Finding the right 7-speed freewheel really took me some time and effort. Since i found only scarce info on freewheels here in our forum i thought i'd share some of my own conclusions.
What i learned during my research is if you want a quality 7-speed freewheel and some MTB-friendly grading at the same time you basically have two choices:
Shimano Dura Ace 7400 series and Suntour Winner Pro.
All the french and italian quality ones are either 6 speed or the largest sprocket is something street orientated like 26 teeth. Regina, Atom and so on.
I also checked out some newish Shimano Megarange and Sunrace freewheels and my personal impression is these are made out of cheese. (Of course no offence to the great LGF!
)
And here is a last thought which is no personal experience but more than once i read that if you are looking for a freewheel stay away from 8-speed ones which will often result in a bend hub axle because of their bigger leverage against the hub.
Back in 1991 i used a Dura Ace one which consisted of actually two freewheels merged into one to get the right grading. After a few years of riding the hell out of this freewheel i couldn't get this thing off of my Ringlé rear hub any more. 2 local bike shops said they won't even try it because they would destroy the of course much softer hub during the job. A third shop said no problem and destroyed the freewheel but at least saved the hub. :facepalm:
And this is how my lovely wheelset ended up in my cellar all these passed years.
It took me about 3 years to sort this new freewheel. It is a new old stock Suntour WP-7000 Winpul 7S-S which was made in 1985 or 1986 i guess.
It weighs 545gr and has these sprocket numbers: 12 - 14 - 17 - 20 - 23 - 28 - 34.
It has a BSA/BSC threading and the thread depth is 9 mm.
It arrived a while ago but because i really have no clue if this thing will fit right away i thought it could not hurt to wait a little longer till the matching 4-prong freewheel removal tool (Park Tool FR-3) showed up, which was today.
