Re: [CR]Detecting French Freewheel threads in the field

(Example: Component Manufacturers:Ideale)

Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 07:30:53 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jerome & Elizabeth Moos <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [CR]Detecting French Freewheel threads in the field
To: Thomas Adams <thomasthomasa@yahoo.com>, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
In-Reply-To: <20050805140141.71588.qmail@web30513.mail.mud.yahoo.com>


My experience is exactly what you observe, i.e. a French FW will go onto an English (or Italian) hub about two turns, then tighten up. On the other hand, you are correct that, at least for many years, Zeus English hubs were marked "BSC", while Zeus French hubs were unmarked. It is vaguely possible this is an Italian threaded hub, and that acccounts for the slight play, but I have to say I have never seen or heard of an Italian threaded Zeus hub.

If it were me, I would find a good clean French FW, which I knew fit properly on a French hub. If that goes on the Zeus hub two turns and tightens up, then the hub is not French. That leaves only English or (unlikely) Italian, which are not quite Identical, but compatible.

I suppose it is always possible that this is a French hub whose thread diameter is out of spec due to a manufacturing defect, but all things considered, I think I'd rather live with a little play in an English FW than force on a French FW.

Regards,

Jerry Moos Houston, TX

Thomas Adams <thomasthomasa@yahoo.com> wrote: Just bought a lovely pair of Zeus hubs on eBay, and the seller says they're BSC. The hubs are unmarked, and the box is marked Metric. Seller did check the hubs, an english freehwheel screws on and a french goes on two turns then binds.

My testing is identical, english screws on, french goes about three wrist twists (1.5 turns) and then binds. However the english freewheel seems to rock ever so slightly on the hub, and I always thought that a french freewheel wouldn't even start on an english hub. Also, the french freewheel I used for the test is an old, rusty dirty unit, so it's possible the threads are contaminated with dirt or otherwise damaged, hence the binding. On the other hand, the rocking with the english freewheel could be just bearing play (I didn't tighten it all the way down, as I don't have a rim laced to the hub and don't want to get the freewheel stuck).

I'd appreciate some enlightenment on whether this hub is english or french, or whether there's some other test I need to perform. The primary question is whether a French freewheel will thread about two turns on a BSC hub, then bind as opposed to my old belief that a french freewheel would not even start to screw onto a BSC hub. I don't want to risk ruining the hub with a BSC freewheel, so I'm looking for the warm fuzzy that this is not a french threaded hub.

Tom Adams, Shrewsbury NJ

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