Here's an oddity

One of the jobs I wanted to do with the free Dawes I got was to fit a block with wider ratios to attack our lovely south pennine hills. I have a couple of six speed freewheels lying around so late last night I popped out to have a go.

Out came the solid axle and I checked which tool I needed, I noted that it was Shimano and curiously it specified the tightening torque. "Never seen that on a freewheel before" I thought. Then I slotted in the tool and turned it and the sprockets turned too. Without thinking I dug out the chain whip. And as it released with very little force the penny finally dropped. It's a lock ring.

Sure enough what we have here is a six speed cassette. The hub appears to be Shimano Altus, the lock ring is definitely Shimano. So it appears to be a genuine Shimano part.

So the next time somebody mentions they have a six speed cassette don't be too quick to jump in to tell them that they actually have a freewheel.

Only problem is I stand virtually no chance of being able to find a replacement cassette with wider ratios, so I'll have to make to with what I've got until I get a new wheel.

check to see if the splines are the same as the 7spd - if they match - you'll be able to make your own cassette.

Some early shimano cassettes were bolted together so you dont even need to get the grinder out...

Having taken a closer look by daylight it looks like a new rear wheel is called for sooner rather than later. It looks like the chain has been jammed down between the cassette and spokes and pedalled nice and hard. Several spokes are damaged and one cut clean through. I never did learn wheel building so a replacement wheel is on the cards.

Anyhow here are some pictures to prove that it's not some sort of delayed april fool.

Fully assembled...


The cassette...


The freehub and all that spoke damage...



Two images of the hub, one showing the Altus label one showing the Parallax label...



So the next time somebody tells you there's no such thing as a six speed cassette, show them these.

thats a very modern hub from about 1994 onwards, 6 spd uniglide cassettes have been around since the '80's.

Yours will accept a 7spd quite happily (with a cog removed) but, if its fecked then theres no need.

Isn't it a Uniglide cassette? I've got a load of Uniglide sprockets from my 6 speed days. When I converted to 7 I just swopped the 6 speed body for a 7 one on an old 600 hub which is still going strong.

Uniglide had the thread on the outside of the freehub body for the smallest sprocket to thread onto, didn't they?

This is hyperglide with the thread on the inside of the freehub body for the lock ring and ramped sprockets and short teeth. I'd heard tell of six speed HG, but this is the first I've ever seen. What makes it doubly odd is that it isn't the OE hub. It's spaced at 130mm and the frame is 135mm. I would have also thought it fairly unusual for an HG hub to have a solid axle.

Anyway it's all pretty academic since the wheel is such a mess. I think I may keep it as a curiosity and to learn wheel building on.

It looks to me like a clever 'make do and mend' job from someone who has built their own cassette and custom hub setup to retrofit a newer hub into an old machine.

I really hope you're being ironic.

Otherwise you are suggesting that somebody has managed to make up their own freehub body to take a custom made six speed cassette with the correct, custom made spacers for the indexing to work? This would be somebody with access to a very well equipped machine shop then.

No, I'm not joking! 6s has a spacing of 5.5mm, 7s has 5.0mm.
1 Take an old 7s mtb freehub, swap for a solid axle.
2 Take spacers for worn out 6s cassette, dismantle new 7s cogs and reassemble with 6s spacers.
3 Refit and enjoy.

Alternatively, build up as a 7s and fit a couple of spacers at the back.

I do this kind of thing all the time to make 7s cassettes out of 8 or 9s parts. The cogs are all the same thickness, and 9s cassettes are cheaper than 7s sometimes these days, or come in sizes that Madison cannot be bothered to import into the UK. As the spacers never wear out it's easy.

Still doesn't explain how you putative bodger made up a shorter freehub body.