I'll share the limited experience I have, though others have much more. The older Uniglide cassettes had identical, evenly spaced tabs on the cogs, while the newer and more easily available Hyperglide cogs have one tab wider than the rest, so that the cog can only mount in one position, i.e can't be rotated. A Hyperglide cassette can be used on an old Uniglide hub by grinding down the wide tabs to the width of the others using a Dremel tool. I did this sucessfully to install a 7 speed Hyperglide cassette on a 1988 7 speed Uniglide hub. There might be some problems with fitting an 8 speed cassette on a hub designed for 6 speeds, but I'd think you could probably go to 7 speed at least.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Houston, TX
"mg@formlos.ch" <mg@formlos.ch> wrote: is anybody of the cr list expierienced with older dura ace cassette freewheels? i like to ride an early 80s swiss allegro which originally has a 2x6 speed dura ace uniglide cassette freewheel. i like the look but also the robustness of these sprockets which seem to be prone to use forever. yet the swiss mountains, my age (rather my weight) and neglected training gave me the need to improve gearing by switching to 7 or 8 speed. from another bike i have a wheel with a dura ace 8speed uniglide cassette. it will fit to the 126 rear frame by removing two washers on each side of the axle and works with both derailers pretty fine (i might need a narrower chain), but it looks ugly having different rims. i just would like to keep the old hubs and rims for more originality. unfortunately the rims holes don't mach either. (old 32 new 36) is it possible to just swap the freewheels resp. the cassette bodies? how is that done? and what tools do i need? if anyone has done this before or is expierienced with these older parts i would be grateful for help. martin glaettli in foggy winterthur, switzerland