewheels.html#7


will work well together?

dcg
 
In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
says...
>
>
>>The current freewheel is a Dura-Ace and the teeth count on the
>>largest gear is 21.

>
>Ahhh..... back in the 7-sp days, DA was its own animal, with DA-specific
>spacing.
>If it were a non-DA freewheel, it would work properly. Shimano 7-sp
>shifters, ders, and freewheels must be consistently DA or non-DA.


No, DA spacing was the same as all other Shimano spacing. Only the rear
derailleur and rear shifter had to match. Go to
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/dura-ace.html and then scroll down to the
Myths section.
-------------
Alex
 
dcg wrote:

>>>At Sheldon Brown's suggestion, I purchased a set of Shimano Sora
>>>7-speed brifters from Harris Cyclery. I took my 80's Pinarello to my
>>>local LBS and asked them to fit the brifters on the bike.


>>>They told me that the freewheel wasn't correct for the brifters and
>>>they didn't have the means to purchase one as the freewheels are now
>>>obsolete.


>>>Can anyone tell me where I might find a freewheel that is compatible
>>>with the brifters?


(am)>>There must be some misunderstanding here.
>>With Sora STi levers you will index properly with:
>>Any 7speed Shimano or SunRace freewheel.
>>SIS compatible chain , 7.3mm wide.

-blah blah blah-
>> 7 speed freewheels are very
>>available and dirt cheap
>>http://tinyurl.com/5wc6q


dcg wrote:
> Today I went back to the bike shop and tactfully told the owner that
> newsgroup consensus suggested that I didn't need a different
> freewheel. He took me back in his shop and showed the new Sora
> brifters shifting through the gears. It wouldn't quite make the 3-4
> shift regardless of how he adjusted the rd.
> He insisted the chain was compatible with the rd and the brifters.
> He also told me he had quite a bit of experience with indexed
> shifting. As he's a real nice guy, I decided to leave the bike with
> him and buy the freewheel myself - though it's a bit troubling that
> this guy's in the bike business and can't (doesn't know how to) get
> parts like this himself.
> The current freewheel is a Dura-Ace and the teeth count on the
> largest gear is 21.
> I got the 14-28 Shimano freewheel from Harris Cyclery:
> http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/freewheels.html#7
> will take it back and see if that fixes things.


It may well be that your DuraAce freewheel was made prior to
1983 (when Shimano standardized SIS freewheel spacing). The
early model DuraAce freewheels are of good quality and were
popular on race bikes, even Campagnolo equipped bikes, in
the classic era before index shifting.

If he's in the business of servicing bicycles we'll assume
that a bent derailleur tab isn't at the root of this.And
we'll assume the gear wire is on the correct side of the
bolt. And we'll assume the gear wire isn't kinked or damaged
(Things which would give a similar symptom)
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971
 
A. Muzi wrote:

> It may well be that your DuraAce freewheel was made prior to
> 1983 (when Shimano standardized SIS freewheel spacing).


Were there 7-speed freewheels prior to 1983? I seem to recall 7-speed
stuff came out later than that.

Art Harris